3 Idiots (Reviewed by Sebastian Ng)

Just like audiences for local Malay movies are, like, 98% Malay, the audiences for Bollywood films in cinemas -- everywhere, not just Malaysia -- is usually devoid of non-Indian people. Anyway, that's my justification for not going for Bollywood films at the cinema very often. So why did I watch this, then?

Because the Hollywood trade mag Variety actually bothered to review it and gave it a fairly glowing review. Which I've never seen happen before.

And boy, was I entertained! I haven't been so entertained in such a long time. In fact, because of the surprise at how much I enjoyed this, I kinda dug this even more than Avatar!

Like most Bollywood films, the synopsis can be horribly long-winded (half of the film is taken up by flashbacks, as is typical), but it's basically about three friends and their many trials and tribulations (and other funny incidents) in engineering college. One of the friends, Rancho, stands out by being the perfect character: has his head about him, smarter than everyone without being arrogant. Later, Rancho disappears for ten years -- and thus ensues a road-trip adventure with the objective of locating him that is full of twists and turns.

The film's themes come across very strongly. It is about education: how and why we study; rote memorisation vs genuine understanding; failure-induced suicides; parents' projected hopes and dreams; and the big one --competitiveness. Now, this is relevant to Indian society, of course -- but extremely relevant to Malaysian students and their parents as well.

I guess Jack Neo's I Not Stupid immediately comes to mind, but 3 Idiots is such a well-written movie that none of the preachiness of that Singaporean film ever surfaces here. Also, the plot contrivances are far harder to detect under all the well-linked and highly entertaining scenes - I know, because it took me more than a day to unravel the contrivances, and I had to try. I've spoken of the importance of setups and payoffs in writing films; 3 Idiots is a great example of how to do it well. (3 Idiots was adapted from Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone, which the movie no longer resembles; scripting reportedly took years.)

Aamir Khan, whom I was surprised to find out is already in his 40s, offers up a youthful and charismatic portrayal of Rancho, shuffling between slapstick comedy and the occasional heartfelt melodrama effortlessly. Crucially, no one ever drops the ball among the fairly large ensemble cast.

Talking about competitiveness, the movie seemed to be aiming to do everything in the best way possible. You have here the best first-day-at-school speech by the principal, the funniest school speech that has been reworked for a prank ever (you learn the meaning of the word "balatkar"), one of the most head-scratchingly "WTF" intermission cliffhangers ever (which they manage to resolve in a plausible manner), and the best emergency baby delivery sequence ever (oh yeah, that's up there too). 

Je vous en prie, go see this smart and wildly entertaining film before its limited run at Malaysian cinemas is over.

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How Good The Film Is: 8.5/10

How Much I Liked It: 9/10

Director Rajkumar Hirani Cast Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi Runtime 170 mins Opens 25 Dec

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Sebastian Ng studied filmmaking at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood, majoring in Directing and Sound Design but spent most of his time watching movies, and attending film festivals and meet-the-filmmaker sessions. Having returned to Malaysia in 2008, he currently works as a digital production coordinator for Rhythm & Hues Studios (Malaysia). He continues to fuel his passion for film by writing reviews and other ramblings for his blog,Cinematic Concerns.

Check out Sebastian's coverage of the PIFF2009 in KLue's December issue!