3 Idiots: Review

All is more than well. On the way to breaking all Bollywood records, 3 Idiots is actually a simple movie with a touching message. It reminds one of Dil Chahta Hai. It is once again, male-oriented, and Aamir Khan outshines everyone else. But the movie speaks to everyone: Don’t run after success. Make yourself capable enough so that success runs after you.

Indian students are widely expected to become engineers, doctors and scientists and pressured by their parents to do extremely well in their studies. This pressure, combined with a system of education that promotes memorization over critical understanding, does not make for the best way of teaching. The film provides a critique of this narrative in the form of Rancho (Aamir Khan) who questions conventional norms and standards as a student at the Imperial College of Engineering, and succeeds in guiding his friends towards real success before disappearing mysteriously.

It’s hilarious. The ‘balatkar’ speech where Rancho replaces the word ‘chamatkar’ (miracle) with ‘balatkaar’ (rape) will go down in history as an epic success in dialogue writing. The movie leaves us with the message of becoming a thinker, not a participant in the wild rat race of life. It’s easily the best movie of 2009.