Technopreneurship Assignment II - My Reflections on the Movie "3 Idiots"

3 Idiots is one of my favorite movies because of the story of friendship, college life, struggles, and the everyday lives and activities of professors and students in that particular setting. Being a college student myself, I was able to relate to the story. There are many funny scenes in the movie but the one that stood out for me is the Teachers’ Day Speech, which made me laugh non-stop.  

The story comes to life through the different characters whose lives in that college we experience and relate ourselves to.

There are three characters in this particular movie that captured my attention. They are Ranchhoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad (Rancho, whose name is really Phunsukh Wangdu; played by Aamir Khan), Farhan Qureshi (played by R. Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (played by Sharman Joshi).  These three friends are the “three idiots”.

There are also characters in the film that gave the story its share of spices. Dr. Viru “Virus” Sahastrabuddhe (played by Boman Irani), the Dean of the Imperial College of Engineering who is so full of himself, doesn’t accept defeat and doesn’t want anyone to be ahead of him, constantly tries to break the friendship of the three titular characters apart. Chatur Ramalingam (played by Los Angeles-based Indian actor Omi Vaidya) is a fellow student who values rote learning and mindless memorization above applying and understanding the concepts, and who gave the most outrageous speech in the Teachers’ Day Celebration (I laughed really hard at the thought of someone giving a speech without even understanding what each word meant, never realizing that it was altered). Pia Sahastrabuddhe (played by Kareena Kapoor), the beautiful daughter of Virus, is Rancho’s love interest and joins Farhan, Chatur and Raju in their search for Rancho. Joy Lobo (played by Ali Fazal) is the student who committed suicide because Virus did not accept his project.

In the film, the three friends (more known to us as the “three idiots”) are among the students struggling in the Imperial College of Engineering in India. Farhan Qureshi, an aspiring wildlife photographer, was forced to take up engineering against his own will because his father (played by Parikshit Sahni) wanted him to become an engineer. He is an example of the children who are forced to follow their parent’s wishes instead of them choosing the path they want to take in life. I cannot deny that there are parents like that, and I know that the intention of these parents is good (mostly because the parents wanted to preserve the legacy, which sometimes happens in the families of prominent and well-known people), but forcing your children to become what you want them to be and never asking your children what they want to be are the doings of control-freak parents who are totally obsessed with preserving their legacy. This puts undue pressure on their children, and I’m sure Farhan feels the same. But with the help of his dear friend Rancho (he advised Farhan to “speak from the heart”) he is able to convince his father to let him pursue his passion for photography. I hope every child will have the courage and the heart to speak to their parents and convince them that they have their own life, they are meant for greater things, and they will succeed if the parents will allow them to pursue their dreams and ambitions. Farhan told his father that if he allows him to pursue his passion for wildlife photography, he will do it out of his genuine love for his parents.

Raju Rastogi, who is very poor, studied engineering in order to land a high-paying job and get his family out of poverty. Raju is one of those students studying hard just to have a job and provide for the family. I must admit that there are a lot of poor people here in our country and I have been witness to that. Parents have no jobs, children cannot go to school due to lack of money, children laboring and toiling under the heat of the sun just to earn something, even if it means putting their own dignity and their lives in real danger…that’s just too depressing to think about. Raju is also fearful of the future because his family had hoped that he would end their poverty, and entering a college where the students are in a frantic race to get good grades and land jobs only served to intensify his fear.

But what’s amazing about Raju is his loyalty to his friends, and his determination to do everything for them. In fact, when faced with the choice that either he or Rancho will be rusticated by Virus, he chose to jump from the window of Virus’s office. Just thinking about it makes me wonder if I will really go that far just to protect my loved ones and friends. Another quality that made me admire him more is his frankness which manifested when he was interviewed, which in turn led him to be hired for a job on the spot.

Rancho, or Phunsukh Wangdu, is the intelligent idiot. Why? He loves to learn, he doesn’t care if he is first or last, he is daring, he is willing to face every challenge in life, he is fearless, and all the qualities of a successful individual are all in him. In short, he is a talented individual who goes to college solely because he loves to learn. Even though he was sneered at by his professors, he managed to earn the respect of Farhan, Raju, Millimeter and eventually Virus and Chatur. His belief: “Chase excellence and success will follow you.” And he was proven right. His beliefs contributed to his being a successful scientist, with over 400 patents and being in demand even by the Japanese. Chatur, the antagonist, is obsessed with defeating Rancho through his usually unscrupulous methods, thinking that he will be able to surpass Rancho. Chatur is trying to catch a deal with someone named Phunsukh Wangdu, but upon knowing that Rancho is Phunsukh Wangdu, he realizes that he is already defeated. Rancho symbolizes the successful individuals of our society. Every successful individual is willing to take risks, face challenges, and all because of their desire to excel in their fields. He doesn’t care what others would say, he doesn’t care how people will look at him, he doesn’t care if he will be first or last; all he cares about is to study, learn and excel in Engineering. In a college where everyone only cared about degrees and how to land jobs, he stood out because he was different from the other students. In Farhan’s words, “it [degrees] did not matter to him”. In fact, when Farhan, Raju, Pia and Chatur found Rancho’s school in Ladakh, they were amazed at the gadgets and technologies being invented and used there, and they said that only Rancho could build a school like this because they know of his ingenuity and his passion for machines.

These three friends displayed the power of their friendship in various scenes of the film. This proves that no matter what various attempts other people will do just to break the bond between these three friends, the bond remains strong and unbreakable. This also proves that no man is an island and cannot work without friends, because if the three had not helped each other and instead went their own ways while studying in college, they would not have graduated together (except for Farhan, who quit Engineering to pursue his passion for photography after his father finally allowed him).

The film is also imbued with great lessons, mostly coming from the intelligent idiot Rancho. As I said before, he believes that you have to strive for excellence and success will follow you. That is very true.  Rancho believes that being able to excel is more important that degrees. What’s the use of such degrees if you haven’t learned anything when you’re in college? That degree is only a piece of paper; learnings remain with us until we die. Rancho has also taught me to make my passion my profession. If you chose a profession that is not in line with your passion, in the long run it will only become a boring routine. On the other hand, if you chose a profession that is in line with your passion, you will not only succeed but you will also enjoy what you’re doing and learn a lot more. And the most important quote for me: “I wasn't teaching you engineering, that you know better than me. I was teaching you how to teach.”  Teachers in some colleges more often than not placed undue importance to memorizing textbook definitions, not appreciating those who apply those definitions and those who are critical thinkers. What’s the use of memorizing without understanding?

The world nowadays needs critical thinkers like Rancho, not those who mindlessly memorize like Chatur. Colleges that support this kind of learning are not anymore considered schools but factories, and the students are more like robots than humans.

Some teachers even bore their students to death, humiliate them if they did something wrong, and even hurt them physically, never considering the effect it would have on their life and studies.  

The most important lesson I learned in the film: “Make your passion your profession.” My passion right now is computers, and by taking up Information Technology I will be able to learn more about computers, so that when I graduate, I will be able to apply what I learned in the classroom to real-life situations involving computers. Pursuing your passions is one of the key factors to success, not getting rich and owning expensive material things, for money never equal success because money is only the by-product of it.

Farhan, through the relentless pursuit of his passion despite the disapproval of his father has taught me that no matter others would say, if I’m happy with it then I must pursue it. Raju, on the other hand, taught me that poverty is not a hindrance to education.