3 idiots

         

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian comedy film co-written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The story is about three best friends who are studying engineering that bring laughter and tears to the audiences who watch it. You would laugh so hard at those stupid stuffs they did and also cried out in any touching moment they created, in terms of friendship, family and love.

Indian dance

          Dances and music are always some embellishments to any Indian film, although the film is not a musical genre. Dances are beautiful, their task is to embellish the film, making the film special with own culture and style but not missing out the content of the film. If the film is an action genre, the dances are usually fast pace to maintain the tension happened in the film. If the film is sad or romantic, the dances shall be slower, in order to maintain the harmonies.

          The dancing part can be seen when Rancho, Farhan and Raju met and getting closer to each other. They were dancing in the bathroom, since it is a comedy film, the rhythm is fast and lively. The song played is named “Aal izz well” which is homophonically similar to all is well. The song name stands an important role in enhancing the story, giving encouragement to the characters and audiences that everything is going to be okay. Another dance performance was presented by Rancho and his girlfriend, Pia. Pia was falling in love to Rancho and she started to see visions of Rancho in all the TV programmes. She then had a vision of dancing together with him featuring a song called “Zoobi Doobi” where the lyrics said the characters’ hearts go “zoobi doobi” as they jig along.

Costume

          The costumes inside the films are colourful, especially those traditional clothing they were wearing, as in Hindu religion, colour plays an important role in all aspects in life. There were two wedding scenes in the film. When Pia was about to marry Suhas, she was dressing up herself in her room and Farhan came in. She was wearing an Indian traditional red wedding Lehenga with all the golden jewelleries. Red colour is believed as the most auspicious colour among Hindus. She then met Raju who dressed himself up as the bridegroom who was wearing Sherwani and his face was covered with a veiled with a curtain of flowers called Sehra, that is the traditional wedding clothes for men in North India. Other than the wedding clothes, traditional costumes are worn by the guests, mostly Sarees and Punjabis by the female guests. Sarees were also worn by Raju’s mother all the time.

          When Raju, Farhan and Chatur went to look for Rancho in Shimla, they found that Rancho’s house was having a funeral. All the visitors and the family members are wearing white clothes. White is the colour of purity, both mourners and the clothes worn to the funeral need to be cleaned and purified. Hindu funerals are meant to be simple and solemn, bright colours or black clothing might be seen as disrespectful to the deceased.

Style

          Indian films are different compared to Hollywood or other Asian cinema. 3 idiots doesn’t follow the three-act structure. The film maintained both traditional and modernism at the same time. The story was presented with dances and music just like any other Indian films but with a little touch on modernism.

          Farhan is the narrator of the film, the story was presented in his point of view. The film started with a scene of 5 years later where Raju and Farhan meet up with Chatur to look for Rancho. Farhan then recalled back the days they spent together in ICE (Imperial College of Engineering) 5 years ago. The story then jump back into the present days when they took their group photo together with their college’s director, Virus, after the exam result has released. The scene was cut when they discovered Rancho they know was studying for the real Rancho to get him the certificate. They start their journey again to look for their Rancho and the scene was cut back to the 5 years ago. The story was later telling the transformation of Raju and Farhan in the old days and how their relationship with Rancho was strongly built. The story then cuts again as Pia was asking Rancho to marry her but he said he can’t. When back to present days, Pia is getting married to Suhas. Raju and Farhan pursued her thus she ran away from her wedding to look for Rancho.

          Although the story was told in both present days and old days with jump cuts but there were connection with every cut. The story is telling in causes and effects, what happened in the past have made them changed in the future. Yet, there are still something that can’t change like the bond between Raju, Rancho and Farhan and the love of Pia towards Rancho.

          The film was a blockbuster in year 2009. It is a must watch film that made you laugh and cry for the reasons they gave in the film. It is also an encouragement and a lesson to the society. They encourage the youngsters to chase for what they wanted to achieve in life so that they don’t end up regretting the choices they made earlier. The film teaches the audiences of what hardship they will face and how should they get through it, just with a squeeze of courage they can get a better result.

References

Dr Raminder Kaur, Ajay J Sinha. (2005). Bollyworld: Popular Indian Cinema Through A Transnational Lens

Kishore Valicha. (1998). The Moving Image: A Study of Indian Cinema

Phani Sarma, N., Kavya, B. (2010). A brief review of the plot. Movie Analysis – 3 Idiots

Nicole Seaton.  What Color Do Hindus Wear to Funerals?. People by Demand Media. Retrieved from http://people.opposingviews.com/color-hindus-wear-funerals-3677.html