3 IDIOTS
* Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani
Directed by: Raju Hirani
Produced by: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
During the beginning of the movie there is a wonderfully moment when one of the characters (very naturally for a hindi movie) strums on his guitar and heartbreakingly sings;
Give me some sunshine, Give me some rain.
Give me another chance coz I wanna live my life again.
Coming from the director who made 2 of the finest emotional-comedies I’ve ever seen, 3 Idiots is a big let down. Now don’t get me wrong. This is a very good movie if you compare it to, I don’t know, say De Dana Dan or Aladin or Do Knot Disturb. In fact compared to those duds it’s a bloody masterpiece. But when you’ve set the bar so high with the 2 Munnabhai capers, this feels like a bit of a let down.
Aamir Khan is truly versatile and passes off quite convincingly as a college student and to give him credit he worked hard for that as well. If industry gossip is to be believed he not only went on a diet to get rid of that horrendous Ghajini body (where the girth just didn’t go with his height), he also allegedly played a brisk 15 minutes of badminton before shooting began every day. The flush of adrenalin apparently makes you look younger before the camera. And frankly when he can pass off as a college student at 44 who’s to argue. But to be honest he’s doing the “smiling-tear-wipe” scene a bit too much. If I remember he smiled through his tears (or cried through his smile) about 6 times in this movie alone.
Sharman Joshi is so goofy looking he can pass off as anything. He gets a pretty substantial role and while he does justice to it, after a friend remarked about it, I for some reason can’t help but be reminded of Suppandi (remember Tinkle comics) every time I see him.
There are some roles that some actors just aren’t made for.
Sharman Joshi can't do emotional without looking goofy; John Abraham cant do very angry without looking hysterical and Tushar Kapoor can't do macho without looking goofy & hysterical.
Madhavan meanwhile is not just looking the oldest but he lacks the emotional chops to take his own role out of the mundane. He does nothing that a few other younger actors couldn’t have done. Atleast they would have looked the part.
Kareena…. Aah Kareena….i’ll come to her later.
Boman Irani plays another version of the Dean from Munnabhai MBBS, and quite frankly its BAD. What would have been lost if he would have been a normal looking character without the Einstein hair, the on-off lisp and the weirdo (frankly no other word goes here) like dressing sense. Disciplinarians needn’t always be crazy. Maybe Hirani believes too much of the Fido-Dido doctrine which suggests that Normal is Boring. Not a good idea sirji.
However there is a wonderful character named Millimeter who lights up the screen every time he comes on. Whether he is pulling down his pants in mock salute or dispensing advice or as in one of the funniest scenes, when he begins to intently take ‘Virus’ of the room.
And Kareena. Aaah Kareena. She has the smallest role and one that is the least fleshed out but its her sheer joie de vivre that makes you believe in the (quite frankly unnecessary) love angle. How can you not love her? She’s the sunshine of the movie…
The producer is Vidhu Vinod Chopra who after the brilliant Parinda has gone downhill with every film that he has himself directed (1942-A Love Story, Kareeb, Mission Kashmir, Eklavya) and he has the reputation of being quite the foul mouthed megalomaniac and as ‘creative director’ his ‘touches’ can be seen ruining this movie too.
Pity he couldn’t keep his hands off, coz there is no way the same man who directed the 2 Munnabhai’s with such subtlety and refinement could have been so ham-handed with this one. Good message sirji, but did it have to be hammered in.
Once again, at the cost of sounding repetitive let me say that this movie is not bad at all. Don’t get me wrong. Compared to the garbage that comes out every Friday, this is pretty darn good.
But is it the best movie of the year?
Naa.
That ones a Rascal. A Kaminey.
Coming back to the song I mentioned at the beginning, well, Raju Hirani has made 2 previous films with such bittersweet moments, with so much sunshine and so much rain, that he definitely deserves another chance coz maybe he’ll want to make this film again.
Till the next movie.
Luv
Vish
hmmm..This is def more entertaining than Kameenay. And I think Boman is better than bad. He is at least okay. You forgot to mention OMI who was outstanding along with Aamir and Madhvan did a good job. I don't it would have been easy for younger actors to pull off his confrontation scene with his Dad the way he did. Kameenay was great, more perfect, but it din't manage to touch you the way 3 idiots does. And 3 idiots has a message and somewat inspiring.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way can you tell us those 6 times where Aamir did his smile tear wipe thingy..somehow I just remember one.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe u saying he did it 6 times in one scene..well that counts only one bro.
ReplyDeletehey - have wanted to comment on this ever since you wrote it but didnt want to till i saw it. as an LA residing working mom I have this huge time lag. Agree with you that it was fun with flaws. Also agree that Boman Irani's hyperbolic character was totally unnecessary and detracted from a more "real" movie that one would have hoped these guys would have made. At the point when the very predictable climax birth scene was on I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Then I realized that it was Bollywood and I was being unfair by expecting Goodwill Hunting. So I divorced myself from logic and just enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteYou know I see Kareena differently :) - but happy for you that you find her all that. My biggest gripe with the movie though is the portrayal of Chatur Ramalingam. That actually was even more hyperbolic than Boman. We all meet adversaries, whiners, nerds etc in school but they aren't necessarily that ridiculous. Even if the researcher in me removes the ethnic bias - I still see it as a caricature of a "South Indian" NRI who pursues traditional goals. And it's seriously insulting that that's the most visible SI character in an engineering school considering those guys are a staple there. Not to mention that the one real life SI (Madhavan) is a non-denominational Muslim. I know most folks wouldnt have seen this - but Aamir movies are likely to have this Hindu-Christian-Muslim coming together theme. Just interesting that even a visionary like him doesn't take SI portrayal any further than Padosan.
I'm not an engineer and havent had to live the lives of these guys - but the core philosophy of grades and competition should not matter I also disagree with. Some of that has to be done earlier on and then you pursue excellence in your career. Or you'll have a stupid liberal system of "we are all winners," "everyone gets a trophy," "dont use red pen to correct because it hurts kids' feelings" etc.
If you respond back - let me know on FB. Take care and happy family tim
Nima