Main Theme Of 3 Idiots Movie
Kerrie Gingrich
3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, co-written by Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Adapted loosely from Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone,[5] the film stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the titular roles, marking their reunion three years after Rang De Basanti (2006), while Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani and Omi Vaidya appear in pivotal roles. Narrated through two parallel dramas, one in the present and the other set ten years in the past, the story follows the friendship of three students at an Indian engineering college and is a satire about the social pressures under the Indian education system.[6][7][8]
Produced by Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films,[9][10] 3 Idiots incorporated real Indian inventions created by Remya Jose,[11] Mohammad Idris,[12] Jahangir Painter[13] and Sonam Wangchuk, the latter of whom also inspired Khan's character.[14]
At the 57th National Film Awards, 3 Idiots won 3 National Film Awards, including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Additionally, the film received 11 nominations at the 55th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor (Khan), Best Actress (Kapoor) and Best Supporting Actor (Madhavan and Joshi), and won a leading 6 awards (tying with Dev.D), including Best Film, Best Director (Hirani) and Best Supporting Actor (Irani). Overseas, it won the Grand Prize at Japan's Videoyasan Awards,[19][20][16] while it was nominated for Best Outstanding Foreign Language Film at the Japan Academy Awards[21][22] and Best Foreign Film at China's Beijing International Film Festival.[23]
3 Idiots is now considered to be among the greatest Indian films ever made.[24] The film also had a social impact on attitudes toward education in India,[25] as well as in other Asian countries such as China and South Korea.[7] It was remade in Tamil as Nanban (2012), which also received critical praise and commercial success.[26][27] A Mexican remake, 3 Idiotas, was also released in 2017.[28]
Chatur Ramalingam, a successful vice-president, reminds his old college friends Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi about a bet he made with their classmate Rancho ten years ago. Chatur has returned to India to conclude a business deal with Phunsukh Wangdu, a famous inventor. The three go to Shimla to find Rancho, reminiscing about their time at the Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) in Delhi.
In college, Rancho was passionate about learning and often clashed with the strict college president, Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe ("Virus"). When a student named Joy Lobo is denied graduation by Virus for not submitting a project, Rancho tries to help but finds Joy has committed suicide by hanging. Rancho confronts Virus about the intense pressure on students, but Virus dismisses him.
One night, Rancho, Farhan, and Raju crash a wedding party, not realising it is for Virus's daughter Mona. Mona's younger sister, Pia, is initially upset with Rancho but starts liking him after he exposes her materialistic fianc Suhas. Pia breaks up with Suhas. Virus warns Farhan and Raju about associating with Rancho, so Raju moves in with Chatur, a competitive student who relies on rote learning. Rancho and Farhan prank Chatur by altering his Hindi speech, leading to his humiliation. Furious, Chatur challenges Rancho to see who is more successful in ten years.
"Chetan gave me this book to read and I wanted to make a film on it. But I knew right from the start that I could not make a film completely on the book, as it was very anecdotal and a film needs a plot. So I had decided to rewrite it in a screenplay format. You'll see that the film is very different from the book. After I wrote the script, I called Chetan and narrated it to him. I told him that if he did not like the script, I would stop the project. But he was okay with it".
