I have a huge appetite for good films….basically this is just one of the many facts responsible for my hatred of adaptations based on literal works…These movies just kill the soul of the book and show literally a loose version of the dynamic original,just to fit in the story within the 3 hours time frame….I have absolutely loathed films like these for as long as I can remember….But then came the movie 3 Idiots and the world changed….because this movie not just broke records and set the cash counters ringing…But for the first the audience was given visual treat of book….which was so encapsulating!!!!
The movie 3 idiots is adaptation of the most famous Indian work ” Five Point Someone”….although the story was based on this book….I had say their are not many comparisons and this movie surely differs in the fact that it was not direct repetition of scenes from the book…But had its own unique heart and soul….
The movie is based on the trials and tribulations of Rancho ( Rancchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad and his friends Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi)…..who study in Imperial college of Engineering(while in the book the friends are Hari,Ryan and Alok,studying in IIT)…..Throughout the movie,Farhan acting as the narrator takes us on a journey into their past where life taught them many lessons which books could not….The movie starts off with the search of Rancho….who it is shown has not been in with either of friends from long time….Chatur “Silencer” Ramalingam,(Omi Vaidya) their old classmate and biggest rival who just believes in mindless studies….. fools them into coming back to their college one fine day to remind them of 5 years old challenge to prove who will be the most successful out of them in long race….from there they set off to Shimla….
3 Idiots-Farhan,Rancho,Raju
On the way,Farhan narrates the story….of how he joined ICE because it was his parents wish and not his to become engineer and how Raju ended up in college to get a degree and be the bread winner of his family….The first scene is really hilarious where seniors are ragging the new comers and Rancho walks in….not only does he give shock treatment to the senior guy who tries to rag him…But the next day,he incurs the wrath of their dean Prof.Vino Sahastrabuddhe,called as Virus who comes the hostel to give the first years a lecture about competition-“Life begins with murder. If you don’t compete, you will die.”…. by diverting question back on him…..I just love this scene because it actually shows that many of our so called intelligent professors are so busy churning merit rankers that they themselves forget the reality and get stuck with the syllabus…..In between is the most crucial scene where a student called Lobo commits suicide when Virus does nt give him an extension for his project….On his funeral,Rancho actually accuses the Dean and the system for Lobo’s death (I’ll say this guy had some guts!!!!)…which further infuriates Virus….
Virus-Prof.Viru Sahastrabudhe
So our young hero Rancho does all that is possible to irritate the professors….particularly the scene where the professor asks him to explain the meaning of the word “MACHINE”….he does it in simple words only to be mocked by the prof who wants the bigger definition from the books….Taking the chance in his hands,Silencer babbles out the definition….But Rancho steals the thunder off when getting miffed the prof asks him to leave the class…while leaving Rancho deliberately gives the definition of the word BOOK instead of straight away saying the word book itself….explaining it later to the prof that he only judges bookish scrap and not the simpler things in life…I just love this scene as well….(In the book this scene varies where the prof asks the students the meaning of Machine and since the students are very shy on their first day of college,the prof gives the simple definition which in the movie has been tossed off to Aamir)
In between our hero also finds time to fall in love with Pia( Kareena Kapoor) who is medical student and Virus’s daughter…. he first met her at her sisters bauquet which all 3 of them gate crash…Rancho very cleverly even breaks off her engagement to NRI who is another laugh of the town like Silencer( In the book it is Hari,the narrator who falls for Neha,daughter of their department Head Prof.Cherian and unlike Pia,Neha is not medical student….but fashion designing student instead)….
The Beautiful Pia...
The story takes a turn when Virus orders Farhan and Raju to choose between their studies or their friendship with Rancho….Raju being scaredy-crow….gives in and shifts to Silencer’s room….In between there is yet another hilarious scene where on Teacher’s day,Silencer has to give a speech in hindi….Since he doesn’t know the language,he gets it written from the librarian(where Farhan and Rancho manage to get away with both the librarian and Silencer for sometime and change the script)…..On Teacher’s Day,Silencer vomits out the whole script without knowing that what he was saying was all wrong…Then Rancho tries to talk sense to Raju that studying without understanding the concept leads to mishaps like this:P….Ultimately, Raju comes back when Rancho saves his ill father’s life….That scene taught me the most imporatant lesson in my life….THAT TRUE FRIENDS ALWAYS STAY WITH US….NO MATTER WHERE WE GO….
Now romance between both Pia and Rancho blossoms off…i just loved their on-screen chemistry(all the DEMONSTRATIONS that Rancho gives to Pia to make her understand her point)….The most funny thing is that Rancho dreams about Pia every night….but in the night he finds that he is unable to kiss her….because the NOSE comes in between….
