3 Idiots is not idiotic

Watched matinee show of 3 Idiots last Friday. The theatre was packed, no wonder bookings for the next ten shows were full in advance. We missed the first two minutes of the film wherein Farhaan (Madhavan, in a carefully knitted role and apt) forcefully gets down from a ready-to-takeoff flight to meet his long lost college friend, Rancho (played brilliantly by Aamir Khan) who is rumoured to have been seen somewhere in Simla. He and his other friend Raju (Sharmaan Joshi lives up to the character) start off on a journey from Delhi to Simla to Ladakh in search of Rancho along with Chatur, their classmate from college and also an intuitive enemy.

The film rolls between present and flashback as Farhaan narrates it effectively. Most of the episodes from their engineering college life are fun to watch on screen except for the delivery on a pool table scene which I felt was too dramatic to digest. Boman Irani (as Virus, the Dean) had nothing new to offer but fitted the role perfectly with striking voice modulation and personality. Kareena Kapoor was good with the I-know-it-all attitude as Dean's second daughter. She leaves her mark in the film in spite of a lesser reel time.

The movie is adapted from Chetan Bhagat's first step to fame, Five Point Someone. Though a lot of modifications have been done with the characterizations of all the characters (except Raju's) and a big twist in the interval episode (quite interesting to watch). But, Hirani should have been more careful while writing and shooting certain scenes. All the three - Aamir, Madhavan and Sharmaan have done exceedingly well. Music is apt for the film and sounds good when you hear it on screen (with the visuals).

All in all, the film is very good and definitely tops the best entertainer list in year 2009.

My rating for this film - **** 1/2
(* You will shoot me
** Waste of time
*** Can sit through
**** Worth watching once
***** Must watch)