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3 Idiots
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3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film
co-written (with Abhijat Joshi) and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Starring
Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani and
Omi Vaidya, the film follows the friendship of three students at an Indian
engineering college and is a satire about the social pressures under an Indian
education system.[6][7][8] The film is narrated through parallel dramas, one
in the present and the other ten years in the past. It also incorporated real
Indian inventions, namely those created by Remya Jose,[9] Mohammad Idris,
[10] Jahangir Painter[11] and Sonam Wangchuk.[12]
3 Idiots
3 idiots poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Rajkumar Hirani
Produced by
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Screenplay by
Abhijat Joshi
Rajkumar Hirani
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Story by
Rajkumar Hirani
Abhijat Joshi
Based on
Five Point Someone by
Chetan Bhagat
Starring
Aamir Khan
R. Madhavan
Sharman Joshi
Kareena Kapoor
Boman Irani
Omi Vaidya
Narrated by
R. Madhavan
Music by
Shantanu Moitra
Cinematography
C. K. Muraleedharan
Edited by
Rajkumar Hirani
Production
company
Vinod Chopra Films
Distributed by
Reliance BIG Pictures
Release date
25 December 2009 (India)
Running time
170 minutes[1]
Country
India
Language
Hindi
Budget
₹55 crore[2][3]
Box office
est. ₹460 crore[4][5]
Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films, 3
Idiots received widespread critical[13] and commercial success upon its
release on 25 December 2009. The film was the highest-grossing film in its
opening weekend in India, had the highest opening day collections for an
Indian film up until that point and also held the record for the highest net
collections in the first week for a Bollywood film. It also became one of the
few Indian films at the time to become successful in East Asian markets such
as China[14] and Japan,[15] eventually bringing its worldwide gross to ₹392
crore ($90 million)[a][4][5]—it was the highest-grossing Indian film ever at
the time.[16] The film also had a social impact on attitudes to education in
India.[17]
The film won six Filmfare Awards including Best Film and three National Film
Awards including Best Popular Film. Overseas, it won the Grand Prize at
Japan's Videoyasan Awards[18][19][15] while was nominated for Best
Outstanding Foreign Language Film at the Japan Academy Awards[20][21]
and Best Foreign Film at China's Beijing International Film Festival.[22] This
film was remade in Tamil as Nanban (2012), which also received critical
praise and commercial success.[23][24] Nanban had a Telugu dubbed
version titled Snehitudu. A Mexican remake, 3 Idiotas, was also released in
2017.[25]
Plot Edit
Farhan and Raju are called at ICE by Chatur on "Sept.5" . Then Farhan tells
the story of Rancho in flashbacks of 10 years ago. Farhan Qureshi (R.
Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) begin their college year in the
prestigious Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) in Delhi. They are joined by
Ranchoddas Chanchad (Aamir Khan), nicknamed "Rancho", as their
roommate. While Farhan chose to pursue engineering over his passion for
photography to appease his father, Raju has taken the course in an attempt
to end his family's poverty. Rancho, on the other hand, is genuinely
interested in science and engineering. He believes in hands-on learning and
tends to give unorthodox answers in class, resulting in him coming into
conflict with the professors, particularly the institution's director, Viru
Sahastrabuddhe (Boman Irani), whom the ICE community nicknames "Virus".
Virus's traditional and strict philosophies on education contrast sharply with
Rancho's carefree love of learning. Meanwhile, Chatur (Omi Vaidya),
nicknamed “Silencer", is an arrogant Ugandan Tamil student with little
knowledge of Hindi, who is obsessed with topping the exams.
Sometime later, the trio finds that a student named Joy Lobo (Ali Fazal)
committed suicide by hanging himself; his suicide was caused by depression
after Virus informs Joy's father that he'll be unable to graduate due to the
delay in his submission of an assignment. Joy had taken longer as he wanted
to perfect his breakthrough drone design of a quad-copter. Rancho criticises
Virus' method of teaching and tries to show him how much pressure
engineers face when they study, angering him further. Rancho visits his
friends' families and later the trio then gatecrash a wedding to eat good
food. They meet and befriend Pia (Kareena Kapoor), who turns out to be
Virus' daughter and a residency student at the city's hospital. Rancho
advises Pia not to marry her fiancée Suhas Tandon because he’s madly
obsessed with expensive jewellery, brands, and prices. Rancho gives Pia a
demo on Suhas’ behaviour, he spills mint sauce on his shoes to annoy him.
