3 Idiotas

I asked my co-workers to recommend a Bollywood movie. I expected "Dumb and Dumber" by the title. It wasn't that at all. It is more of an inspirational comedy with some serious but good messages. A more accurate title would have been "The Legend of Rancho".

Odd to me is that they speak in part English, part Hindi through the movie, kinda like some speak "Spanglish" here I suppose. I know none of the actors but the acting was good, and there was plenty of humor. The characters were believable. Most movie dancing I find a little silly but I even liked the dancing routines in the bathroom.

I will be asking my co-workers for more recommendations after this one!

I'm from the Philippines. For years, I have always been curious about Indian cinema. I've seen clips of Indian films on cable TV and to be honest...I just don't get it. I don't get all the silly dancing and singing in almost all movies. I find it so corny and irrelevant to the story. But don't get me wrong, Philippine movies back in the 80's were also filled with corny singing and dancing. But we have gone past those and transitioned into movie-making based on good scripts...rather than cheesy story lines.

When a friend of mine recommended this movie, I haven't really heard of it. I thought it was a Hollywood release but it wasn't. It was a Bollywood movie. He said it was really funny, so out of curiosity, I got hold of a copy.

My first thought was that it was nothing but a silly story of 3 guys doing slapstick comedy that I have all seen before. When they started singing "All iz well.." I told myself... I knew it! Just what I thought.

But as the movie progressed...I was amazed at the intelligence embedded in this movie. I was so impressed with the smart dialogues delivered by Amir Khan. It was so mature and thought-provoking. The life crisis all of them were in... the pressures at school..the pressures from society and the pressures from family as well... they rang so true. I was even at one time crying my heart out. I can't believe it! All the preconceived notions about a Bollywood movie were obliterated. I was so moved by this picture and I have no regrets seeing it.

Until recently my only exposure to Indian cinema was Satyajit Ray. Like a lot of Americans, my knowledge of Bollywood was based entirely on film clips and American take-offs of lavish musical numbers.

I searched a few lists of top Bollywood films and settled on 3 Idiots, which turned out to be a wonderful decision. The movie is terrifically funny and engaging, seamlessly moving from comedy to tragedy to musical numbers.

The story centers around a brilliant, iconoclastic technical student who spends the movie telling people to follow their dreams. While generally lighthearted, the movie strongly addresses the apparently terrible stresses on Indian college students. But in spite of some dark moments, overall this is about as feel-good as you can get. Feel-good to an absurd degree? Sure. But what's so bad about feeling good?

When I think of Bollywood I think of big musical numbers, and there are a handful here, although they're a tiny part of the three-hour running time. Still, they are tremendous fun.

To sum up, I saw a Bollywood movie, I laughed, I cried, and now I want to see more.

UPDATE: I saw more. So many good movies out there!

Like Dead Poets Society but with Robin Williams as a student and some extra tonic and spice thrown in for good measure. Serious, sad and silly, often concurrently but overwhelmingly very, very funny and engaging, as engineering students at an Indian college end up teaching as much as they learn. Who could disagree with the distinction between education and learning while recognising the often sizable gulf that exists between the two after watching this. Who would dissuade those with aspiration and passion from pursuing their dreams and goals. Weighing in not too shy of three hours you'll be shocked how quickly the time flies as your attention is vacuumed up and your view of the world turned on its head, or inverted, depending what you've learned.

It's hard for me to review this film, as I have not seen a huge number of Indian films--probably no more than a couple dozen. Most of the ones I've seen were wonderfully entertaining but I am far from an expert on Bollywood. Because of this, I have a hard time knowing how good this film is relative to other films from this country. So, consider this when you read this review. This may be among the very best India has to offer or it just seems that way to me.

Like so many Indian films, this is a very, very long film--with a run-time of almost three hours. When a movie is bad or just okay, this can seem like forever, but since "3 Idiots" is a very, very good film I loved its length. And, like most films of the genre, it has its share of the usual singing and dancing so foreign to films from other countries. One thing you should know, however, is that defining the type of film it is isn't really easy. Much of it is a comedy, but it also has many poignant moments (keep the Kleenex nearby), some existential moments where they explore the meaning of life and work and it's also a tender film about friendship. And, as my daughter pointed out when she saw the film, she loved that the men in the movie are not afraid to cry--something you rarely see in western films.

As for the plot, it's very long and involved and I could recount what occurs. But I don't want to spoil a single wonderful moment, so my advice is just sit back and watch--and if you give it a chance, I can almost guarantee you'll have a great time with this poignant and funny film. Wonderful and well worth your time--with a delightful script, wonderful characters and lots of moments that made me smile...and a few that brought me to tears. See this film.