Great Entertainer / but Story and Character holes

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2010)

3 Idiots is way too short a movie, which is simply another way of saying that it is an extremely entertaining movie! Raju Hirani has served an hat trick. Three great movies in a row. Raju has brought his Gandhigiri to the world of education, this time the Gandhian is Rancho.
Acting is great by Boman Irani, Sharman Joshi and the best Omi Vaidya or Chatur, without whom 3 idiots would not have been what it is.
Its almost impossible to find any significant deviations to excellence when you have a team like this one. Raju, Boman, Aamir, the perfectionist to name a few.
But there were a couple of things under the surface that disturbed me a little bit.
To start with the easy one, When you anger your senior in the first 5 minutes of entering the college, you know for sure it cannot end there. So from that point of view, the ragging scene mysteriously ends prematurely. Another one is, Boman Iirani or Virus knows Rancho's dad's monthly income but not his address? They spend 10 years searching for him, why didn't they check the college register?
Now for some serious ones.
I like Aamir Khan movies because you never ever ever see Aamir, you only see the character he is playing, which is exactly how it should be. Unlike Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan movies where you see the movie stars instead of their characters (exceptions apply of course, for example in "Chak de India" you couldn't find Shah Rukh even if you wanted to). In 3 idiots, I got to see Aamir Khan more than a couple of times and I was surprised. That got me thinking, why would our perfectionist entertainer allow for something like this.
The plot thickens and the mystery deepens. Hmmmm. So I dug deeper and eventually hit the gold mine. Its not Aamir, it's his character Rancho which has a fundamental flaw that even Aamir could not overcome. Rancho is projected as someone who loves to learn, he wants to take in every ounce of knowledge he can absorb for any source possible. But his actions are that of a revolutionary, from teaching the director on how to teach to mocking the definitions of machines and books. On one side he is a sponge, an introvert on the other hand he is a rebel, and extrovert. These opposites needed reconciliation in the story.
Somewhere along the way, even meanness crept in. I am referring to Chatur's switched speech. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every bit of that scene. But that does not mean that it flowed with Rancho's character. I think the writers mixed up Aamir's earlier characters, Aakash from Dil Chahta Hai would do this in a heartbeat, DJ from "Rang de Basanti" would probably go one step beyond, but not Rancho and definitely not for a "demo". Rancho is pure, or at least that's what Raju is portraying him. The same goes with the climax. Now, even though, all of us cheered when Chatur got shafted towards the end in a strange twist of fate. Some how I had a hard time believing that filing 400 patents and signing with the Japanese gel well with this Gandhian educator.
Aamir, in his interview, mentioned his approach to looking young in the movie. His pacings, mannerisms, style of dialogue delivery etc. He executes brilliantly on them.
Madhavan is decent. He could have been much better.
Omi Vaidya, or Chatur, is the real find of this movie. Hope to see more from him.
One additional aspect which is not easily apparent is that this is one of the few movies that projects intelligence with the coolness it deserves, and not in the traditional Hollywood style of nerd portrayal. This is a better role model for students. Towards that end it is on par with Matrix.
To make it clear, this movie is vastly more entertaining than most of the movies of 2009. But I am not comparing this movie with other movies, that would be like comparing apples with windows. I am comparing this to other Aamir and Raju Herani movies. And in that comparison, this does not shine as bright.
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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.
* Raggers are caught by the director and are convinced without any "pressure" not to rag any more * Reconcile Rancho's character's fundamental flaw, requires serious deep dive * Motivation for Chatur's speech prank redone, maybe not even instigated by Rancho * Some better reason why nobody can find Rancho * Redo the Javed Jaffery scene where he talks to his dead father, turning the tables to show that Javed actually wanted to take his father to Disney Land but his father kept on insisting that they wait for the highway contract to go thru. That would be hilarious. * Sharman Joshi's family is so central to him but are missing 10 years later, in the starting scene, some how bring them in. Maybe his wife is on the phone talking to his sister, happily married in Bombay, when she yells "No Pants".
This review was originally posted on my blog: http://roundhayreview.blogspot.com/2010/01/3-idiots.html