The infusion of comic relief and unabashed Bollywood melodrama proves to be a successful formula in Rajkumar Hirani’s highly anticipated 3 Idiots.
The gags must have been funny, because the sold out theatre, uncaring for originality, was quaking with laughter. The clever non-linear narrative made for pleasurable viewing, with twists and turns the whole way through.
The university setting and characters are introduced in a stylish, quirky manner involving quick-cut visual sequences and an omniscient comical voice over; in the fashion of contemporary French films such as Jean Pierre Jeunet’s Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain (2001) and Jacques Audiard’s Un héros très discret (1996), to name a couple.
The villains in 3 Idiots are the fascist professors, the institutionalised education system, the ridiculous material precedence of the upper class and social hierarchies constituted by the government – the system itself.
It’s not an easy battle for the three idiots in question – Rancho (Aamir Khan), Raju (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan (Madhavan) to fight, and we learn that despite the strain from their enemies, boys will be boys and “Aal Izz Well”.
Raju and Farhan, amongst other Indian university students are victimized by academic pressure, both domestic and institutional. Throw in a suicide or two, an emotionless professor with an incomprehensible lisp, economically down-trodden families dying to see their sons with degrees and fascinating geek-speak – the world of student engineering is one where people have names such as “Millimeter” and “Virus”.
It is through the seemingly enlightened, non-conformist Rancho that his counterparts are able to live and dream freely without being clouded by the pressure of money and material success.
The film could have developed the issue of Indian youth suicide further, it seemed as though Hirani had explored it in such a way that would not offend, and thus compromised the reality of the controversial topic. 3 Idiots played it very safe – tear-jerking moments went hand-in-hand with slapstick tomfoolery.
Perhaps the critique of the undying Indian obsession with having to become engineers and doctors was enough.
There are only so many times one can be told to “follow your heart”, but the simple yet over-ascribed Disney-esque message that 3 Idiots endorses is perhaps one that some career-driven, child-controlling Indian parents haven’t heard of yet.
* Manisha Anjali has a Bachelor’s degree in Film/TV/Media Studies and English from the University of Auckland