This has been, unfortunately, a serious dampener for my new year, hence I was compelled by the dormant critic in me to put this in ink, or text rather. 3 Idiots, sparked off initially as a tribute to Chetan Bhagat's 'legendary', although path-breaking book, 5 point someone. The masala cauldron, more analogous to a typical bollywood flick(the older, slightly cliched version of bollywood, mind you! The fresh,sleek bollywood is already pulling spectators) still sells in millions and marked a watershed event in Anglo-Indian Literature.It stands a landmark for anyone remotely related to the engineering domain.The book triggered an avalanche of sorts, with every second IITian pitching in with books of the same genre. Seriously, any bloke jus setting his foot in this domain; and who probably hasn't read a sole book in his life, regards it as 'the most entertaining book ever'. Yeah Son, did you say 'Linkin Park' were the best 'ROCK'(sometimes even Metal, OMG) band ever??
Switching back to the movie, the basic anomaly in the much-hyped Rajkumar Hirani's latest is the fervent desire to squeeze in the best moments of the book and his own innovations in a tight screenplay, simultaneously. It'd have certainly been better staying tuned to a single frequency, the prowess of which has been manifested in Lage Raho Munnabhai and MBBS. It is hard to adapt a book like 5 Point Someone, so anecdotal; situational in nature and sans a particular plot, in a movie. All salutes to him in successfully executing the same. However, in the mentioned pursuit, the movie stutters its way through and doesn't flow as his preceding masterpieces. The movie contains atleast THREE perceived climaxes but it goes on and on! The parturition scene involving Mona Singh is inconclusive, with the sole purpose to force upon Rancho's talent in compulsorily saving a life. The city gets flooded in like 10 seconds! Yeah, it is a bollywood movie and one expects such instances of maha-lameness but not so when it comes to Mr.Aamir Khan. I'd have gobbled up the scene with cheers had it been Circuit and Munna but with Aamir, arguably the most intellectual, thought out soul amongst the actors, it jus takes some time to swallow down the throat. No, this can't be the same man who delivered us TZP and now is delivering a baby with a Vacuum Cleaner made in grossly 5 minutes of real time world! I understand that it requires some melodrama to justify a character's talent but chanting a 'Aal Is Well' infusing life in a child , that too involving actors of Aamir, Sharman and Madhavan's gene is just not the right recipe. It's like Akshay Kumar playing the teacher in 'Black'. Out of place.
What the movie does achieve with impeccable panache is its effort in emphasizing the mug-up character of our educational stepladder, right from Kindergarten. A breath of fresh air is the staggering cinematography, capturing the locales of Manali and Shimla, like never before.The Munnabhai series was in no way a picturesque spectacle. But this one is. My god, they made a Volvo XC90 look awesomely hot! Also, Aamir Khan's preparatory homework and grooming shows all its hues. Not for a moment does he seem his age. And the protagonist resonates just right with Aamir as sharp, sleek and witty. The dialogue where he says-"Dil bahut hi sensitive hai, ise bewakoof bana kar rakho" is just exactly the moment where sheer power of Rajkumar Hirani's ability hits the right note! The Balatkaari speech and Astronomical Pen remain one of cleverest and kick-ass pieces of comedy in recent times! And kudos to the marketing and promotion. Innovative techniques. Everything from the Hospital(Fortis), USB Modem(AirTel), Car(Volvo) to Social Networking(Facebook) and all the finest nuances have been taken intensively care of. Critics have been surprisingly attaching tags like- Aamir Khan's Best, et al , which is again, a solid gimmick. Successfully created the required euphoria essentially required to magnetise the crowds in for a massive, phodu opening. Yes, U won't be bored for a moment, though U won't be coming out of the theatre; spellbound ,'awakened' and shell-shocked with 1000 Volt shocks as in the case of TZP and RDB.
Sorry Aamir, if you hadn't churned out once-in-a-lifetime movies like the mentioned above, 3 Idiots would've felt much better. It just doesn't give me OMG-I haven't-seen-anything-like-this-before vibe.
Waiting for your next.I'd rather just go and insert the TZP DVD; yet again.
Yeah, I am no film critic and hardly anyone would be remotely interested in a totally random review.Never mind that some will tag me a killjoy and nauseating.