Things get a bit off hand….when both Raju and Farhan challenge Rancho bored of his all time accusations that both of them are not following their dream….This scene has one of Rancho’s strong quotes that-Make your passion your profession.…They tell him to propose Pia and say that if he manages so,Farhan will take up wild life photography which is his dream and confront his parents about his parents….Raju promises that he will stop being superstitious…..Things are all fine as our drunken Hero jumps into his lady-love’s room and in darkness instead of her proposes to his elder pregnant sister Mona(yet another fuuny scene….where you just can’t stop laughing)….even manages to make the unborn child kick his mother with his “ALL IZ WELL” slogan…..until of course Virus catches them running off….The next day,Virus storms into their classroom and questions all three of them….this scene is my favorite where Virus asks Raju how does induction engine starts…But Raju is drunk and says “broom! brooooooooooom! broooom!” in front of the class embarassing the campus director. Virus then threatens Raju of being expelled if he doesn’t confess against Rancho….being unable to choose between his friend and Career…Raju jumps off the third floor….and has to be hospitalized….This is where the real friendship tone sets in…..Rancho works day in and day out to cure Raju…
Finally,on the discharge day,we get to see changed Raju and Farhan…who accept that whatever Rancho had been saying was right(this is where I think that the movie is better than the book….because in the book Ryan comes up with a plan called” Cooperate to Dominate” where all three of them decide to cheat and work less…but ultimately they just make a bigger mess of things….while in the movie,Rancho actually makes his friends life better)…..A valuable lesson learned was “Always Follow your Dreams and Don’t compromise for anyone or anything”…..Farhan manages to convince his parents and Raju gets the job…which further irks Virus who decides to spoil their joy by setting difficult question paper to fail Raju…..Pia learns about this and decides to help them….
The next scene is my favorite…where Pia steals her father’s office keys, gets drunk and lands up in Rancho’s room…..She tells him about Virus plans and gives him the keys….the most funny thing about this scene is Pia’s comparison of the Gujarati food with bombs….The way she says that the food items Dhokala sounds like America bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki….gets you in splits….(the scene is different in book where Hari steals the keys and when they get caught…..He puts the blame on Neha…who gets heart-broken)
Afraid that Raju may fail….Rancho and Farhan try to steal the question paper but get caught instead….Virus expels both of them….which infuriates Pia and she confronts her father with the bitter truth of her brother’s suicide…..who died because he was unable to get into ICE as Virus wanted him to…..and rushes back to her hospital….It starts raining heavily as Rancho and friends pack their bags and about to leave when they find Mona in car….crying in pain as her labors have started…..Pia is not able to come back because of heavy rains….So,she instructs Rancho on webcam and Rancho does the delivery via VOIP that he himself creates…. After the baby is apparently stillborn, Rancho resuscitates the baby. Virus reconciles with Rancho and his friends, and allows the trio to stay for their final exams.
The next scene brings us back in present…where all three of them have reached Shimla….only to find another guy( Javed Jaffrey) is actually Rancho and their friend was just a servant in their house,Chhote….because he was very much interested in studies….real Rancho’s father had bargain with him that he will pays the fees for his education….but after that Chhote has to give his Degree to Rancho…..which of course Chhote does to never come and meet his friends….From the real Rancho,they learn that Chhote is now working in school in Ladakh….Silencer finds this amusing and starts mocking Chhote saying that he is just school teacher…..while he (silencer) is now vice president of his company…..In between we get to know that Silencer is in bid to get a contract from well known scientist Phunsukh Wangdu…..On the way,Farhan has yet again intriguing thought about Rancho-“Today my respect for that idiot shot up. Most of us went to college just for a degree. No degree meant no plum job, no pretty wife, no credit card, no social status. But none of this mattered to him, he was in college for the joy of learning, he never cared if he was first or last. ”
So before leaving for Ladakh…Farhan and Raju again gate crash into wedding…..But this time it’s Pia….They make her realise that since she always loved Chhote,she should get back to him….All fur of them then set off to Ladakh….There they reach a school…which is full of children working on inventions that only Chhote could mastermind…simple devices for daily use….Pia goes on scooter to meet Chhote….The scene is like dream sequence….But Chhote’s dream breaks when she gets down from the scooter and slaps him hard for leaving her and going away…they later reconcile and kiss to make up…..
Silencer mocks Chhote for being school teacher and gets Declaration of Defeat signed from him…..Only to find later that Chhote himself is Phunsukh Wangdu…..The last scene is hilarious where Silencer runs the trio and begs Chhote to sign the contract for his company…..The movie ends with the most famous dialogue-“Pursue for excellence, success will chase you”.…..All in all….this movie is big time entertainer…..This is the first time that may be I can say….that I just LOVED the adaptation of the book more than the book itself….A must watch!!!!
