The 3 Idiots (2009), is an Indian drama-comedy film directed by RajKumar Hirani. Its production was done by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Some of the significant figures involved in this movie are; Kareena Kapoor, who acts as Pia, Aamir Khan, who stars as Rancho, Sharman Joshi, who acts as Raju, Omi Vaidya, who acts as Chatur, Boman Irani, who acts as ViruS, R. Madhavan as Farhan Qureshi, Parikshit Sahni as Mr. Qureshi and Mona Singh as Mona (Pia’s sister). The film mainly revolves around three college engineering students; Rancho, Farhan, and Raju. Rancho is the son of a wealthy Indian man, while his colleagues, Farhan and Raju, hail from an average background.
The main idea demonstrated in the film is the essence of doing what we are ambitious about rather than people’s suggestions. This is evident in the character of Farhan, whose dream was to do wildlife photography but instead did engineering to honor his parents’ wishes. However, his academic performances are not amusing. The film also illustrates the importance of chasing excellence instead of success, evident in Rancho, whose passion is earning knowledge. Rancho criticizes the school’s antics because the engineering college believed in good grades and termed failure a direct ticket to poverty, resulting in clashes with the lectures and the college dean, Professor Viru (ViruS). Through the film, we get the idea of the need to be more creative and how to study well at the University instead of memorizing books. It is evident in Raju, who believes in rote learning to get good grades.
Additionally, the film demonstrates the impacts parents, lectures and peers pose on students through pressure for academic excellence. It raises several challenges facing students, especially in India and other Asian countries, by clearly showing the impact of rote learning, high parental expectations, teachers’ attitudes, and peer influences. For instance, Rancho witnesses the death of Lobo, a student, who commits suicide after missing a project deadline and denial to graduate by ViruS.
The film manifests its strengths by how impactfully it brings out the themes of education and striving for success through the students. I like how Rancho demonstrates the need to pursue excellence instead of chasing success when he starts a new school for inventors and passes his learning ideology to other generations. The film also shows us the need to pursue what we have passion for instead of other people’s suggestions. It is evident among the three engineering students. Rancho always tops in his academic performance while his two friends lag. The importance of being creative is also impactfully brought out in the film; it is better to learn and understand instead of memorizing, both from personal and professional perspectives. It is evident from the movie that earning knowledge of how things work and applying those things to improve other peoples’ lives is vital. I also like how the film showcases the innovations in India, for example, the scooter-powered flour mill.
However, despite how good the film is, it has some weaknesses portrayed in different scenes. For example, pranks; the prank pulled on Chatur was molesting and terrible. It occurs when Rancho changes some of the words in a speech presented by Chatur. He ends up getting embarassed in front of the crowd. This act would tear up anyone’s self-confidence and push them to depression. Scenes of students drinking are present in the film. This wrongly impacts the student’s psychology and puts the engineering college in question. In addition, students do not find solutions to problems but commit suicide making in the wrong way to address challenges. Although necessity is the mother of invention, I think doing baby delivery with a suction pipe is not ethical, which may be disturbing for some viewers to watch.
Works Cited
3 Idiots. Directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, Production by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Boman Irani, R. Madhavan, Parikshit Sahni, Mona Singh, 2009.
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