3 Cheers to 3 Idiots! (Movie Review)

Cast : Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani.
Director: Raju Hirani

3 Idiots is not a film. In fact, it's a rollercoaster ride that guarantees you tons and tons of rollicking laughter. The film is like a kid that never tires of entertaining you. The creators of Munnabhai, have just raised their own standards several notches higher with 3 Idiots.

After the few initial sequences, the film is narrated in a non-linear pattern by Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), the first idiot. He is brought together with the second idiot Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) by Chatur Ramalingam, who apparently wants to clear the score with the three idiots. Thanks to Chatur Ramalingam's obsession to prove that he is the winner, the two idiots reunite with the third one- Ranchoddas Laxmandas Chanchad (Aamir Khan).

The three friends, study in a very cool engineering college aptly titled ICE where nicknames are kept to make it obvious that it's the area of numbers, formulas and everything scientific and complex. For example, the handy guy in the college is tagged Millimeter. A dog is named gigabyte and her pups are named kilobyte and megabyte.  Don't worry this family doesn't bite, tells the friendly Millimeter to Farhan.

While Farhan comes to the college because his father wants it, Raju comes because he sees it as a way out of poverty. Their dull and boring lives are changed by Ranchoddas Laxmandas Chanchad who on the very first day proves that he is so smart, he is eccentric! The way he rigs up an instrument so that the senior who pees on his door gets an electric shock, right where it would hurt the most, proves that he is a class apart!

Rancho is naughty and loves making people laugh. He hates the way the educational system works. According to him, the grade system is like the caste system. He hates the fact that the system is mass producing machines and not well-educated people. But his unconventional thinking is easily misconstrued by his professors and especially his rigid principal Veeru Sahastra Buddhe aka Virus, as bad attitude. It puts him in the bad books of the faculty. And since Raju and Farhan always tag along with Rancho on his misadventures, they too fall under the same category. Poor fellows, unlike in the book, here Rancho comes first and they are left to come last in class.

Raju and Farhan's parents are sent a note to inform that their children are getting way too influenced by 'bad company'. So the three are summoned by both the families. At Farhan's house Rancho is totally blamed and not allowed to have food. At Raju's house the food is offered but after seeing that Aunty Rastogi is not very particular about hygiene, the food just doesn't seem so yummy! Rancho as usual comes up with a knock-out idea to gatecrash at a wedding to fill their tummies. That's where he meets Pia (Kareena Kapoor), explains how she shouldn't marry her fiance and also finds out she happens to be Virus's daughter.

Rancho's continued misadventures force Raju to change rooms, so he can be on the safer side. However, Farhan who takes an instant liking to this 'different boy' sticks with him and his ingenious plan to make Raju return. However, it takes Raju's father to get seriously sick and get rescued by Rancho to make Raju realize what a true friend Rancho is. It's apparently during this emergency that he takes Pia's help and this is the point where Pia starts to have a soft corner for him.

The college life of Rancho, Raju and Farhan are filled with disasters and catastrophes, laughter and fun, love and tears. However, no one in their wildest dreams thought that the last day of college would be the last day they will ever see Rancho.

The journey of Raju and Farhan to meet Rancho again, and the many shocking truths that they come across, the stunt they pull to coax Pia to run away from her own shaadi-mandap, all end into a fantastic climax in the beautiful locales of Ladakh.

The movie right from its first frame to the last will continue to tickle your funny bones. However, the sequences that make you howl and grunt in pain are- the ragging scene, the way Raju defines induction motor after he gets drunk, the way Millimeter misinterprets when Rancho says 'Virus ko nikaal' and of course, the 'get- electrocuted- when- you- pee' scenes. The movie has lots of chaddi and ass flashing sequences. So be prepared!

The one thing about this film is that it's very different from the last film that was an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel Hello. If that movie completely butchered Chetan's work, this is just the opposite, probably even better. In fact it seems, in the case of 3 Idiots, the film makers have had a healthy competition with the author. With every passing sequence we see the efforts have gone higher and higher to make the film more interesting. Though, Chetan's was a more realistic novel, Hirani has taken the liberty to go surreal on the celluloid.

Aamir Khan has given up all his Ghajini muscles to put on a slight layer of flab in 3 Idiots. The chubby face gives him a kiddo look, which makes sense as he has to look younger for the character. In every scene and sequence, he continues to make us fall more in love with Rancho.  His chemistry with Kareena may not be the one to set sparks flying, but it's definitely cute.

Kareena Kapoor is a welcome eye-candy in this film. As medical student Pia, she strikes the right balance between being geeky and being gorgeous. However, this bombshell is hard to accept in a comic role. Like they say, to make people laugh is the most difficult thing and Bebo still has to learn the ropes of it.

R. Madhavan as Farhan Qureshi is smooth. The way Farhan removes his anger at Virus by knocking off the letters from the nameplate so that it reads Veerus Buddhe is simply fantastic. Madhavan's cool quotient still continues to charm everyone with every character he portrays.

Sharman Joshi is one person who was there in the last adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's novel and also in this one. He has a gift for comedy. But in this film, the boy is seen struggling to break out of his shell. Soon enough Sharman will be touted for his histrionics.

Boman Irani probably is the only person who could've brought alive the character of Veeru Sahastra Buddhe so beautifully. He looks mad. He talks like he's even crazier. And the lisp just makes his fast talk even more hard to grasp. The peculiar pants that ride above his paunch, the awkward gait, the perpetually upturned smile all make Virus a character who will be remembered for long days to come.

The camera work in this film is amazing. Especially the shot where Raju jumps off the third floor window of Virus' office.

The music is catchy but the lyrics are the ones that make it work. 

Raju Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra couldn't have delivered a better Christmas gift for the Bollywood loving audience. And boy, with the returns this film going to make them, they are sure to have a splendid Christmas and New Year too.

A perfect movie to watch with your friends and family this festive season!

Rating: ****

Reporter and Author: Susan Jose