When you watch a movie late, you face two problems. There is so much already written about the movie that you end up watching the movie with a certain bias and expectations. Secondly there are already so many reviews that it doesn’t make sense to add another one.
So instead of cluttering your minds / web areana with one more review, I thought its better I blog on the peripheral item surrounding this movie - The so called controversy on due credits not being given to Chetan Bhagat.
Since last 1 year, we have been hearing that Five Point Someone is getting adapted into the movie “3 idiots”. So does it really make any difference, if the credit line is at the end or the beginning? Doesn’t everyone already know about it? Still there is a big argument going on with both sides giving media the much needed fodder. The tussle now is down to mathematics (to be precise “%”). The “3 idiots” team says its 3-5% based on the story while the author says its 50-70% based. I really never understood how such %ages work in a qualitative angle. But if it really pleases the statisticians, let me also put a figure. The movie is 33.23456% adapted from the novel (now don’t ask me how I got his number… just pressed some random keys at the top of my laptop). For the rest, let me put the facts straight. The plot is definitely adapted from the novel. It has almost all the characters which were there in FPS. The 3 central characters, dean, his daughter, etc are all there. The movie also has most of the incidents whether its Kareena’s brother committing suicide or Aamir stealing the exam papers. But the movie adds some of its own details which except for the characters of “cm-mm” and “Chatur” (played very well by a newcomer “Omni”) doesn’t appeal.
One good thing about the book was it doesn’t make fun of the professors and projects the characters like any other average students in an institute. In fact the book focuses on the education system and its flaws - how the students today are evaluated and ranked (the relative grading system). All this was written on a lighter note and hence the book becomes a fast and entertaining read. This is where I feel the movie fails. Unfortunately, the movie like a typical bollywood flick converts the hero into a super-hero (who is capable of achieving almost anything), adds dramatic unnecessary events like having a baby delivered on a TT table… well to be honest, I neither found that scene humorous nor emotional. It turns the dean into a comical character and the core issue of “education” system gets lost somewhere post interval.
Nevertheless, 3 idiots is a good movie … one of the better ones we saw in 2009 but certainly not the best. Also it’s the not the best from Raju Hirani-Vinod Chopra duo. Give me the Munnabhai series any day.
Enjoy the movie. Don’t take my “critical” blog very seriously as I watched the movie after hearing some really rave reviews. The movie has been running houseful for 2 consecutive weeks (not a small feat to achieve these days). So it’s certainly worth a watch.
As far as the scripting issue goes, I won’t be surprised if this is another of those “scripted” controversies to keep the sales registers ticking. It works perfectly for both sides. As Chetan hints in his blog “Go watch the movie and then read the novel. Then decide”.
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