idiots...a lot of idiots

Rating: 5/10 (22 July 2010)

I am writing this very late, even though I saw the movie on the first dayit took a second fast-forward viewing on my laptop to compel me to opine on this film. And since brushing through the comments, I found a lot of good stuff written about it, I'd like to skip over the brownie points the film certainly deserves and focus on what I found sodisappointing.
1) sigh, the jokeswhat to say, I actually felt embarrassed listening to them and hear people guffaw on stuff that evoked chuckles in the 70s. 2) over the top scenes which were just not required- Rancho taking a bath in the garden(!) in front of everyone? In most good institutes even walking on the grass is frowned uponn here this chap doesn't mind spoiling the soil with his soapy water. (This is what annoys me about characters portrayed as non-conformists. They confuse it with plain indecency and ludicrousness, like when Patch Adams bared his bottom after getting his degree); n driving the scooter into the hospital itselfwhy couldn't he just stop at the doorway n make it a genuinely good shot??? 3) The timeline was all wrong; did no one do math at primary school? Farhan says they hadn't seen rancho for 5 yrsramalingam returns after 10 yrs to keep the betno one saw rancho after college finishedengineering is 4 yrsthe bet could not have been made before the second semester as they already have had at least one semester exams!!! Simple math will tell you its all goofed up. Kareena kapoor was engaged when these guys were in 1st-2nd yearso she waited 8 years to get married??? If that banker guy was so considerate and patient, he is the real hero 4) Anybody who has lived in hostel with room mates will tell you that in 4 yrs together, you get to know every minute detail about you buddies; these guys didn't even know rancho's hometown! 5) And these supposedly bright engineers and the doctor Kareena don't have even enough brains to look up the college records to find Rancho's address? They could have at least asked Boman Irani, who would have certainly known it considering he knew Chachad's monthly income! 6) Even with that lame, copied joke 'Do you know who I am', they are just ridiculing their own film; is it so difficult for a professor to find three students of a class whose faces he has seen from the college records? A cheeky antic like that would have meant instant suspension in a real IIT. 7) Hirani's idea of ragging is based on the fairy tales boys brag to wide-eyed fifth-graders; you just cant survive in a hostel if you electrocute a senior's winkie on you first day. I'd have loved it had they shown Rancho getting a beating from seniors in return for his actionsit would have truly highlighted the ragging problem. Instead they showed the whole bunch of seniors running scared on seeing a baby-faced fresher with a live wire. 8) And oh, they took the peeing joke too far, too many timesits disgusting. Ramalingam, a VP of some MNC peeing on a school building? Come on 9) I understand that the ridiculous arrangement barred Rancho from keeping in touch with any student from ICSbut what about Kareena? Was his love so shallow he didn't give a damn about her just to honor some crazy vow which didn't even involve her? How are they showing Indian women? She has no self-respect? She runs away from her wedding, betraying a guy who waited 10 years for her to a guy who left her in a heartbeat? And is it unnatural or materialistic to scream if someone spoils your 2 lac wedding dress or loses a 3 lac watch??? Again the problem with execution of an idea; there were a thousand better ways to expose that guy's shallownessbut all what rancho and his pals did was irritate him by damaging his property. 10) And the law breaking, which when done with timing looks good was just taken too fargetting an international flight stopped, fooling a taxi driver who'd probably lose his job, leaking university paper- they are criminal offenses-why do you need to portray new age thinking with a disdain for the law? 11) And finally even if we forget the fact that any decent college has a medical attendant, a health centre and generators always present to accord a movie a spicy climax, hirani spoilt it with the all-is-well cliché. Cant just one thing be normal?