Guest Bharatheeyudu Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 [b]From Three Idiots to a Nation Of IdiotsBefore I went to see Three Idiots watching the film had become something of a sacred duty. Friends telephoned from Mumbai and hissed furiously, "You mean you haven't seen Three Idiots? Why? It's the best movie ever." Cousins cornered me at family gatherings and shouted, "When are you seeing Three Idiots? Its brilliant, its excellent, it's the best." With a chorus of "excellent", "brilliant", "fantastic", "the best" ringing in my ears, jet propelled by the force of family pressure I dutifully lined up on a freezing January afternoon in Delhi, and accompanied by a glassy-eyed horde who had no doubt also been dragooned into the theatre by armies of friends and relatives, we all surged in, breathless with anticipation, to watch Three Idiots.And did Three Idiots the film live up to the hosannahs and eulogies that I heard chanted? Did the film deserve the tidal wave of frenzied applause that broke over my head every time its name was mentioned in any gathering? In my very humble opinion, no. Three Idiots is, for all its fine comic moments, a dangerous film as it legitimizes a scorn and hatred of education, sanctions wilful dumbing down and if cinema harnesses its immense power to such films, then very soon we will become a nation of idiots, and will have to hire foreigners to do our thinking for us.The fact that the film is so enormously popular shows how eager we are to embrace mindlessness and how keen we are to promote a culture where education and thoughtfulness are seen as obstacles to enjoying the good life. Is it any wonder that an Indian Express Indicus Analyticus study gives us the bad news that by 2020 those holding medical degrees/diplomas will go up from a shockingly low 1.3 million to only 2.1 million in the next ten years. As a nation we are in no mood to study, and Three Idiots encourages us to throw away our books because today we are chanting the mantra, "the-system-sucks-and teachers-are-pathetic-and-who-cares-about-grades-and-the-rat-race-is- foolish."Before I proceed any further, I must say at the outset that am a great admirer of Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani. Aamir is a wonderfully talented actor, whose every performance is a joy for sheer energy and versatility. And Hirani's Munnabhai, was a work of pure genius, Gandhigiri and jadoo ki jhappi entered our everyday lexicon as words and concepts and the Mahatma was more successfully marketed than the Congress party has ever managed to in its 125 years of existence. `Three Idiots' too is a slickly made, fast moving film. Purely, as a cinematic adventure, Hirani holds the film together perfectly.Chetan Bhagat's books are justifiably popular and notwithstanding the controversy over credits of Three Idiots and whether or not it was based on Bhagat's book Five Point Someone, the slice of Indian undergraduate life that both book and film captures is a reality familiar and well loved by so many of us.Yet I found Three Idiots far too preachy, far too sanctimonious and far too much of a caricature. It lampoons and trivializes our higher education system as an unrelieved arena of bad teachers, suicidally pressurized students, manic success-oriented parents and evil money seekers who care nothing for learning but only want grades so they can get big jobs and Lamborghinis. Such a caricature is, as we all know, far from the truth. Although a liberal arts degree doesn't compare to an engineering degree, my own experience of higher education at St Stephen's College and Oxford University, is that it is an immensely enriching experience, consisting of many idealistic teachers and the excitement of new ideas is something for which there is no substitute.Yet a film whose central message is "the education system sucks", "we learn nothing at our centres of excellence" and "teachers are unable to teach and only want to ruin students lives," is a rather dangerous film. Three Idiots disdains the rigour of study, pours scorn on wanting to better oneself through the sadhna of learning and instead seems to suggest that to be happy in life we all need to drop out, sing songs under the night sky and not bother with studying hard because studying hard is a waste of time. As a former IITian has pointed out Rancho, in the film mocks Laplace Transform, the equation written on the blackboard, as an example of rote learning. Yet without Laplace Transform, Hirani's computer would not boot up! This former IITian says he has never come across a teacher like Prof Virus, and believes that in its fashionable disdain for education, the film is dangerously juvenile.Yes, our education system needs urgent reform. Yes, we need to relook at our exam system. Yes, we need to ensure that parents do not pressurize children. But in the pursuit of educational reform, we cannot allow standards of excellence to be lowered. India's IITs and IIMs must be applauded for the world-class minds they have thrown up, these are institutions that are respected the world over. Lets not start lampooning Indian engineers by showing them as students who deliver babies with vacuum cleaners. Let's get real about higher education, not engage in an escapist fantasy and convince ourselves that education does not matter. After all, Rancho could be a subversive because he was a genius student. For those who are not geniuses, alas, there are no short cuts. [/b]
Guest Bharatheeyudu Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 [b]Yeah Chitti!! I feel the same.. [/b]
bhargava_v Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 [quote author=ChittiNaidu link=topic=31729.msg222447#msg222447 date=1263153200]Sensibly speaking wat she has said is correct, but most of the students or teenagers who watch the movie..doest take it as seriously as she has taken...so obviously the amount of teenagers or students getting frenzied by her so called "3 Idiots" eupharia is very small and no need to worry about it..she has described one side of the movie...wat abt the approach of learning ( implemeting practically wat ever u study) shown in the movie and its impact even though it is small amount of masses...bu they r the who that change the nations technological advancement.....I see this as her sheer means to get publicity in the pool of blogs....[/quote]your thoughts are very clear thts good...sagarika gose doesnt need any publicity as u thought...she is main person in cnn-ibn network... and i agree she over reacted about all the movie...the only thing i want to say here to chittinaidu garu is please dont link everything to publicity...thank you
bhargava_v Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 [quote author=ChittiNaidu link=topic=31729.msg222549#msg222549 date=1263154686]thanks for the suggestion buddy..I agree that she is a well educated and high profiled media representative...But how many times does they come out and talk about the issues...if they can comment on the movie..why cant on all the B grade movies or other movies (I dont want to mention abt them...and I think u know wat I am talking abt) which have much harder impact on teenager than 3 Idiots has created...[/quote]thanks for the constructive criticism...hmm may be they feel they are over qualified to talk abt them... monkeydanceds monkeydanceds monkeydanceds
Ghajini Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 I dont completely agree with her opinion... First of all,any movie is made for entertainment!! Though there exist some film makers who try to inscribe some sort of message to the audiance in the movie... and I dont think people take movies so seriously that they start absorbing the message and drastically change their life style!! If she thinks a movie can inspire a nation to stop studying hard and throw away our books, then I would say she is foolish!!Any ways coming back to 3 Idiots, I would rather take it as a counstructive criticism on the educational system we are forced to follow. Honestly, I never had a great teacher who could inspire me and take up teaching as my profession and this is very unfortunate but true in many cases. I could never understand Math and Physics coz I was never taught properly. Not every body is genius, not every one has the same learning capabilities and not every body can study every thing... this is my opinion btw
Ghajini Posted January 10, 2010 Report Posted January 10, 2010 [quote author=bhargava_v link=topic=31729.msg222693#msg222693 date=1263156850]good reply ghajini...[/quote]thanks mama cheers12w cheers12w
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