“Three Idiots” – a record-holder among Indian films
The film “Three Idiots” is an Indian comedy released by Rajkumar Hirani in 2009. This amusing movie uses as a basis a short novel “Five Point Someone” by a renowned Indian writer Chetan Bhagat. Chetan is supposed to be “the best selling English author in India.”
“Three Idiots” has appeared as the most salable Bollywood movie and the first film in India, that took 90th place in the register of “250 best pictures according to IMDb”. This film has won many awards, including 6 Filmfare Awards (the best film and best direction), 10 Screen Awards and the National Film Award as the best entertainment movie.
It is an amazing multifaceted film about friendship, devotion, love, high deeds and humanity, family relationships. One of the most significant aspects of the film is the meaning of education for society as it reveals the education system in India and its pressure on students in consequence of a huge amount of exams and academic load, the life of students in college, etc. “Three Idiots,” tells about three best friends from high school in two-time intervals in the movie.
Besides, if you have a need to organize the reaction paper on this film we are ready to assist you! Your reaction paper is our trouble!
The plot of the film
The film is focused on three young guys, who have graduated from a high school and entered The Imperial College of Engineering, a top of educational institutions in India. Farhan played by R. Madhavan tells a story from his years of youth about his friends – Raju played by Sharman Joshi, and Rancho played by Aamir Khan.
Farhan dreams to work as a photographer, but he enrolls at the engineering faculty to please his father. Raju has another problem – his family has difficult financial circumstances, and he expects to get a well-paid job after graduating from college. And only Rancho is here of his own accord as he likes everything associated with mechanics.
Rancho is a unique person for his approach to life and for a super technical mindset. Professor Viru Sahastrabuddhem, played by Boman Irani, who is also the director of the college, hates Rancho for his innovative, daring look at everything – from learning to understanding the subject of engineering itself. Rancho is convinced by the fact that the education system grounded on the distressing and thoughtless learning is completely ineffective, and students should demonstrate their creativity.
The director tries to make pressure on the students in every possible way, being confident that only the strongest can survive, and the weak one must be thrown back on a stage of training. His actions lead to the suicide of one of the gifted students and Rancho`s friend Joey Lobo, played by Ali Phazal.
But there is another guy Chatur, for whom Viru`s model of learning is suitable. Rancho to teach Chatur changes several words in a speech on college holidays before sponsors and in this way he shows to Farhan and Raju how ineffective the thoughtless learning of texts is. Chatur promises to take revenge. He gives an oath – in 10 years he will meet again with the Rancho, Farhan, and Raju and will show what incredible success he will achieve, unlike these “three idiots.”
Farhan and Raju take the last places by academic performance as they were under the pressure of the education system while Rancho does not have any troubles with the exams. The director wishes to expel careless Raju from college. Learning about the dismissal, Raju tries to commit suicide by jumping out of the window. But he is saved, and after that, he dramatically changes his outlook on life. However, the director has a plan to overthrow Raju at the last exams. Rancho trying to rescue him with the help of Viu`s daughter Pia makes an attempt to steal the answers to the exam, but he fails when Viru catches him and expels without the opportunity to take exams.
Meanwhile, another of Viru`s daughter Mona has childbirth but owing to a severe shower; she cannot get into the hospital. Only thanks to the Rancho and his cleverness Mona’s baby is born. So, the director ultimately managed to look at Rancho from the other sight – as a smart, responsive and resourceful young man, who is able to find a way out of any situation. After that Viru reconciled with Rancho and allowed him to make exams. But after receiving the diplomas, Rancho left the college without telling anyone, and since then guys do not know where to find it.
Ten years passed. Chatur again appears in the life of Farhan and Raju to prove to them that he is the most prosperous. He convinces that he is aware of the place where to look for Rancho. So, they go to look for a missing friend. This trip will allow them to reveal a lot of new things, as well as to understand what Rancho has hidden from them for so many years.
The main ideas of the film
Сhetan Bhagat in his novel also depicts three main characters, “three idiots” but with another name. As we see, Сhetan Bhagat in his book sharply criticizes the education system in India. Rigid conditions, high demands, short intervals of projects implementation and exams make pressure on student`s psychics, who in difficult situations do not see any other way apart from suicide.
“Three Idiots” also reveals the theme of parent`s impact on children`s choice in profession. It is one of the core topics in the film. Often parents deprive their children the opportunity to do what they like and try to convince them to ignore their interests. But this pressure can have negative consequences in the future as Chetan shows. For instance, Farhan wanted to be a wildlife photographer from childhood, but his father was against. As a result, the young man had bad results in engineering and managed to find himself and get success only when he took up his hobby as a profession. Another example in the film is Raju, who feels failure and uncertainty through his father`s expectations, so this leads to the attempt of suicide.
In this film, as in the novel, Chetan sends important messages to society. But the main idea of the movie “Three Idiots” and according to Chetan is that every person is the creator of his own destiny, his profession, his life in spite of any obstacles, parent`s expectations and pressure. Chetan Bhagat as the author of the novel on which the film is based convinces that you just need to find your destination, go this way and be happy in it. This film also demonstrates how the wiseness of Rancho impacts on fates of other characters.