When Virus spots the trio, he summons Farhan and Raju on the next working
day and threatens them of consequences of being friends with Rancho by
comparing their family's income. He tells them that Rancho comes from a
very rich family and does not need to worry about getting good grades and
making a career. Affected, Raju moves out to Chatur's room. During the
Teachers Day celebration, Chatur is humiliated when he delivers a Hindi
speech modified by Rancho and as a result, he bets Rancho that ten years
later they would see who is more successful. Sometime later, Pia is at the
mall with Suhas and spots Rancho with an invention named after Virus; The
Virus Inverter. Rancho explains to Pia that he dislikes the way her father
teaches engineering and that they end up lame like Suhas. Rancho plays a
prank on Suhas when he pretends that Pia lost her watch and that he shows
more value to expensive stuff rather than her. Fed up with Suhas’ behaviour,
she tells him off. Ranch and Pia save Raju's dying father with the help of Pia.
Raju reconciles with his friends while Pia falls in love with Rancho.
One night during their senior year, Farhan and Raju are upset that they’re
failing every year and that Rancho is always in the front of every school
picture. Rancho reveals that the reason why they’re failing is because;
Farhan is not focussing on his true passion in wildlife photography because of
his father wanting him to be an engineer instead, and Raju who is too scared
of the future and fears of not ending his family’s poverty keeps slipping on
holy rings on his fingers to pray for this and his exam results. Rancho thinks
that Raju is stuck in the past and Farhan stuck in pretence. Farhan exposes
Rancho saying that he is stuck in both past pretence of not telling Pia that he
is in love with her and didn’t tell her for the past four years. The three friends
drunkenly break into the Sahastrabuddhe residence so that Rancho can
propose to Pia. As the trio escape, Virus recognises Raju and threatens to
expel him unless he writes a letter implicating Rancho for the break-in.
Unwilling to betray Rancho or disappoint his family, Raju unsuccessfully
attempts suicide and ends up in a coma. With intensive care and support
from his friends, Raju recovers just in time for a corporate job interview.
Meanwhile, Rancho and Pia post Farhan's letter to his favourite photographer
Andre Istvan, who offers him a position as an assistant. After advice from
Rancho, he communicates his dream to his father, who though reluctant at
first, gives his blessings for the sake of his son's happiness. Raju also
succeeds in getting a corporate job.
Virus, who has now gotten a clean shave because of the bet Rancho made to
him about Raju and Farhan getting job interviews is infuriated by Rancho's
influence, Virus sets a difficult final exam to fail Raju to which Pia tries to
help the trio by revealing to them the location of the exam paper;
unfortunately, Virus finds out and expels them. Pia confronts Virus about her
brother who also committed suicide because he couldn't meet Virus'
expectation of clearing the engineering exam. That same night, Virus'
pregnant elder daughter Mona goes into labour during a heavy storm that
cuts off all traffic and electricity. Rancho and the other students use their
engineering knowledge to quickly modify a vacuum cleaner into a ventouse
and deliver the baby with the help of Pia over a video call. A grateful Virus
finally acknowledges Rancho as an extraordinary student and revokes their
expulsion. On graduation day, Rancho suddenly disappears shortly after the
ceremony ends.
Five years later, Farhan is a successful wildlife photographer while Raju is
married and settled with his family in a comfortable lifestyle with a corporate
job and Chatur is the vice-president of a reputable corporation in the United
States; neither the three of them have heard from Rancho since graduation.
Arriving at Shimla, where Rancho was spotted in the background of a
snapshot, they meet a man who turns out to be the real Ranchoddas
Chanchad (Javed Jaffrey). From him, they learn that the Rancho they knew
was actually "Chhote", the orphan son of the gardener who was a servant to
the Chanchad family. Ranchoddas' father arranged for Chhote to attend ICE
in his son's name so that his son could take credit for the degree.
Ranchoddas provides Chhote's address in Ladakh, where he is a
schoolteacher. On the way, they pass Manali where they rescue and prevent
Pia from marrying Suhas, who is now a changed man but reverts back to his
old ways when Raju, disguised as the housekeeping men puts mint sauce on
his wedding jacket making Raju run away from the wedding in his attire.
Chatur, meanwhile, is in a hurry to crack a business deal with world-
renowned scientist and businessman with 400 patents to his name,
Phunsukh Wangdu.
