‘3 Idiots’: Education for Grades and Breads
'3 Idiots' is a satiric comedy released in 2009. This is third film of Rajkumar Hirani. The film is based on a novel by Chetan Bhagat, entitled 'Five Point Someone' and its screenplay is written by Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopda. The film was an instant hit at the box-office. The film featured some of the real inventions done by the common people of India. Like the earlier two films of Hirani, this film, too, follows the same design and fights against an institution, namely education system.
The
film is about Ranchhod Das Chanchad, "Rancho", who is crazy about learning
but doesn't believe in institutionalized approach to learning in which we talk
about higher grades and better paying jobs. He wants to learn for the sake of
knowledge. His two room-mates at Imperial College of Engineering Farhan
Qureshi, who wants to be a photographer but doing engineering because of
parental pressure, and Raju Rastogi, who hails from poor family and lacks
confidence, are his partners in all his ventures at the college. Rancho's views
on learning are starkly opposite to the traditionalist philosophy of the Dean
of the college, Viru Shahastrabuddhe who believes that 'life is a race'. And
Dean's philosophy prevails in the academic practices at the college because of
which Rancho comes into direct conflict with the teachers and later with Dean
himself. Rancho falls for Pia, the younger daughter of Dean. His fight against
grades based education continues and advocates the choice based education in
which learning and knowledge are more important than the grades and jobs.
Ultimately, these three friends are expelled from the college and when they
were leaving the campus, Dean's pregnant elder daughter Mona goes into labor.
The conditions are very bad, heavy rain, no electricity and road blockages. At
this time, using his knowledge of engineering and with the guidance of Pia,
Rancho helps deliver the baby. Dean realizes his mistake and allows them to
complete their exams.
The
entire story mentioned above is in flashback. The present day story runs to
find Rancho. Their college rival, Chatur Ramalingam, reminds them of a bet that
had during college days. But Rancho doesn't turn up on the stipulated day and
time, so Raju and Farhan, taking Chatur with them much to his unwillingness,
starts a journey to find Rancho. But, it turns out that the real 'Ranchhod Das'
is somebody else and the Rancho whom they are looking for was actually a
servant Chhote in his house. Ultimately they find out that Rancho is none other
than famous Phunsukh Wangdu, an inventor with hundreds of patents on his name.
Thus, Wangdu wins the bet against Chatur as being more successful.
The
Protagonist - Rancho, the protagonist of the movie is different from Munna Bhai
as he is not an anti-social element. But, at the same time, Rancho shares some
of his features. Rancho is so crazy about knowledge enhancement and practical
solutions that he's unable to be understood by the others. His solutions are
also out of the box based on his technical competence. Rancho is a pseudo-name;
the person standing as Rancho is not Rancho but Phunsukh Wangdu. So again, the
hero is devoid of real social identity and hence not afraid to lose his social
face. Like Munna Bhai, he, too, is helping by nature.
The
Helpers - Farhan and Raju, the room-mates of Rancho are his helpers. But,
unlike the helper of previous two movies, both of them are worried about their
social status. In fact, Farhan is doing engineering just because of social
pressure. Over the period, they started understanding Rancho's abnormal tactics
of handling the issues and though hesitantly, they supported him in every
situation. They helped him in proposing Pria and in the end they 'hijacked' her
from her marriage to meet Rancho.
The
Goal - Like the previous films, this film also deals with multiple goals. To
convince the parents of Farhan to allow him to pursue his dream, and let him be
a photographer. To enhance the self-confidence of Raju and allow him to aid his
family's economic conditions. Not to get Pia married to NRI banker who is
referred to as price-tag. To achieve Pia's love. To make Viru and the other
teachers realize that knowledge is more important than grades and mechanical
jobs. To win the bet against Chatur. To get the pen from the Dean which is
supposed to be given to an exceptional student. To make the audience realize
the problems with our education system and our approach towards grades and
results. To develop a practical approach to problems of day-to-day life. Almost
all the goals are achieved in the run of the movie, except that what impression
remains with the audience after the experience of the film. Have they changed
their attitude?
The
Antagonist - The system of education in which grades are considered more
important than the knowledge, in which student's job prospect is considered
more important than his/her interest is the real enemy here. The Dean, the
teachers of the institute and some students like Chatur are the stakeholders of
this system. They prefer this system so that their established interests are
maintained. This system teaches to run without deciding the destination to
reach. Jobs should be given to knowledgeable candidate, but candidate's
knowledge is judged upon his grades and not his capacity to think innovatively
and come up with easier, practical and applicable solutions.
Self-realization
- In the present case, unlike Munna Bhai, Rancho cannot use the force. But,
Rancho could have become self-centered and achieved what he wanted to. But, he
decides to help others and improve over-all conditions of the academics at the
institute. He not only helps Farhan achieve his dream but also convinces Raju
to leave religious superstitions and develop self-confidence. He, once, teaches
in the class also, in which he words his idea of learning as learning something
new. He even completes the project of a senior student who commits suicide.
But, he finds that his philosophy of 'success follows genius' is too abstract
for most of the people at the campus. Especially, it is difficult to make
believe to the Dean and other teachers of the institute because most of the
students want good marks not good knowledge. Students like Chatur who solely
depends on rote learning are normally the favorite students of the teachers. Under
such a situation, Rancho's quest for knowledge for himself and his friends
becomes futile.
Help
from a Closed-one - Pia fights with his father regarding the stand of Rancho.
She also blames Viru that his son, Pia’s brother, has committed suicide because
he wanted to do Arts and not engineering. Because of the parental pressure for engineering
course, he committed suicide. Viru is not ready to accept it. Later, Rancho and
his friends help Mona, elder daughter of the Dean, deliver the baby. This time
Viru can notice Rancho's passion for Engineering and his technical knowledge
too. At the same time, he also understands that he is not against him for any
personal grudge. He accepts the fact that children should be allowed to follow
their passion and he tells his Grand-son to become a football player as he
kicks. Thus, Pia's opposition to his father and Rancho's good-will brings a
happy ending.
Ultimately,
Chatur loses his bet as he earns quite-well, yet he has to look for the genius
of Phunsukh Wangdu who has 400 patents on his name. Pia doesn't get married to
'price tag' and Rancho (Wangdu) and Pia met finally. Farhan becomes a
successful photographer; Raju also has a good job. And the Dean accepts that
passion for a subject or field is more important than the grades. Audience also
receives a strong message about the choice and consent of their wards in the
selection of the academic career. Film also focuses on the suicides committed
by the youngsters due to bad results and parental or peer pressure.
Published in: The Hills Times – Heritage July 6, 2017. Page No. 07
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