Well, well. 3 Idiots could well be labelled “3 Intelligent Monkeys” (don’t hear bad, see bad, speak bad). Will that matter or make any difference. NO! The movie is way past all the inanities in just 10 days of its release.
Raj Kumar Hirani has continued the saga of Munna Bhai if not in a medical college then in an engineering institution. The fun express speeds away and takes shape of a tornado that has shaken the Indian box office and overseas ones too setting new records. It has clean bowled every release worth its salt barring Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
The story is one of 3 musketeers (yup!), who are armed with situational funny muskets that charge at anyone and in any situation.
Farhan Qureshi (R Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) are in the august company of Ranchhoddas Shayamaldas Chanchad “Rancho” (Aamir Khan) who thinks out of the (IDIOT) box (office!!). Their engineering college ICE is thus literally set on fire with the mediocre vs the intelligent (idiot!) students.
If Rancho is considered an idiot by all Professors including Viru Sahastrabuddhe “ViruS” (Boman Irani), his opposite bookworms like Chatur Ramalingam “Silencer” (Omi Vaidya) is lapped up and lavished with praise. It turns out to be a race between the rabbit and the turtle. Here the rabbit is the bookworm and the turtle witty. The result is known from the word go. Watch Chatur’s vulgar speech written by Rancho scene. It set us all on fire in ICE.
Aamir sparkles with his witty replies that drain the professors. ViruS with his Vajpayee style of lisping and bird-braininess is the but(t) of arrows (literally) with maximum bull’s eye hits. (He could do with few more for sure).
In walks ViruS’s daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor), a medical student. Rancho and Pia fall in love. It turns out to be campus love. Something you, me and our parents (even grandparents et all) have seen and indulged in. What happens in our day today campus life is presented ditto on silver screen. One can identify with it. One is immersed in one’s own real life love story.
It is the story of you and me unfolding on the bigger canvas. So how can we be not involved and have fun. We have fun and the things we cannot do (out of fear of discipline and politeness in college) we appreciate in Rancho, who goes about fearlessly exploring the limits of disciplined set-up around. Wish we all had broken those rules and let our hair down.
It is this “brave” unconventional spirit of Rancho that we pay tribute to. When we watch the movie, we secretly desire why we couldn’t do what he does so effortlessly. But then most of us are bookworms or pass by copying. Rancho is a soul apart. He is setting a trail worth following and that is what is flocking people of all ages across the world to the cinema halls.
Rancho then disappears with the promise of meeting after five years. The D-day arrives but there is no sign of him. Chatur is now rich and sets in search of Rancho with Raju and Farhan. Pia too joins in. Will they find their lovable idiot? Foremost why should they find him when he has broken his promise of meeting them?
There lies the tale of friendship, frolic and fun the memories of which can never fade away. They lie deep in the heart from where no one can erase or snatch them. They evoke in us similar emotions. It makes us look for our long lost friends on social networking sites.
Suddenly newspaper columns like “Lost And Found” have come alive. Emails and SMSs are occupying our major time. We want to keep in touch with out school or college friends. The bonds long loosened have come alive with the tale of Farhan, Raju and Rancho. There is a Farhan, Raju and Rancho within us. They have made us realise and rediscover our friends.
This movie is a celebration of friendship. With the festivities of New Year, it has rekindled all our bonds. There is nothing precious than bonds of love. So, three cheers to that feeling. Three cheers to the movie. And of course, three cheers to Farhan, Raju and Rancho. The story is told in flashback just like our own memory does a flashback to the golden years of carefreeness.
It makes us forget the mindless controversies created to seek attention. After all, the movie is the biggest hit in the cinematic history of India. It shows ragging but does not encourage it. It silences pseudo writers like Chetan Bhagat out to derive mileage out of it but end up with muck on his face.
The movie is a self-discovery. It is an exploratory journey where you want to do what you wish and not what the world dictates. You have always wanted to do it. So you do it in the dark of the cinema halls with the characters (you are still not ready to face the real harsh world.)
Never mind. Your visits to the cinema hall have sealed the deal. This is what you want. This is what sets the cash registers ringing. The movie does not belong to Aamir alone. It belongs to all of us. Rest nothing matters. Songs (they are topping the hit list), cinematography, et al. They come with the territory. They enhance the product (here emotions). The deal has already been sealed.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra hans pada. Raj Kumar Hirani ko hai hairani. Az this izz Khantastic! Aal Izz Well. We want more such idiots. Lage Raho Idiot Bhais. This New Year has that special zing. You can whiff it in the air.