Like a cross between Animal House (without the extreme crudeness) and Dead Poet Society

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2019)

I don't remember what path led us to this film except that when we saw Steven Spielberg quoted as loving it we added it to our list.
Enthusiasm waned when we saw the description which sounded like Animal House. A 3 hour long Animal House.
But then we saw it was the highest grossing Indian movie ever when it came out. Courage returned.
Then we saw the movie poster. And we really wondered what we were letting ourselves in for. Coming across Big in Bollywood, a documentary following the American-born Indian cast member, bolstered Tom and Rose's courage. I hadn't seen it but went along for the 3 Idiots ride.
It was something like a cross between Animal House (without the extreme crudeness) and Dead Poet Society. With some song and dance numbers thrown in because it is Bollywood, so of course. And it was surprisingly charming a lot of the time. Uneven but we weren't sorry we watched it. We didn't expect it to tackle very serious themes (that's the Dead Poet Society part) but it was done quite sensitively.
Overall enjoyable as long as you are willing to go along for the ride. And the dance number with the umbrellas is adorable.