Wasn't much impressed with 3 Idiots. I went in with high expectations and emerged a bit let down by the loose story, over the top cheesiness and all-bow-to-thee-preacher-Rancho. The setting of a realistic college is only so much accurate with contrived scenes of urine ragging and the protagonist getting the better out of the adversaries in his very first encounter. RePsekT! The movie seemed quite unoriginal, long with preachiness done to death, and recycled jokes. It had some funny moments and chuckles along the way but some of the things were too much to handle- Its over glorification of the good and hyper demonization of the supposed evilness. Also some of the funny scenes were a bit drag and quite frankly ended up being too labored. I cannot digest the crap like Raju’s deal breaker interview where he admits committing suicide and nonchalantly refuses to change his new found “attitude” for the sake of his employers or the mammoth pregnancy climax culminating in the glorious display of engineering feat by the main man – Rancho himself, and then the dramatic realization of truth by Prof Virus (a good sequence though, but will make your brains go topsy turvy!) I would have enjoyed the movie more if it were a little shorter and had less non-sense like this. Also the story becomes quite predictable with multiple suicides and unpronounceable names like Ranchoddas and Phunsukh Wangdu. I do not mean to highlight negatives purposely, but this is precisely the reason why I am disappointed. I had wanted something really tighter and a little less cheesier from an Aamir Khan movie. College setting is a bit realistic but finding a student like Rancho is totally going overboard.
Now the message of the movie is quite simple -follow your passion. This is not quite in the nature of kids growing up in middle class families across India, for a degree in Engg or medicine is a guarantee to a secure future (may be not anymore these days). Peer pressure and family drive them to a tried and tested route of college education where sometimes they fail to succeed for not doing something that they can be really good at. Its about hearing your inner voices and making your own destiny. Fair enough. The story essentially shows personal turmoils of three friends who share a dorm room while studying at one of the best engg. colleges of India and become close friends. The genius among this trio - Rancho is the protagonist who can crack exams in a heartbeat and construct flying choppers for end-semester projects to help out those in need. His other two room mates are god fearing underdogs who relish their friendships but are too weak to make their own decision for themselves. Enter Rancho, who inspires them and shows them the light - of course all this with a selfless act of an eye opener for the bourgeois. There are some genuinely funny scenes but the superhuman abilities of Rancho relegate this movie to typical Bollywoodism. The movie is technically sound with crisp editing and decent music ( not great at first to listen to but looks good with the visuals). I specially liked "Zoobi Doobi" with amazing visuals and zany choreography. Raju Hirani has done a good job with the direction, however there are so many unnecessary moving parts to the story that story telling has taken the brunt. I would consider the movie as a breezy watch, certainly not one of the best works from the Munnabhai team.
Now the message of the movie is quite simple -follow your passion. This is not quite in the nature of kids growing up in middle class families across India, for a degree in Engg or medicine is a guarantee to a secure future (may be not anymore these days). Peer pressure and family drive them to a tried and tested route of college education where sometimes they fail to succeed for not doing something that they can be really good at. Its about hearing your inner voices and making your own destiny. Fair enough. The story essentially shows personal turmoils of three friends who share a dorm room while studying at one of the best engg. colleges of India and become close friends. The genius among this trio - Rancho is the protagonist who can crack exams in a heartbeat and construct flying choppers for end-semester projects to help out those in need. His other two room mates are god fearing underdogs who relish their friendships but are too weak to make their own decision for themselves. Enter Rancho, who inspires them and shows them the light - of course all this with a selfless act of an eye opener for the bourgeois. There are some genuinely funny scenes but the superhuman abilities of Rancho relegate this movie to typical Bollywoodism. The movie is technically sound with crisp editing and decent music ( not great at first to listen to but looks good with the visuals). I specially liked "Zoobi Doobi" with amazing visuals and zany choreography. Raju Hirani has done a good job with the direction, however there are so many unnecessary moving parts to the story that story telling has taken the brunt. I would consider the movie as a breezy watch, certainly not one of the best works from the Munnabhai team.
