3 Idiots - A Pragmatic Approach

Image courtesy : antwerpenR on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Through this post I am not trying to be critical of anything depicted in the movie or any particular view. I just want to bring to focus an alternative view, which I consider must be highlighted and brought to the light, and surely it is not entertaining but intriguing!

The flick talks of changing education system, but does it serves the purpose to make comedy of an existing system to promote another one which actually does not exist, or better say does good at individual level only (I for one practice that free-spirited approach to life, speak what's on your mind, do what you want, live by mood, don't follow any rules), you simply cannot ask others to jump with you into the mad race, at the most you can tell them the good and bad. At institutional or organizational level the idea of grading still serves the purpose, how else you want an external observer to grade you? In the movie a person decides to 'help' others achieve their dreams "photograph and become engineer", clinching from them the experience of working for themselves.

Even I too don't like practical and feasible approaches because they are not easy-going and are intensive and painful but then they are sustainable. Why not they show in the movies the true struggle paths one should follow (ask Aamir if he didn't struggle to reach this stature where he can just make one flick a year and share his concerns about society and get people applauding to his excellent skills at delivering babies on a college TT table!) and not some elusive dreams. Why don't they people tell that in true sense hard-work got no substitute, because there are no, or very few limited edition Renchos in the real world to help you out of your own fears, inabilities to communicate your views properly and take those essential steps to visualise your dreams. You are the one with wholesome control of your life, losses and gains being part and parcel of a good life game.

The movie does not highlights the problems actually occurring to the youth and generally mocks things like economic consideration or probably the movie still takes a 15 year older approach to education system, which used to be insensitive. In my opinion need is to make schools and friends to act as true support system for each other and help youngsters brave their career choice decisions at the very time of joining colleges, sometime or probably many time convincing parents to the core. What the movie does is, giving a point-of-view of situation from a successful group of people overlooking the things that situations are not actually so rude in colleges and institutions. I don't know, but I must say pseudo-sympathetic approach sells but to me it fails Aamir's social cause philosophy of recent years.

As Guddu speaks teacher-student relationships have been given a nice treatment. Ego clashes, to the extent of forcing one to commit suicide is just disgusting to look into. We essentially need to stem these problems and it has roots somewhere deeper, probably where parents come into play. Or shall a whole genre rebel?

Any way now the good things. I like the portrayal of characters. Aamir looks a true young-adult, unbelievable to find some 40 something so fitting in a 20 year old's role. The guy called Silencer beats many hands down, probably an implacable character. Truly fond of Mr. Boman Irani, I want that bird's nest and the whole getup he wears in his first interaction with students, just perfect check shirt, spectacles and coat. Madhavan and Joshi are excellent bits, superb punches added to the comedy! Baba on scooty is something so true and sacred that hardly people speak it out on the face. Cinematography dimensions extended to levels excellent. Shooting of north-Indian terrain is appalling, Shimla, Manali and Ladakh. Just awesome to find a dirt-clad Volvo running on exclusively Indian terrain. And yup purple windows on white facades of Cannaught Place give me another colour scheme to toy with....