3 Idiots - the movie has made much news over the last month, breaking revenue records, creating controversies over the insufficient credit to Chetan Bhagat, the author of 5.some1, and for bringing out the flaws in the education system of our country. When I first heard that 3 Idiots is releasing and it is inspired from 5.some1, I thought "Great! Now there is going to be a movie on IIT life. As if the novel 5.some1 had not masalafied it enough and presented it to the public". Personally, I was shocked and angry about the book 5.some1, because it felt like a violation of an unwritten code of conduct, prohibiting you to divulge any secrets about the IIT life. Moreover, the author decided to add some masala to the story so that it sells some copies. As a result of which, people now know about things that we wouldn't want to be public, and they also have misconceptions - things that they think happen, but in fact they don't. I didn't know what was more hurting - the truth or the misconceptions, but I knew one thing - that I wouldn't watch a movie, which twists the truth and presents it on a gold platter to the public.
As I have weak willpower, I ended up watching the movie, that too twice. Well, all my friends including many from IIT gave a thumbs up to the movie, and I wondered if there was something wrong with me for I was thinking the other way. So, I decided to get rid of the prejudice and give it a shot. And I did, and had mixed reactions, well more negative reactions than positive. I didn't like the movie because I saw what I feared I'd see in the movie. A student stealing a question paper - okay, its possible, but unlikely. A hot pataka babe in campus - thankfully they stuck to the novel in this case, made her a professor's daughter and not a student(which is known to be impossible). Fresher making a quad-rotor helicopter with wi-fi'd cam on it, with all the overworked 1st yr schedule - really far fetched, but it is still possible. A student impersonating another guy for the whole BTech course - that's right in between highly improbable and impossible. But a guy making an inverter, using it to supply power to make a suction pump, made from a vaccum cleaner, to deliver a baby - haha, that as close as you can possibly get to impossible. Surely they could have done without the delivery scene in the movie. As for the character - Prof Virus - Now, there are some hard-ass profs in all colleges, but someone like Virus at IIT? I don't think so. I thank god that I didn't have any encounter with such a professor. But, some of my friends and seniors did. And from their experience and from the tales heard from seniors or alumni of professors who would not let you pass a course easily, of times when it was surprising if students completed the degrees without failing any subject, I can say that there hasn't been any prof till now in IIT like Virus. But even if I am wrong, even if such a prof existed, the system ensures that what happens to a student is not in the hands of one professor alone, but in the hands of a group of professors. Surely, the group cannot be comprised of all Virus-like profs.
Well, that's all what bothered me throughout the movie. But, after the movie I did feel happy, elated and uplifted for some reason, and I thought maybe it's the preaching about learning for excellence, or the hostel life, or the study sessions, or the fight for final year project and similar stuff that made me connect to the movie. So, despite all the negatives, I recommended the movie to another friend - Reshma, and surprisingly the response was negative. And I wondered, why I even liked the movie at first place? Looking back, I didn't agree with the ragging session - nobody ever asked us to strip at IIT. I didn't agree with the bathing problems - bunking 1st hour classes was very common, so bathroom clash wasn't a frequent thing and even if it did happen, I'd go to classes without a bath, who cares. I didn't agree about the drinking at rooftops either, because when we ever made a booze plan, we would call the whole wing for it, not some 3 guys. I wouldn't agree with study sessions too, as it was again a group study session and not an individual studying; and the idea of distracting others with porn was a really lame one, I can think of better ideas in 30 seconds. How is this - since class notes of muggo students are sought after, one muggoo can make notes with wrong equations or fundaes and give it to others for copying. I did have problems with the final year project, but the professors had been more than helpful in my case, and I guess this is why I couldn't digest the Virus character at all. Only thing left was the study for excellence attitude thingy.Well, I completed my degree with study for success attitude and hence it should sadden me and not make me happy.
The question still remained, why was I happy after watching the movie when I hated it so much. I stopped trying to answer this question, as the answer seemed out of reach, and went on with the work life. Next day, Prasanna, a colleague of mine, who had seen he movie and was really thrilled about the movie said that the whole tea-gang (Gang of 5 guys who go out every evening for a cup of tea) of ours should go and watch 3 Idiots, as it is a brilliant movie. I could not say that I wasn't happy after watching the movie, and it was too tough to say no to the excited, enthusiastic Prasanna, plus we keep making plans of watching some movie and never go. So, I agreed to go for the movie. I am happy that this time we did go for the movie, as I found the answer to the question. It felt like a "Communications" Noise filtering experiment - Once I knew what the noise (hated parts of the movie) was, I was able to filter it out from the signal(movie) to a good extent. And this time all I saw was - the 3 idiots. I could see why I liked the movie, I could relate to the unbreakable bond between the 3 idiots. The movie doesn't remind me of IIT at all, but it does of the friends I had made at IIT. It does make me realize that out of the many brilliant things that the great institute had to offer, I might have opted for mediocre stuff in most fields, but I have made the best set of friends possible. I guess that's why I visit B'lore so frequently, and thanks to the movie, that's where I'll be next weekend.
