Monday, February 1, 2010

The Idiots that we are..

Came across this brilliant crique of the 3 idiots


http://www.naachgaana.com/2009/12/26/abzees-concerns-and-criticism-of-3-idiots/

Set me thinking on what is original? Has everything of interest already been done or invented? Especially in art forms where strong impressions would remain imprinted in the artist's mind and would get reproduced in similar or another manner!


Granted. The movie was good. And I like Aamir Khan and most of his films. There were few pin pricks for me in 3 Idiots though...


The film's message is to seek excellence, but it is ironical that the creative team has to take shelter in melodrama to put across the issue. The scene that rankled me was the one where the college student commits suicide becos the dean doesnot give him extra time (even without bothering to see his work thus far)..

We say that India has some of the best educational institutions in the world. Do any of them have deans and directors like the ones caricatured? I can laugh at the teacher's antics in say Main Hoon Naa becos it was meant to be frivolous, but not in a movie of this type where the script wants us to believe that the caricatured teachers are driving intelligent students to suicide!

The film is hugely successful and hence obviously leaves impressions on students. Dramatic license apart, should not film makers be careful on how a message is passed on? Especially the highly successful ones.



BTW, some time back, I happened to hear an address by the director of a premier institution. I will try to post a separate thread on the same.





































2 comments:

Unknown said...

Let me confess at the onset that i saw 3 idiots and i liked it very much

Given the current paradigm of hindi masala movies, if the acting is good and there is some takeaway, I think its a job decently done. Ofcourse, as a movie it would not feature even in top 50 or 100 list. Also agree with most of the stuff written in the review -the link that has been provided by u. Some of the scenes were just over the top and absolutely wasted

I don’t think the film’s message is about seeking excellence………It’s a simple message that there are various options apart from engineering or medicine. And the real joy is in doing what you want to and not what your parents/teachers/society want you to. I thot that’s a great message. (Though the fact remains few of us really know what we want to do and even then may not be completely sure…So might as well do something that our loved ones want us to)

End of the day if the movie is able to make people realise that kids are committing suicide on account of some pressures emanating from the present educational system, i guess its worth it. (Yes there are more suicides on account of ragging or there are farmers commiting suicide all over the place but that doest mean one should not talk of students killing/or getting depressed on account of stress our educational system creates).It may not be on account of the institution or the teachers as the movie states but not everything needs to be taken very literally. There is an underlying message and that is conveyed in a form that even the lowest common denominator can understand and in the current format of commercial movies being made these days………….


Honestly, i had read in newspapers about students committing suicides on account of exam pressures even before, but somehow the whole thing hit me hard with just one dialogue delivered by Kareena in the film "Woh suicide nahin tha -Murder tha".(When she speaks to Boman Irani about her brother’s death).


Acting was superb. Some of the scenes were genuinely funny or atleast made one laugh out loud. Songs were decent. Yes its definitely not a cult film .But it managed to strike a chord ……. But I didn’t think Munnabhai series was some brilliant stuff either……..


I am a big fan of “Jaane bhi do yaron” and I cud only think of this to be in the same genre as 3 idiots. A social message (on corruption) conveyed with gr8 humour and fun . 3 idiots does not come even remotely close to Kundan Shah’s movie.

Personally feel the movie should have been rated “A”. Thot some of the stuff shown was not meant for kids

KRG said...

Well. We all see what we want to see. For me the toilet humour in Chandini Chowk to China is much more tolerable than in this film

For argument sake, is it possible for an 18 yr old to see the film and generalise the blame on the education system's failure to give him the degree that HE wants (viz., Engg, MBA etc..);forget what his parents want.

"Seek excellence and not success" I thought was the central theme and my point is that the film makers make this and other generalisations rather flippantly; atleast not in an "excellent" manner. To me the generalisations, the caricatures, the inconsistencies..all represent seeking success rather than excellence

I feel that the issue of parents' expectations is more important than education system and this is made much more eloquently in Tare Jamin Par, ironically another Aamir Khan film

Cheers