Too long; gets much better towards the end; ripe for a Hollywood remake

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2015)

A wonderful and uplifting if at times cheesy movie. This is quite possibly the first Bollywood film I've ever watched ---I am glad to have done so.
Suggestions:
This would have been a much better film had it been say 1 hr 50m instead of 2hr 50m in length. Cut back on some of the school and antics stuff. (But perhaps a lengthier film is standard in Bollywood? I do not know.)
The 10 years later stuff especially was good and should have taken up half the film rather than just one third.
All the suicides and suicide attempts were a bit too melodramatic and unbelievable. It'd be fine if it were really a reasonably accurate portrayal of school life in India---suppose say the average person attending one of these top schools is likely to be acquainted with at least one person who has attempted suicide primarily because of such matters. But I doubt there is anywhere in the world---even in India, China, Japan, Korea---where things get that extreme.