Aal izz well with 3 idiots

I watched a lot of Hindi movies during my teens.

My late father was then managing a theatre – which meant I could watch movies free.

However, Free did not mean watch as you like. All movies must be viewed by dad first before he allowed us to watch and it must be on weekends.

But for Hindi movies, he gave us a free pass because they were mostly ‘clean’ – free of sensual scenes and violence, and usually, there was a weekend afternoon show.

So, I grew up with quick-witted Hindu songs and dances, laughed through every comedic scene, dreamt through every romance, cried through every instance of dramatic despair and emotionally alive moments, meditated poignant sequences solemnly and thrilled and amazed by suspenseful setups – usually to a lovely, heartfelt, happily-ever-after conclusion.

Hindi movies were such wonderful, invaluable endeavours in my youthful days. And it was with the same expectations last week that I watched 3 Idiots – Bollywood’s highest grossing movie in India and the highest grossing Indian movie internationally – not in a cinema but in the comfort of my home after reading a review from a biblical perspective by a pastor who is also a writer.

Tan Soo-Inn, a pastor of Graceworks Pte Ltd wrote: The movie is in fact a morality play and though it keeps you laughing all the way, the storyline teaches some profound lessons. I thought the ending of the movie was telling us how it portrays the hopes that dwell in most human hearts.

Three friends were admitted to the Imperial College of Engineering, one of India’s most prestigious colleges where only the best are accepted.

Farhan, the first idiot, wanted to become a wildlife photographer but his father dismissed his passion as a stupid dream. Since the day he was born, he was “stamped” as engineer by his father but Farhan struggled without interest.

The second idiot, Raju, came from a poor family background and saw engineering as the ladder to climb out of poverty with a paralysed father, an ailing mother and an unmarried sister banking on his success. Fear of failure turned Raju into a nervous wreck who did extremely bad in semester exams.

Rancho, the last idiot, was a true learner who studied not for grades but the fun of learning but it made him notorious with the lecturers.

Farhan said of Rancho: “Today, my respect for that idiot shot up. Most of us went to college just for a degree. No degree meant no plum job, no pretty wife, no credit card, no social status. But none of this mattered to him – he was in college for the joy of learning – he never cared if he was first or last.”

Such was the genuine and touching friendship of the three idiots. They laughed at each other, cried for each other. They fought. They envied. They were insecure but painfully honest with it.

There is a one-liner punch that I like most about the truthfulness of their friendship. It came from Farhan who – after finding out that Rancho has topped their exam – said: “That day we learned when your friend flunks, you feel bad – when he tops, you feel worse.”

How many of us with that kind of feeling are honest enough to say it out loud?

Yet, the supposedly ‘dumb’ trio, despite their candid and often not so complimentary views about each other, stood together in their weakest moments and they also kept their promises.

3 Idiots is a message to parents not to put unrealistic pressure, duty and responsibility on their children that is pushing the latter to the point of physical and mental collapse.

At the funeral of a fourth year student who committed suicide, leaving a note ‘I quit’, Rancho said something worth pondering on: “Everyone thinks it’s suicide. The postmortem report says – cause of death: Intense pressure on windpipe resulting in choking. All think the pressure on the jugular killed him. What about the mental pressure for the last four years? That’s missing in the report. Engineers are a clever bunch. They haven’t made a machine to measure mental pressure. If they have, all would know this isn’t suicide… it’s murder.”

Farhan’s father made a dramatic U-turn to support his son in his pursuit of photography by exchanging his graduation gift of a computer for a professional camera!

How many of us parents are prepared to make such a dramatic about-face by allowing, not to mention supporting, our children to pursue what they really want to be?

3 idiots also portrayed how teachers were reduced to mere repetitive robots by an old-fashioned education system. They still clung to teaching methods used decades ago. No longer were teachers or gurus revered by their students nor the students respected by their teachers.

In the movie, the head professor delivered the inception speech to freshies umpteenth times. It was repetitive to the last word and even the porter boy who overheard it each year, could parrot every line with utmost ease.

Another punchy line from Rancho to the professor: “I wasn’t teaching you engineering, sir – that you know better than me. I was teaching you how to teach.”

Apart from a combination of humour and powerful satire, the script used many one-liners that were both thought-provoking and haunting.

There were scenes in the film all too familiar to many of us such as the delayed arrival of the ambulance or fire engine in response to distress calls. In one take, when the ambulance arrived late to take his ailing father to hospital, Raju’s mother lamented: “It’s a strange country – a pizza gets delivered in 30 minutes but a life-saving ambulance takes more time to reach.”

Without being preachy, the movie delivered the message about friendship, parenting, hope, faith, love and courage with utmost sincerity. It bound the audience together with aal izz well (all is well), a simple phrase meaning stay positive. The three idiots recited it when they became frazzled or nervous, leaving you inspired to take a closer look at your own life.

Be not dismayed by your lack of understanding of the Hindi language, there are subtitles and even the songs to help you along. In fact, what made 3 Idiots so entertaining is the dialogue.

So what’s the hope that dwells in most human hearts?

Pastor Tan graciously allowed me to use this quote of his: We live in a post-modern world that discards any notion of absolute truth and any objective meaning to life. Yet, so many of us laugh and cry in response to a movie like The Three Idiots. In the darkness of the movie theatre, we still long for love and meaning in some perfect world. And we still believe in the existence of evil and want it to be defeated. And we still cry out to be saved.

What are you waiting for? Go and catch a glimpse of the three idiots and become the fourth one! I just did.