As I have weak willpower, I ended up watching the movie, that too twice. Well, all my friends including many from IIT gave a thumbs up to the movie, and I wondered if there was something wrong with me for I was thinking the other way. So, I decided to get rid of the prejudice and give it a shot. And I did, and had mixed reactions, well more negative reactions than positive. I didn't like the movie because I saw what I feared I'd see in the movie. A student stealing a question paper - okay, its possible, but unlikely. A hot pataka babe in campus - thankfully they stuck to the novel in this case, made her a professor's daughter and not a student(which is known to be impossible). Fresher making a quad-rotor helicopter with wi-fi'd cam on it, with all the overworked 1st yr schedule - really far fetched, but it is still possible. A student impersonating another guy for the whole BTech course - that's right in between highly improbable and impossible. But a guy making an inverter, using it to supply power to make a suction pump, made from a vaccum cleaner, to deliver a baby - haha, that as close as you can possibly get to impossible. Surely they could have done without the delivery scene in the movie. As for the character - Prof Virus - Now, there are some hard-ass profs in all colleges, but someone like Virus at IIT? I don't think so. I thank god that I didn't have any encounter with such a professor. But, some of my friends and seniors did. And from their experience and from the tales heard from seniors or alumni of professors who would not let you pass a course easily, of times when it was surprising if students completed the degrees without failing any subject, I can say that there hasn't been any prof till now in IIT like Virus. But even if I am wrong, even if such a prof existed, the system ensures that what happens to a student is not in the hands of one professor alone, but in the hands of a group of professors. Surely, the group cannot be comprised of all Virus-like profs.
Well, that's all what bothered me throughout the movie. But, after the movie I did feel happy, elated and uplifted for some reason, and I thought maybe it's the preaching about learning for excellence, or the hostel life, or the study sessions, or the fight for final year project and similar stuff that made me connect to the movie. So, despite all the negatives, I recommended the movie to another friend - Reshma, and surprisingly the response was negative. And I wondered, why I even liked the movie at first place? Looking back, I didn't agree with the ragging session - nobody ever asked us to strip at IIT. I didn't agree with the bathing problems - bunking 1st hour classes was very common, so bathroom clash wasn't a frequent thing and even if it did happen, I'd go to classes without a bath, who cares. I didn't agree about the drinking at rooftops either, because when we ever made a booze plan, we would call the whole wing for it, not some 3 guys. I wouldn't agree with study sessions too, as it was again a group study session and not an individual studying; and the idea of distracting others with porn was a really lame one, I can think of better ideas in 30 seconds. How is this - since class notes of muggo students are sought after, one muggoo can make notes with wrong equations or fundaes and give it to others for copying. I did have problems with the final year project, but the professors had been more than helpful in my case, and I guess this is why I couldn't digest the Virus character at all. Only thing left was the study for excellence attitude thingy.Well, I completed my degree with study for success attitude and hence it should sadden me and not make me happy.
The question still remained, why was I happy after watching the movie when I hated it so much. I stopped trying to answer this question, as the answer seemed out of reach, and went on with the work life. Next day, Prasanna, a colleague of mine, who had seen he movie and was really thrilled about the movie said that the whole tea-gang (Gang of 5 guys who go out every evening for a cup of tea) of ours should go and watch 3 Idiots, as it is a brilliant movie. I could not say that I wasn't happy after watching the movie, and it was too tough to say no to the excited, enthusiastic Prasanna, plus we keep making plans of watching some movie and never go. So, I agreed to go for the movie. I am happy that this time we did go for the movie, as I found the answer to the question. It felt like a "Communications" Noise filtering experiment - Once I knew what the noise (hated parts of the movie) was, I was able to filter it out from the signal(movie) to a good extent. And this time all I saw was - the 3 idiots. I could see why I liked the movie, I could relate to the unbreakable bond between the 3 idiots. The movie doesn't remind me of IIT at all, but it does of the friends I had made at IIT. It does make me realize that out of the many brilliant things that the great institute had to offer, I might have opted for mediocre stuff in most fields, but I have made the best set of friends possible. I guess that's why I visit B'lore so frequently, and thanks to the movie, that's where I'll be next weekend.
