The 3 Idiots and a philosophy
It is not often that a visit to the theatre makes me pen down thoughts and words and make the world know that I have a penchant for writing... least of all, a visit to a Hindi movie, most of which try to pack item numbers, Indian values, buffoonery and fighting stunts all in one, within a three hour slot. The voyeur and the grandma... no one feels neglected and everyone feels that they have had their money's worth. Much to the delight and relief of intelligent movie goers however, Indian cinema has come of age lately and has realised that movies can be box office hits without frightening outfits, flourescent lipstick and buckets of tears!
An apprehensive me went to the theatre that cold afternoon to watch '3 Idiots'. I was not sure if I was investing a 150 buck ticket and a 60 buck triangular packet of popcorn in the right place. When I returned home, I was silent, thoughtful, retrospective and happy. Given the incorrigible mush and improbabilities which every Bollywood movie has to pack in... to please the audience, the '3 Idiots' was both wonderfully neat and neatly wonderful. The take away point for me was the underlying philosophy since I could relate so intricately with it. It made me feel as though I was not the only weird person on the planet.. there were other people who could think that way and appreciate that life is not just about speed, not about achievements but something deeper, something more profound! Not many of us stop to ponder upon the ultimate goal of life... if we did, we would realise that it is something as simple as being happy. Though happiness has different definitions for different people, running a race and to be always running, to always live with the fear that you will be overtaken soon.... cannot define happiness for any sane human being. And the viscious circle continues... we add years to our life, deducting life from our years! It is not necessary for knowledge to be encashable in the form of a high paying job. If you are bright at studies, it is not mandatory that you have to be earning more than your not-so-bright peers. There is nothing that any of us have to prove to anybody... since with the strain of trying to prove to others that you are worth something comes the risk of failure and hence frustration of failed attempts. The easiest thing to be in this world where you cannot be anything, is to be yourself.. follow your heart, follow your dreams, no matter how unrealistic they might be and that will be considered as a life well spent.
The Indian middle class, for the most part, is driven by economic reasons to exploit the brighter members of their family to emulate their position in society and 'show them better days' as they frame it. An intelligent child in an Indian middle class family is a prey to his own family. His intelligence is an investment which they must encash in future to go to a bigger house in a cleaner neighbourhood, get their not-so-pretty daughters married to 'suitable' grooms. Sadly enough, an intelligent child in a middle class family cannot acquire knowledge simply because he wants to know... it has to translate to something material. It is time our middle class stopped killing the dreams of their children... it is time we began to feel equally proud of our photographer sons as we would of the engineers!
And to wrap up the loose ends, the 3 Idiots did not forget to pack in a heroine, who was not required at all and proved her redundancy till the last scene... a bunch of engineering undergrads assisting a woman in labour and the new born baby responding only to "All is well" and to no other normal post natal procedure, a bride running away from her own wedding to marry someone she has not heard from in past 5 years... But much to the viewer's pleasure, the loose ends did serve to give the movie its signature feel-good factor. Life's improbabilities are perhaps what we try to explore in the movies and the 3 Idiots packed in a modest dosage. A carefree heart, a journey into the self and the courage to be yourself.. that's all it takes to be happy, that's all that it takes to make life worthwhile!
An apprehensive me went to the theatre that cold afternoon to watch '3 Idiots'. I was not sure if I was investing a 150 buck ticket and a 60 buck triangular packet of popcorn in the right place. When I returned home, I was silent, thoughtful, retrospective and happy. Given the incorrigible mush and improbabilities which every Bollywood movie has to pack in... to please the audience, the '3 Idiots' was both wonderfully neat and neatly wonderful. The take away point for me was the underlying philosophy since I could relate so intricately with it. It made me feel as though I was not the only weird person on the planet.. there were other people who could think that way and appreciate that life is not just about speed, not about achievements but something deeper, something more profound! Not many of us stop to ponder upon the ultimate goal of life... if we did, we would realise that it is something as simple as being happy. Though happiness has different definitions for different people, running a race and to be always running, to always live with the fear that you will be overtaken soon.... cannot define happiness for any sane human being. And the viscious circle continues... we add years to our life, deducting life from our years! It is not necessary for knowledge to be encashable in the form of a high paying job. If you are bright at studies, it is not mandatory that you have to be earning more than your not-so-bright peers. There is nothing that any of us have to prove to anybody... since with the strain of trying to prove to others that you are worth something comes the risk of failure and hence frustration of failed attempts. The easiest thing to be in this world where you cannot be anything, is to be yourself.. follow your heart, follow your dreams, no matter how unrealistic they might be and that will be considered as a life well spent.
The Indian middle class, for the most part, is driven by economic reasons to exploit the brighter members of their family to emulate their position in society and 'show them better days' as they frame it. An intelligent child in an Indian middle class family is a prey to his own family. His intelligence is an investment which they must encash in future to go to a bigger house in a cleaner neighbourhood, get their not-so-pretty daughters married to 'suitable' grooms. Sadly enough, an intelligent child in a middle class family cannot acquire knowledge simply because he wants to know... it has to translate to something material. It is time our middle class stopped killing the dreams of their children... it is time we began to feel equally proud of our photographer sons as we would of the engineers!
And to wrap up the loose ends, the 3 Idiots did not forget to pack in a heroine, who was not required at all and proved her redundancy till the last scene... a bunch of engineering undergrads assisting a woman in labour and the new born baby responding only to "All is well" and to no other normal post natal procedure, a bride running away from her own wedding to marry someone she has not heard from in past 5 years... But much to the viewer's pleasure, the loose ends did serve to give the movie its signature feel-good factor. Life's improbabilities are perhaps what we try to explore in the movies and the 3 Idiots packed in a modest dosage. A carefree heart, a journey into the self and the courage to be yourself.. that's all it takes to be happy, that's all that it takes to make life worthwhile!
posted by Totalnirvana @ 1:42 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
nicely written :)
though this movie is having a good effect on people... my dad told me yesterday that i should go ahead and do whatever makes me happy!
and ya, i agree about the kareena part... and to be honest, i was a little pissed that hers was the second name during casting!
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