Professor: How does an induction motor start?
Student: Dhurrrrrrrrr
Professor: Stop It
Student: rrrrrrrrrh!
Every engineering college has a super-senior (a senior who takes 8 years to finish his 4 years course) to whom this joke is attributed.
When the NASA astronauts discovered that their pens did not work in space, they spent a million dollars to create a pen that could write perfectly well in space. The Russians used a pencil. The movie has a reworking of this joke - though I must admit the real punch line doesn’t end there; it comes towards the end of the film.
How many times have you not entertained your friends by replacing the word chamatkar with balatkar to great effect?
If nothing is impossible why cant you just put the paste back into the toothpaste tube once it is out? (yawn)
'3 Idiots' is surfeit with such I-have-heard-them-all-before gags.
Every post-Lagaan Aamir Khan film, I ignore all the hype and sometimes end up watching it without any expectation except that it turns out to be a wash-out. Most movies turn out to be hits - even blockbusters. '3 Idiots' is probably the most entertaining Hindi movie of the year.
This film, though skeletally resembles a Munnabhai Movie, is not one - it is an imposter. The credo of a Munnabhai Movie is to take the viewer genuinely to the brink of tears and then leave him in splits inspite of himself and vice versa. The makers forget the truism in Frank Capra's homily that tragedy is not when the actors cry but when the audience cries. You see almost all the main characters in the film crying copiously at least once - almost breaking the fourth wall and begging you to cry along with them. The movie tries too hard to make you cry and goes overboard in trying to make you laugh (with the likes of the aforementioned stale jokes) eventually failing in doing either. Even I, being a sucker for emotional stuff was left largely unmoved.
The movie has a lot of predictable scenes. For instance, the twist during the intermission albeit interesting, turns out to be quite figureoutable. It is at least 15 minutes longer expressly because of the delivery-on-the-TT-table scene - which I understand has a purpose which could have been achieved in probably far lesser time. The purpose of the entire movie is to question the education system in India and encourage the teachers, parents and students to teach and learn the right way - which is a long term goal. Of course, the short term goal of the movie is to make good money, which it definitely will succeed in achieving.
Here are a few things that I really liked about the movie:
Newcomer Omi Vaidya's performance as Chatur Ramalingam is best thing about the movie. He comes up with the most convincing performance in the entire film. I expressly recommend you to watch this movie for him. He features in the centerpiece scene of the movie and brings the house down with his histrionics as he addresses the entire college - the Indian cinematic equivalent of the iconic chapter in English literature where Gussie Fink-Nottle distributes the prizes at Market Snodsbury Grammar School. I wish he gets the Filmfare best supporting actor award for this performance.
The scene where Madhavan convinces his father that he wants to become a wildlife photographer (this scene is strongly reminiscent of the scene is one of the Munnabhai movies where Jimmy Shergill confesses to his father about blowing-up his (father's) money. The deja vu is even more intense because in both the cases the father is Parikshat Sahni) crosscut with Sharman Joshi's job interview is one of the highlights of the movie.
The scene towards the end where Boaman Irani hands it (both literally and figuratively) to Aamir Khan works very well.
Also, there is a scene involving Javed Jafrey, Sharman Joshi and Madhavan that is a hat-tip to Andaz Apna Apna. It is very close to the 'Amar! Goli' scene.
As for the mid-forties Aamir Khar playing a college going lad - trust me, I have seen classmates in engineering college who could pass off as fathers and uncles. If someone is telling you that the 40+ Aamir playing college going guy doesn't make the cut, they are lying. Aamir Khan has found a way to fight his age and that smile with both eyebrows raised is going to keep him in good stead for a few years to come.
After watching the movie, I have added Ladhak in one of my must-see places.
All in all, I highly recommend this movie. Something about it could remind you of your own college days.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Idiots.
