While 3 Idiots (2009) did not win any Oscars, it collected 63 awards from 2010-2019, seven of which were gathered from the 2010 Annual Central European Bollywood Awards in India. The movie won Best Film (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vinod Chopra Productions), Best Actor (Aamir Khan), Best Director (Rajkumar Hirani), Best International DVD, Best Playback Singer - Female (Shreya Ghoshal for the song "Zoobi Doobi"), Best Editing (Rajkumar Hirani), and Best Script (Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi) at the award ceremony that year. The many wins and critical acclaim this film has garnered have allowed it to sit on the 79th spot in IMDb's Top 250 Films list. 3 Idiots is loosely adapted from Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone and is considered the first of two adaptations of the book, the second being Kai Po Che! (2013). Founder of the film production house Rajkumar Hirani Films and winner of eleven Filmfare awards, Rajkumar Hirani, was the director of 3 Idiots. While the movie was loosely based on Five Point Someone, Hirai stated that Phunsuk Wangdu was inspired by the Ladakhi inventor Sonam Wangchuk, a mechanical engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar.
The movie was shot in various locations around India, such as Delhi at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Mumbai, Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, the IIM campus in Bangalore, and the Woodville Palace Hotel in Shimla. The film stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, and Sharman Joshi in the titular roles, with Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, and Omi Vaidya as equally important supporting characters. The movie shows two stories – one in the current day and one 10 years before. Two friends are searching for their lost roommate, who disappeared right after their college graduation. They revisit their college memories and remember Rancho, who inspired them to think outside the system. The rest of the world labels them as 'idiots.' Ranchoddas Chanchad is the central 'idiot' in the movie, proving to be different from the other students at the university. What is the characterization of Ranchoddas Chanchad, and how does he affect the characters' developments? Please note that for the purpose of this essay, I will be referring to Aamir Khan's character as Ranchoddas Chanchad.
The opening song 'Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh' perfectly encapsulates Rancho's personality, especially the lyrics: "hum ko to raahein thi chalati / woh khud apni raah banata / girta, sambhalta, masti mein chalta tha woh" (translation: "We were always worried about tomorrow / He always celebrated today / He lived every minute fully"). He taught the main characters that it was okay and encouraged them to take risks and fail, for at least they tried. Rancho set his own rules, broke them, only to create new ones. His character wouldn't have been as influential without his passion for engineering, learning, and knowledge. His pure love for invention and machinery was what allowed Raju and Farhan to take the risks they needed. Rancho made a deal with Farhan and Raju one night: if Rancho confessed his love to Pia, Farhan would mail his letter to the Hungarian photographer, and Raju would go to a job interview without his rings. That's exactly what happened. Rancho's philosophy is simple: do what you're passionate about, and success will follow. If Rancho wasn't in love with engineering, which he's studying like Farhan and Raju, he would just be labeled a hypocrite and a kook. But the fact that he loves engineering the exact amount Farhan and Raju hate was enough to convince the two that they needed to do something more meaningful with their lives and stop being scared. Raju was afraid of taking risks and disappointing his father, relying on prayers to his Gods and ancestors. On the other hand, Farhan fears confronting his father about his hatred of engineering and love of wildlife photography. It was only because of Rancho's push and support that they could take risks and do what was necessary for their own pursuit of happiness.
Between Farhan and Raju, it's clear that Rancho helped Raju the most throughout the four years they knew each other. After crashing Mona's wedding, Virus confronted Raju and Farhan about Rancho's bad influence, urging the two of them to move out and get away from Rancho's circle. Raju takes Virus' advice, moves out of the dorm, and stops talking to Rancho. Rancho, however, doesn't give up. He kills two birds with one stone and teaches Chatur a lesson about memorization while making the whole university (including Raju) erupt in laughter over a typo in Chatur's speech. Rancho then hears about Raju's father's stroke. He drives Pia over to Raju's family home and straps in his father on the scooter, driving the three of them (Rancho, Pia, and Raju's father) to Pia's hospital. Raju arrives later, flustered and frustrated, about to throw a punch at Rancho before overhearing how that timely intervention saved his father's life. Raju with Farhan and Rancho.
Unwilling to leave Raju's side, Farhan, Rancho, and Raju stay at the hospital overnight, making them thirty minutes late for their final exam. After being told that their papers were not admissible, Rancho created a distraction by mixing up all the exam papers on the professor's desk to ensure that their papers were graded. Unfortunately, Raju and Farhan place last, while Rancho is at the top of the class, further proving that they needed to 1) get their shit together and 2) pursue their passions instead of their parents'. Skip to three years later: their last year of university. Raju, Farhan, and Rancho break into Virus' home to surprise Pia, with Raju being the only one caught. He is forced to make the decision of expelling himself or Rancho. Unable to decide, Raju jumps out of Virus' office, attempting suicide. The most crucial turning point in Rancho's characterization is when he drives on a scooter with the ambulance. Wearing a blood-stained T-shirt, his panic, desperation, and fear of losing his friend was palpable. He clears the traffic on his scooter. This small sequence was enough to establish the strength of his back story. Nothing else was more important than his two friends; they were all Rancho needed. They were his lifelines. In this scene, I'm sure Rancho was reminded of the tragic suicide of the brightest student when he was a first-year. Joy Lobo's failed drone became Rancho's first major engineering feat and emotional anvil. While Raju was in the hospital, he was in a coma of sorts: able to react physiologically but unable to move, talk, or respond emotionally. This didn't stop Rancho. He devised many plans to get Raju to wake up; most importantly, he threw a birthday party in the ward. Rancho would try different schemes to get Raju to wake up: buying three new sarees for Raju's mother, throwing darts at a picture of Virus, and convincing him that Farhan would marry his sister without a dowry. Unsurprisingly, the latter was what woke Raju up.
In conclusion, Rancho was the mentor figure of Farhan and Raju, even though they were all the same age. He allowed the characters to fulfill their dreams through his love for learning, along with his carefree spirit. I haven't watched many Bollywood movies, but I've seen 3 Idiots about five times now. As I get older, I understand the feelings and the dilemmas that the characters go through more and more. Not only is the movie a commentary on being able to live for yourself and no one else, but it's also a call to action for education systems globally. Learning should not be about memorizing. Learning should be about understanding, applying, and curiosity.
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