3 Idiots - Just Good, Not At All A Great Movie (and why Amir Khan is also not the Chosen One)

How was the movie?

Well, before I begin, three things.

First, if you are not into Bollywood skip this post.

Second, if you are going to watch 3 Idiots, watch it and then come back to this post. This is not a review, but a discussion, so I cannot guarantee no spoilers.

Third, if you are are a die hard Amir Khan fan, one who believes He can do no wrong and is the Chosen One and 3 Idiots is the Movie of the Year Decade then perhaps you should skip this post also, as this post makes sense and says some stuff that could be construed as blasphemy in your world.

Er, OK, so how was the movie?

Here's my quick take of the movie. It's a good movie. It entertains 80% of the time. Second half drags on. The twist in the story is unbelievable illogical incomprehensible. Still, overall, it's worth the $10 admission in a theatre and as I said, it's a good movie.

So, what's the problem?

Where I draw the line is when I listen to all this Amir Khan fans who have elevated this (and any thing he does) to unbelievable levels. Yesterday I went to a party and one guy was again saying the same thing and I couldn't take it any more - thus this post was born.

OK, so what exactly does this Amir Khan fan club say?

Well, first, they always say how meticulous and professional Amir Khan is and how realistic are his movies. Well, the first scene of this movie defies any logic.

A guy fakes a heart attack on a plane, makes the plane turn around, runs out THROUGH the airport, THROUGH security, rushes out of the airport and then goes on his business. Even given that this is India, in today's world, is that realistic?

I am not even going into another guy driving from wherever they are to Shimla half naked (yes, no pants). And exactly HOW LONG is a day in India? They flight is aborted in the morning, they drive around the town picking up another guy, they go to their old school, they go to another town 255 km away, then make a u turn and go somewhere else, and then again another city, and still it's just noon or so at the end of the movie!

Well it's just a Bollywood movie!

Exactly! I could accept all this from any movie. But Amir Khan's fanclub makes it as if their movies are the ONLY ones in Bollywood that are completely logical. And so I am nitpicking. I want to show that at the end, Amir Khan is only making a Bollywood movie. I mean, a still born baby comes alive when "Aal Iz Well" is said to his ear!

What other thing does Amir Khan's fan club say?

Well, they go on and on about his acting and how Shah Rukh Khan cannot touch him and why NO ONE ELSE can do this role except the Chosen and Blessed By God Amir Khan...

First, the role Amir Khan played is not a hard role. He will hardly get an Oscar nomination for this. He is playing someone eternally optimistic, always thinking beyond the immediate, fighting convention, the "modern Indian", wise, funny ... same roles.

It's a role he played in Taare Zameen Par, in Lagaan, in Dil Chahta Hain, in Rang De Basanti, in .... you get the point.

Second, R Madhavan has the toughest scene in the movie (when he tells his dad he doesn't like Engineering). Not Amir Khan. What's so hard about getting a hair cut, smiling with your teeth over your lips and saying "Aal Iz Well"?

Third, why do Amir Khan fans always have to put down Shah Rukh Khan to try and prove their Hero Deity is the greatest? They must suffer from some strange form of Inferiority Complex.

Well, at least Amir Khan is original, right?

LOL (that's me really laughing out loud).

The director must be a green person because he has recycled some horrible internet jokes that have gone out as forwards ever since email first started. He truly takes me back to my college days as one of the first forwards I got was "big butt seat" which when reluctantly (or eagerly, can't remember now) clicked upon (before the days of viruses and trojans) would lead to this.


The following still, from 3 Idiots, is however considered "original".



Second, as soon as Boman Irani (that's a whole post by itself) took out the astronaut pen, I groaned. Surely, Amir Khan is not going to tell this joke? But he did.

Oh, and remember the joke about exam papers and "Do you know who am I"? Groan. He put that in as well.

And now, let's come to some other shades of copying. Hero traveling out of the house, getting dressed in a hurry, forgetting his pants. Man! Shah Rukh Khan has done it to death in Dil To Pagal Hain and Kuch Kuch Hota Hain. Even he doesn't do it any more!

And finally, young college student trying to reform old grouchy headmaster whose own child has committed suicide due to the headmaster's fussiness about rules and practicality? Shades of Mohabbatein anyone?

Well, didn't the movie have a social message?

Which is what exactly? I am still trying to understand that. Does Amir Khan say don't study, grades are not important? Why is his grade in the movie first then? What exactly is the whole point of the movie?