Three Idiots

 (e-content developed by Dr N. A. Jarandikar)

Three Idiots

          The film ‘Three Idiots’ is based on the English novel ‘Five Point Someone’. The novel is written by Chetan Bhagat. The film is directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The film was released in 2009.

          The film deals with a story of three friends. They are Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad or "Rancho"(Aamir Khan). They are the engineering students. They are studying at the Imperial College of Engineering, New Delhi. Farhan wants to become a wildlife photographer. But he joins engineering college to fulfil his father's wish. Raju is from a poor family. Rancho is from a rich family. Rancho studies for the sheer joy of it. He is not happy with the conventional education system. Due to such different attitude Prof. Viru Sahastrbuddhe or ‘Virus’ is upset with Rancho.

          According to Prof. Sahastrbuddhe Rancho is an idiot. Prof. Sahastrbuddhe likes Chatur Ramalingam. Once, Rancho makes changes in the speech of Chatur. Chatur knows nothing about Hindi and goes on speaking the faulty speech. Thus Rancho proves the uselessness of mugging up. Despite the hard work, in every exam Chatur comes second and Rancho comes first.

After some dramatic elements, Farhan and Raju adopt Rancho's outlook. Farhan decides to pursue his love of photography, while Raju decides to attend an interview for a job. However, ViruS is unsympathetic and decides to make the final exam as hard as possible. Pia, the daughter of ViruS hears him and angrily confronts him. She tells him that Viru's son and her brother Lobo was not killed in an accident but he committed suicide in front of a train because ViruS had forced him to pursue a career in engineering over his love for literature. After this, Pia tells Rancho of the exam. Rancho and Farhan steal the exam papers and give it to Raju. But Raju refuses to cheat and throws the papers away. However, ViruS catches the trio and expels them on the spot. However, they earn a pardon when Viru's pregnant elder daughter Mona Singh goes into labour. A heavy storm cuts all power and traffic. Pia instructs Rancho to deliver the baby. Rancho then delivers the baby with the help of a Vacuum extractor.

ViruS reconciles with Rancho and his friends and allows them to take their final exams and they graduate. Rancho comes first and is awarded ViruS's pen.

Having lost contact with Rancho, who disappeared during the graduation party, Raju and Farhan begin a journey to find him. They are joined by Chatur, now a wealthy and successful businessman. Chatur is also looking to have a deal with a famous scientist named Phunsukh Wangdu. Chatur sees Wangdu, who has hundreds of patents. When they find Rancho's house, they walk into his father's funeral, and find a completely different Rancho (Jaaved Jaffrey). After accusing the new man of stealing their friend's identity, Farhan and Raju threaten to throw away his father's ashes down the toilet. The householder narrates the real story. Their friend was a servant boy who loved learning, while he, the real Rancho, was a lazy wealthy child who disliked study. So the family agreed to let the servant boy study in Rancho's place. The real Rancho informs that their friend is now a schoolteacher in Ladakh.

Raju and Farhan then find Pia, and take her from her wedding day. When they arrive in Ladakh, they see a group of Ladakhi children who are motivated by love of knowledge. Pia and the fake Rancho renew their love, while Chatur mocks and abuses Rancho the schoolteacher before walking away. When his friends ask what his real name is, he reveals that it Phunsukh Wangdu and he phones Chatur. Chatur is horrified and falls to his knees, accepts his defeat and continues to plead his case with Phunsukh to establish the business relationship.