In Search…

At the risk of inviting an idiot joke upon myself, I’d still say I liked 3 idiots. Qualifier coming up: It is a good movie, not a great movie.

I did not have expectations of the movie, no. I did enjoy it thoroughly, yes. But do I think it is a deeply introspective/probing/intellectual movie that is going to change the way we teach our kids? NO.

3 Idiots provides wholesome entertainment. It allows you to walk into a theatre, laugh a lot, choke some, baulk a little (at Madhavan’s towel scene. Man, he does need to loose weight), groan a bit (‘muthra visarjan’ is overdone) and walk out not so long after, smirking after you’ve read the credits that roll to say the movie is “based on a book by Chetan Bhagat”!

If we were to set stock by things such as this: Raju Hirani has got the elements of a good movie pat: Fine acting (Boman, Aamir, Madhavan and Omi Vaidya are mentionable in that order, but the whole cast does a good job); Drool-worthy eye candy (the men, the men: how do they look so young?); fairly decent characterisation; clever dialogue; audience engagement; and since we’re at it, a plot, which is more than a story. You could say the music’s a tad out of the general class of the movie: Only Zoobie Doobie makes the grade, All izz Well struggles.

It is too late to say that 3 Idiots weaves itself around the ordinary lives of students at one of the country’s best engineering colleges and how the introduction of ‘Rancho’ turns that a little extraordinary. As Rancho, Aamir touches the lives of not only his roomies (Raju- Sharman Joshi, and Farhan – Madhavan), but most of the college and its laundry boy; the director (Boman IRani)Virus’ two daughters (Only Kareena is the love interest); the director’s unborn grandson; and eventually after everything, the director HIMSELF.

In the interim is a commentary on the education system and the mad race for excellence – in various tones. There is Aamir cocking a snook at the system in “defining a machine” scene; absurdity of “mugging” in the geeky Chattur Ramalingam’s “Balatkar speech”; the sorrow in the death of Joy Lobo; melodrama in the way Virus learns of his son’s suicide.

And yet, I cannot look at 3 Idiots as a deep commentary on pedagogy. Perhaps there is too much humour, flippancy in it for me to treat it more seriously than I do now. And then there are the litte nags: For one, they cry too much in the film. Everyone does, for Heaven’s sake. Unfortunately nothing puts me off more. Two: too much scatology for my liking, even if it’s just piss. Three: Unable to get beyond Kareena’s horsey face. Prejudices all. Still, they are minor.

Because these days, what with the advancing age and factors such as that, I’m happy to walk into a theatre, if only to laugh. Of that, I certainly got a LOT.

As for Chetan Bhagat, well, he’s got his publicity, hasn’t he? And after all that Pavlovian re-inforcement, it is no surprise I’m saying “Aall izz well”. No, I draw the line at patting the region where my heart is supposed to be.