Upon arrival in Ladakh, the four head to the village school and witness the
young students' inventions that resemble Rancho's college projects. The four
happily reunite with Rancho to which Pia and Rancho kiss, while Chatur
insults and asks Rancho to sign a contract stating that he is the least
successful person; Rancho does so without commenting. As Chatur walks
away triumphantly, Rancho reveals himself to be Phunsukh Wangdu, to his
friends' and Pia's surprise and delight. Realizing this, a horrified Chatur
accepts his defeat and pleads him to sign his contract while Rancho and his
friends run away laughing. In the end, Phunsukh Wangdu tells everyone his
theory:
" Follow excellence and success will by itself follow you"
Cast Edit
Aamir Khan as Ranchoddas "Rancho" Shamaldas Chanchad / Chhote /
Phunsukh Wangdu, one of the titular trio in the engineering college who
vanishes after graduation and whom his two friends hunt for 10 years, while
telling stories of their time in college together. Rancho, as a student, was
conspicuously ingenious and angry at the inhumanity of the college's
system. At the end of the film, he is shown to be a famous scientist,
entrepreneur and business magnate who also teaches young children when
he takes a break from researching.
R. Madhavan as Farhan Qureshi, the film's narrator and one of the trio whose
father persuades him to study engineering over his dream career of wildlife
photography; in the end he is shown to have published several books of
photographs.
Sharman Joshi as Raju Rastogi, another of the trio who comes from an
impoverished family with a mother who is a retired school teacher and a
paralysed father who worked as a postman. In the flashback story, his family
was unable to afford the car that would be demanded as a dowry for his
sister. In the present story, he is a settled married man in Delhi who has
freed his family from poverty by becoming a wealthy executive.
Kareena Kapoor as Pia Sahastrabuddhe, Virus' younger daughter, an
intelligent and capable doctor. Despite her father's disapproval, she and
Rancho fall in love.
Boman Irani as Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, the college's strict director known
as "Virus" and Pia and Mona's father who acts as the film's antagonist. He
stubbornly sticks to a doctrinal method of teaching, putting him at odds with
Rancho. At the end, he is shown to have changed his doctrinal methods of
teaching.
Omi Vaidya as Chatur Ramalingam, a Ugandan-Indian educated in Tamil-
speaking Pondicherry who has little knowledge of Hindi. His habit of being
gassy due to consumption of pills to enhance his memorisation earns him the
nickname Silencer. In the present story, he is vice-president of an American
company (Rockledge Corporation) who discovers his success being
overshadowed by Rancho in the end of the film. Baradwaj Rangan of the New
Indian Express wrote that Chatur being a Tamil from Uganda makes him
"twice removed from the North Indians around him — a stranger to the
nation as well as the national language."[26]
Rahul Kumar as young Manmohan (nicknamed Millimetre), and Dushyant
Wagh as adult Manmohan (Centimetre). As an adolescent, he earns a small
living by doing errands for students, such as laundry, finishing assignments
and getting groceries. Rancho persuades him to buy a school uniform and
sneak into school to gain an education. Later he becomes an assistant to
Rancho/Phunsukh Wangdu in Ladakh.
Mona Singh as Mona Sahastrabuddhe, Pia's elder sister and Virus's first
daughter.
Parikshit Sahni as Mr Qureshi, Farhan's father, a strict but loving parent who
just wants his son to be happy.
Farida Dadi as Mrs. Qureshi, Farhan's mother, a loving and caring parent.
Amardeep Jha as Mrs. Rastogi, Raju's mother, a retired schoolteacher and
dedicated mother.
Mukund Bhatt as Mr. Rastogi, Raju's paralysed father who used to work as a
postman.
Rajendra Patwardhan as Govind, Viru's personal assistant.
Javed Jaffrey as the real Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad. It is from him
that Raju and Farhan learn the truth: Chanchad's father sponsored an
orphaned servant boy called 'Chhote', who had demonstrated his intelligence
and love of learning, to earn a degree in his name, while the real Ranchoddas
was in London. He appreciates what Chhote did for him, and tells Raju and
Farhan where to find him.
Arun Bali as Shamaldas Chanchad, father of Ranchoddas Shamaldas
Chanchad.
Ali Fazal as Joy Lobo, a student with a passion for machines. After Virus tells
him that he will not graduate, he commits suicide.
Akhil Mishra as Librarian Dubey
Rohitash Gaud as Ranchoddas' (Real Ranchodas) servant
Achyut Potdar as Machine Class Professor
Madhav Vaze as Joy Lobo's father.
Olivier Sanjay Lafont as Suhas Tandon, Pia's ex-fiancé, who cares only about
money and ostentation.
Jayant Kripalani as a company head who conducts Raju's job interview.
Atul Tiwari as R.D. Tripathi, Minister in Auditorium during Silencer's speech
Rajeev Ravindranathan as ragging senior student
Production
Soundtrack
Release
Reception
Pre-release business
Awards
Controversies
Remakes
Legacy
Possible sequel
See also
Notes
References
External links
Last edited 1 hour ago by Fylindfotberserk
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