3 Idiots : Don’t be the fourth

Yet another movie based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel. And this time it’s his maiden novel (5 point someone) that made waves with its popularity. The setback that “Hello” based on “One night at the call centre” had hit me really hard, and the pain could still be felt. But it helped too. Because, if you go with a mindset of having a visual treat of the novel that you have already enjoyed reading, then you’ll be the fourth idiot.

Somewhere in Delhi, there is this no. 1 engineering college of India, called – “Imperial College of Engineering”. Farhan Qureshi [R. Madhavan] has taken admission in this elite college half-heartedly, because parents want him to become an “Engineer”. He meets his room-mate Raju Rastogi [Sharman Joshi] who spends more time praying to God for success, then studying. They soon meet a guy who is different. A young man who has a very strange philosophy of life. He comes to college in search of learning new things. He believes that a person’s heart is full of fear, and only way to overcome this fear is, fool the heart by saying “All is well”, or rather as he says it, “Aal izz well”. This person, Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad [Amir Khan] or “Rancho” soon mingles with the other two lads, and continues to make an impression on their minds with his out of the world attitude.

Amid the funny pranks and typical college-type songs that you often find in Hindi films, Rancho continues with his unusual ways of convincing the strict Director of the college, Viru Sahastrabudhhe [Boman Irani] or (fondly?) called by his students as the Virus, that education is all about teaching new things and not scoring marks. Evidently, Rancho is in bad books of the Director and consequently his other two compatriots.

Their friendship then sees various ups and downs. As the story unfolds, the Director’s daughter, Pia Sahastrabudhhe [Kareena Kapoor] also falls in love with Rancho, despite (or may be because of) him breaking her engagement.

The rest of the plot just tells about following your passion in life, accompanied with a few clumsy and “filmy”-kind of scenes.

On acting front, obviously, Amir Khan as Rancho is way ahead of the rest of the lot with his class and excellence. The success of the movie if at all can be credited solely to him too. Sharman Joshi as the frustrated student also does well. Sharman has shown by now that he is one actor with serious talent and not to be written off. R. Madhavan doesn’t have a meaty enough role to prove his mettle. Kareena Kapoor as Rancho’s love interest is bearable. But she is the same as we have seen her in many other movies. Nothing different, or in Rancho’s language – ‘no innovations’ with this role. Boman Irani as the strict Director is apt, but may sometimes remind you of the Dean from Munna Bhai MBBS.

Rajkumar Hirani’s break from Munna Bhai series doesn’t separate the flavour of his direction. He has some good ideas, but has relied on those many typical larger then life kind of sequences like “Halting the flying plane”, “Riding the scooter in the hospital corridors” or worse, hold your breath, “Engineering students carrying out a successful baby delivery”. These add to some of the major drawbacks of the film. But the thing working in the favour of the film is the “Entertainment factor” that is present in Hirani’s direction.

Shantanu Moitra's music is catchy in some places, but is not hummable under the shower. Lyrics by Swanand Kirkire in the song "Give me some sunshine" is simply superb and nicely conceptualized.

Chetan Bhagat’s novel “Five Point Someone” tells much more then just following the passions. 3 Idiots may not say it all, but is able to give that same essence to some extent (ignoring all those filmy alterations). Atleast it was a much better attempt then the previous “Hello”, which had really murdered the plot of the novel. And after all, the film is making business too... As they say, "Aal izz well" that ends well.

My Rating : ** 1/2