After the success of Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), the director Rajkumar Hirani and screenwriter Abhijat Joshi had plans for third instalment on the Munna Bhai franchise, titled Munnabhai Chale Amerika. But Hirani felt exhausted working on consecutive films on the same format, and decided to work on fresh script outside the franchise.[30] While writing the first draft of the film, he thought of a new project rather than the new instalment from the film series, but he had concentrated more on the project and then worked on the former first. While thinking about how the project coming under fruition, he got the popular novel Five Point Someone by the author Chetan Bhagat.[31] The latter gave this novel for Hirani to read, in order to have an idea about the script. Impressed by the novel, he decided to adapt the screenplay by making changes to the original novel and work on it as a feature film.[32]
An official announcement regarding the film was made during early-2008, after working in the script for more than one-and-a-half year.[36] During the pre-production, Hirani went to multiple engineering colleges, including those under the Indian Institutes of Technology in Mumbai and Delhi, to authenticate the lives of engineering students. In this he met, many students and took pictures along with them. He needed the references for the clothes used, their looks and things they brought as many IIT-students were older than the fictional characters.[32] The film also had shared many anecdotes from his college life, since Hirani had used to study in hostel during his young period.[citation needed] Hirani had carefully looked upon the notion in the lives of engineering students, as there are few things apart from drugs, sex and violence. However, Hirani had said that the film plays a satirical take on social pressures under an Indian education system.[7][8] Apart from that, the film also addresses the issue of tussle between parents and children, but in a "sugar-coated manner".[citation needed] During the promotions of the film, Hirani stated that "the film is completely different of the Munna Bhai film series; in terms of the characters, story and the environment. However, both the films fall in the same genre, where all three films are heartwarming stories with lovable characters making it feel good. Both films have true emotions in the heart, happiness, sadness and also leave a strong message to the audience in the ending that make us satisfy".[32]
The casting of the lead actors was considered to be "complex", according to Hirani.[32] He thought of many actors playing the lead roles, and also went on a six-month audition across the country; but thought of established actors playing the roles, since the film had two looks and the actors needed experience.[32] He had plans for Shah Rukh Khan playing the lead character, Ranchoddas Chanchad.[37] Hirani tried to rope Khan after the latter exited from the titular role Munna Bhai in the director's debut venture Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), which was later essayed by Sanjay Dutt. However, Khan refused being a part of the film due to his prior commitments.[38][39] Ranbir Kapoor, then a relative newcomer, also declined the lead role, but agreed to a short cameo as Varun Sahastrabuddhe.[40][b]Aamir Khan was later finalised to play the lead role.[43]
The team approached Sanjay Dutt, with whom Hirani worked in the Munna Bhai film series, to play the role of the main antagonist Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, but for various reasons the role went to Boman Irani.[46] The character name was considered to be unique due to the look, lisp and mannerisms portrayed, and also got the nickname "Virus", as students give names to their professors and principals in their school and college life. For the preparation of his role, Boman wore costumes made of cheap fabric, designed by an old tailor who stitches clothes for Parsis in Dadar (North-Central Mumbai).[32] He wore the shirt with velcro attached, and a hook tie; with the same look, he attended the shoot to prepare for his role.[46] Initially, Boman was hesitant to act in that film and had recommended his co-actor Irrfan Khan for Viru Sahastrabuddhe, but his refusal prompted Boman to take up the role.[47] This was revealed by Boman after Khan's death in April 2020.[48]
After talks with Kajol fell through,[49] Kareena Kapoor played the role of Pia Sahastrabuddhe, Rancho's (Aamir) love interest and a medical student.[32] While Hirani refused about the original casting for her role in the film in his interview,[32] it has been regarded that Anushka Sharma was originally considered for the role.[50] In April 2021, an old video of Anushka's audition for the film went viral on the internet.[51] Anushka, then a newcomer, shared monologues recited by Gracy Singh from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. for the audition process, supposing to be her debut in films, but was ultimately rejected by the producers.[52] She later made her debut in the Yash Raj Films' production Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), being cast opposite Shah Rukh Khan.[b]
Ali Fazal, then, a rookie actor, played a small role as Joy Lobo in the film.[54] While speaking about his role, Fazal stated that "he went into depression as the character arc seemed to mirror a tragic real-life incident".[55][c]
The rehearsals for the film began prior to the shoot, followed by script reading and look tests.[57] After extensive pre-production works, principal photography for the film began on 28 July 2008, with scenes featuring the supporting cast being shot first.[58] On 29 August 2008, shooting for the key schedule began with the principal cast members.[36] The first scene was shot in an aircraft with Madhavan, which was the first shooting schedule for this film in Mumbai. The team left to Ladakh, for a 20-day schedule with the crew and cast comprising Khan and Kapoor.[36] The climax was being shot at the Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh.[59] The team took a break following Aamir Khan's activities in the promotions and post-production works of Ghajini (2008).[60]