I knew of 3 idiots because it was really popular back in the day in my country, one of the most popular and most talked about back in the day. I watched it not knowing what to expect, used to watch movies back in the day not over criticizing and not really knowing what to expect. It was an Indian movie about three university students, but I honestly didn't expect it to be that emotional at the end at least because at a point i thought i was just watching a comedy but somewhere along the way, this movie was talking about friendship, societal pressure, success and the fear of disappointing the people we love.
Three idiots is about these engineering students, Rancho, Farhan and Raju, who become close friends while studying at one of India's most competitive engineering colleges. Rancho, played by Aamir Khan, is different from the other students almost immediately. While everyone else seems obsessed with grades, rankings and getting a good job, Rancho is much more interested in actually understanding what he is learning and the practicability of what he is learning. He constantly questions the education system and refuses to accept the idea that getting good grades automatically means someone is intelligent.
Farhan and Raju are very different from him. Farhan is studying engineering largely because his father expects him to, even though his real passion lies somewhere else. Raju, meanwhile, comes from a struggling family and feels enormous pressure to succeed because he believes his future depends entirely on his academic performance. Together, the three of them make an unlikely group, but their friendship becomes the heart of the movie.
One of the things about 3 Idiots is how accurately it captures academic pressure which i think is extreme in Asian countries. The students aren't simply competing with each other. They are competing for their futures and every exam feels like it determines their entire lives. Every low grade feels like failure and an abandoned future. The movie doesn't in anyway say that education is bad. Instead, it just questions what happens when education becomes nothing more than a race for grades, jobs and status. There is a huge difference between learning something because you are genuinely interested in it and learning it because you're terrified of failing or you just need it to pass.
I also cant say enough just how much i enjoyed the friendship between Rancho, Farhan and Raju. They are completely different people, but they become the kind of friends who are there for each other when things become difficult and their friendship contributes immensely to the comedic aspect of the movie and this movie is genuinely funny, there are so many ridiculous moments that had me laughing, especially whenever Rancho decides to challenge the university's rules.
Some of the emotional moments in the movie was actually really emotional, i think i even cried at the end of the movie. The struggles of Raju and Farhan in particular show how dangerous it can be when people feel like they have no control over their own future, it could really lead to depression and lots of years wherein the years roll by and you dont feel like you are happy or achieving anything purposeful because you have no passion for what you are doing.
I also liked the way the movie portrays parents. It doesn't simply make them villains, many of them genuinely believe they are doing what is best for their children.
The problem is that sometimes parents can become so focused on what they believe will guarantee their child's success that they stop listening to what the child actually wants.
I also just have to talk about Professor "Virus." He represents almost everything Rancho disagrees with about the education system. He is obsessed with competition, discipline and rankings, and he believes that only the strongest students will survive but I actually appreciated that the movie doesn't make him completely ridiculous. He genuinely believes in his philosophy. That's what makes the conflict . Rancho believes education should inspire curiosity, while Virus believes education should prepare students for an unforgiving world.
At the end of the day, it is really a movie about choosing your own life. Farhan has to confront the fact that he is pursuing a career because someone else chose it for him. Raju has to overcome his fear of failure. Rancho has to prove that his unconventional approach to life isn't simply rebellion for the sake of rebellion. An absolutely brilliant movie!!!
Image source - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/?ref_=mv_close
Rating: 83/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/movies.