• Friday, December 25, 2009

• Country:

  India

• Language:

  Hindi

• Runtime:

  160 mins

(2009)

Maxabout Review

Makes You Laugh Your Heart Out

The movie starts through narrations that take you into the flashback when Rancho, Farhan and Raju arrive at a premier engineering institute to begin their course. The three are roommates and go about their life at college in a lively way occasionally Raju and Farhan being worried about Rancho’s antics. Rancho clearly is different from anyone else in the college with his individualistic thought-process and rebellious attitude, which invites the ire of the college principal and affection of his daughter Pia. Boman Irani, as the principal, almost revives his disciplinarian dean characterization from Munnabhai MBBS which is more palpable with his disgust towards the rebellious protagonist. Nevertheless, Hirani’s direction is so impeccable that without a conscious effort, the analogy never strikes your mind and the scenario never looks repetitive.

But, yes, there’s no denying that Aamir makes you forget all his past achievements as you watch the amazing actor play Rancho. To state that this ranks amongst his finest works would be an understatement. Madhavan is incredible, especially in the sequence when he explains his point of view to his father. Sharman is outstanding from start to end. This was a difficult role to portray and only an actor of caliber could’ve pulled it off. Boman is superb as the vicious head of the institute. The scenes between Aamir and Boman are extra-ordinary and it’s a treat to watch these two powerful actors clash on the big screen, without getting over-dramatic. Boman’s appearance, mannerisms and dialogue delivery are exemplary.

In his trademark style, Hirani grabs your attention from scene one with an unconventional opening to the film. Thereafter every single scene written in the screenplay is not just relevant but also has a clear set objective – to be funny. Which means it either makes you laugh or cry and at some superlative instances do both simultaneously. The writers have kept absolutely no room for any intermediate option. The movie has some really hilarious moments with wedding reception mayhem of Viru’s oldest daughter played by Mona Singh, Raju’s father being reached to the hospital in a very funny way on a two-wheeler and so on. The first half keeps you at wits end. But, enter second half and you are no longer given the same experience of the first half. The end stretches a bit too long and some things are just too away from spontaneity. The music is light and entertaining. On the whole, 3 idiots is a must watch, the film has tremendous youth appeal and feel-good factor to work in a big way.

Goofs

• Continuity: Raju (Sharman Joshi), Farhan (R. Madhavan) and Chatur (Omi Vaidya) travel from Delhi to Shimla. Then they head for Ladakh but they go back to Manali to pick up Pia (Kareena Kapoor). Then they travel back to Ladakh. It should have taken them more than 12 hours to reach Ladakh from Delhi. But interestingly, the sun never goes down. It is noon all the time.
• Continuity: Mona Singh, who played Kareena's elder sister is first referred as Poonam, and then few scenes later referred as Mona.
• Continuity: In the scene where Farhan and Raju threaten to drop Mr.Chanchad's remain down the drain, they drop the pot's cap in the commode but when they hand back the pot to the real Ranchoddas the cap is still there.
• Continuity: One of the first scenes, with Madhavan in an Air India aircraft, shows a distant shot of the aircraft to be an Airbus 321. Though, when moments later when the captain calls for an emergency landing at Delhi, the cockpit is that of a Boeing.
• Continuity: In the wedding scene, where the 3 guys are shocked looking at Virus, Madhvan is shown to be frozen in time. But his expressions change in one frame and then roll back to the previous expression.
• Factual errors: The characters are shown speaking on mobiles near Pangong Tso (about 150Kms ahead of Leh) towards the end of the movie. There is no mobile coverage in the area. The last being at Tangtse (about 100Kms from Leh).
• Continuity: When Rancho is been ragged the hands position of the senior who is wearing green vest changes from scene to scene.
• Errors in geography: The first scene where Farhan (Madhavan) gets off an Air India flight feigning a heart attack is shot in Bangalore HAL Airport (old airport), while the campus is at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) and most of the street scenes have been shot in New Delhi.
• Continuity: When Rancho (Amir Khan) was about to show "demo" to Pia (Kareena Kapoor) on her new wrist watch, during their conversation, the position of millimeter (MM) was changing from scene to scene (alternately from facing Rancho's back and standing in the middle of Rancho and Pia).
• Continuity: In a scene where Rancho writes "farhanitrate" and "prerajulisation" on the boards, the letters change from when he is writing them to the next frame when he is explaining.

Taglines

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Trivia

• Known for preparing for every role that he signs, actor Aamir Khan was avoiding eating his own birthday cake. When asked why, he said "I am surviving on milk and few bananas as I have been asked to lose weight for the role."
• 3 Idiots is rumoured to be loosely based on a famous novel, Five Point Someone by Indian writer Chetan Bhagat, though it is denied by Hirani.
• The first scene of 3 Idiots was shot in an aircraft with Madhavan.
• The shooting also took place at the Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore for 33 days as a part of the second schedule of production.
• The shoot of the 3 Idiots with the supporting characters began on 28 July 2008. Hirani and his team left in late August for the shoot with the principal cast.
• 3 Idiots was shot in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ladakh and Shimla.

Quotes

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Awards

1. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Supporting Actor
   Recipient(s): Boman Irani
2. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Film
   Recipient(s): Vidhu Vinod Chopra
3. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Director
   Recipient(s): Rajkumar Hirani