Dreamward Bound...

3 IDIOTS

4 out of 5 stars

One can always expect class from Rajkumar Hirani. He did it in Lage Raho Munnabhai. He does it again. 3 idiots is the essentially the story of one man, who challenges the mediocrity of the educational system and lives life on his own terms. An adaptation of Chetan bhagat’s bestseller, 3 idiots lashes out at the stunted and increasingly bureaucratic structure of education in India. Not only it excels in efficiently depicting the copious amount of stress taken by the students, but it also digs deep into the psyche of college scholars. Despite of the seriousness of the message, the movie is a laugh riot and a true entertainer.

Aamir Khan, as always brings magic on the screen by his mere presence, brilliantly supported by Sharman joshi and R. Madhavan. But the man to watch out is Boman Irani, who plays the role of Viru sahastrabuddhe, the director of a prestigious engineering college. Depicting an idealistic, erudite, no-nonsense taking professor, Boman actually manages to make the audience hate the character’s guts. The eyebrows raised countenance invokes fear and loathing in the mind of the younger viewers.

Another fellow who mesmerizes by his performance is the American actor Omi Vaidya. He plays the typical nerd, who relies on rote learning and debars himself from all social activities. He makes the character multi-dimensional, who takes pride in his being a rattu tota , doesn’t care much about company, studies rock hard for exams while at the same time, creating hindrance in other students’ preparations.

The movie’s only flaw is becoming overly melodramatic in the end. There was absolutely no need of the child birth sequence; there are other ways to woo the Director of the institute and saving your friends from disaster than helping her daughter deliver her baby.

A commendable adaptation, the movie outshines the novel by the sheer force of the message it conveys; a true ending to the year 2009.