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With his new release- 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan would be eager to chant Merry Christmas with the hat-trick of blockbusters after TZP and Ghajini thrashed all box office records in the last two years. Backing him up in his endeavor is the superhit producer-director duo of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani who has given us the affable desi character Munnabhai. So, the question remains whether 3Idiots live up to all the expectations or just fizzles amidst all the hooplah. Though in bolly-nagri fortune-pendulum swings every Friday, still if promos are any indication then the chances of latter is minimal.
3 Idiots is a satire against the society especially to those parents who overlook their children’s passion and dreams for more stereotyped yet alluring future prospects. Few reels into the flick and the sense of déjà vu surmount any other prevalent feeling at that point of time. While the engineering grads would feel at familiar grounds, others would find something or the other to relate to. The narrative never goes over the top; be it ragging sessions or campus masti, classroom arguments of the idiots and principles’ torch-bearers or hostel life antics, parents’ routine preaching or the romantic angle- everything kept well in control to keep the interest level intact. Ace craftsman Raju Hirani is mighty successful in churning out the best emotions out of one and all the actors throughout the roller-coaster ride. While few scenes prompt you to laugh your gall bladder out, few others will compel you to shed salient water intermittently. Add to it the fact that there were enough twists-n-turns that keep audiences conjecturing, tightly fastened on their edge of the seat. Agreed, few sequences were highly melodramatic and logic-defying which in turn might choke moviegoers’ intestines, but I presume our digestive system has been made immune to all these bollywood-sque idiocy, isn’t it? 3 Idiots is like a voyage that jump-starts with a fresh breath of air, jaunts with a fragrance of lilacs and ends on a summit.
Although, being a superstar Aamir Khan grabs the cake but still he is just the small cog in large wheels of 3Idiots; all the other protagonists gets the role that would grace their curriculum vitae in years to come . Sharman Joshi once again proves his mettle both in rib-tickling scenes as well as in the eyes-drenching ones. Madhavan plays his part as Aamir’s real buddy and gives an astounding act to be at par with other two idiots. As a lone 3 Idiots’ academic-foe, Omi does a superlative job with his cramming hindi recitation. He literally brings the house down with his hilarious “chamatkaari” speech on teacher’s day. Boman Irani continued the legacy of his previous two avatars for Raju Hirani and delivers a breathtaking rendition of obnoxious-yet- astute professor. Kareena excels in the short-n-sweet role and thankfully gives preference to the performance than to her new found zero-figure oomph. Coming back to the perfectionist, its amazing how an 45-year old actor get into the shoes of a 18-20 year old college going bloke, and that too with a customary ridiculous ease. He is one contemporary actor who convincingly tickles your funny bones with his unrelenting humor and also compels you to shed tears or two when he enacts the emotional self. I have made this as the title of my TZP review and couldn’t stop myself to encrypt here too “Take a bow Aamir, Take a Bow!!!”
The music and songs routine is stitched well within the movie and never looked out of context. Unfortunately, Raju as an Editor immolated the best song “Gimme some Sunshine” in the final cut, but still it would be the Youth-anthem for all those who miss their school-college days and want to relive those golden moments of their life. “Aal izz well” is the masti song and already scoring in the chartbusters, “Zoobie-Doobie” fills in the void of romantic number but picturised beatifically to give it a new fervor. “Behti hawaa sa tha woh” is like a rhapsodic ‘General Introduction’ of the lead actor while “Jaane nahi denge” is an elegiac plea to the almighty for the well-being of the friend; full marks to Sonu Nigam for crooning the song in pain-ridden voice.
Harjeet’s Verdict: (Abstaining from all Gyaanbaazi, my verdict would be ‘as fit as a fiddle’ and ‘as straight as a needle’; would surely be the shortest for me till date)
Nice to see your comments and way of writing too. After a real long time have seen something which is really real and nothing is virtual. So simple and honest comments would make anyone to think that if anything has been done for only the job makes that the best. It is like hitting the fish eye without thinking and deviating for anything. Sorry to say that after reading people like "Khalid Mohammed" who wrote about the Badshah and Trimurti and giving rating of 4 1/2 made me to not to read any reviews but to give trial and error a chance. But this time sure one can see what to be seen according to one's likings after reading such an impartial, highly literary and good to read stuff.
Such inspiring words motivates me to do better and that only spurrs me up to write revus. Do keep visiting my place and yess.. STAY IN PEACE!!!! :)
You should be invited to watch the movie before the release so that we can take a cue from your review
Kaassshh, it is possible. Unfortunately, this honor is bestowed only on the established and well-known critics.... not one like me. :(
About movie we discussed a lot ,did postmortem n few of the findings are reflected in this review as well :-)
But your comeback in blog world is something to talk about !! If gap is soo refreshing i think you should take them often,devD was the last review i remember!!
First review as a married man :-)take my wishes and share credit with parjaaiJI for your refined thought ;-)
Agreed sir that 3 Idiots is one of the biggest blockbuster ever in Indian Cinema...Aamir does full justice to his role while playing 20 something...But to be honest the movie is not the best of Aamir or Raju Hirani also...Former has awesome movies like TZP to boast about while latter made MUNNABHAI with more conviction...Notwithstanding ****1/2 star reviews the movie was actaully no better than DEV D, Kaminey, PAA or even Rocket Singh which were churned out this year...Anyway being a movie buff and admirer of the ppl involved in this project I wish and hope that they will come up with more meaningful movies in future..As of now Aaal izzz well.
I agree that it is not the best movie either by Aamir or by raju Hirani. But still its the best so far in yr 2009. DEV D I won't count in the list as it was of totally diff genre and one of the best I have ever seen. If u talk abt pure entertainment along with conveying-message in a humorous way, 3Idiots is far better than any other movie.
What comprehends the Blog Title? Virtually all dreams are possible but in reality dreams are receding at a faster rate than we are approaching them. Still, I have few dreams; few of those REAL dreams will become virtually lost and I'll turn few of those VIRTUAL dreams into Reality. Welcome to my Real-Virtual World of dreams.
For the first time ever, AFF will provide Reader Comments to ALL entrants in the Screenplay & Teleplay Competition for FREE! In addition, all entrants receive registration discounts, with even bigger discounts when you place in the competition. Unlike other screenplay competitions, your experience with AFF doesn’t end after making the first cut. Second Rounders (the esteemed top 10-12% in each category), Semifinalists, and Finalists attend special panels, programmed specifically for them and not open to regular badge holders. This year, AFF has an exciting line-up of sponsored award judges including AMC for the One-Hour Pilot category, the Writer’s Guild of America East who will provide three established WGAE screenwriters to judge the Final Round of the Drama category, Enderby Entertainment who will be looking for scripts with an original concept and distinctive voice that can be produced under $5 million, and Frank Darabont’s Darkwoods Productions who will be reviewing this year’s top Sci-Fi scripts. AFF is also now accepting short and digital series scripts!
For over 30 years, the Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop has been the premier writing program for new writers looking to start and further their career in the world of television. Every year, the Workshop selects up to 10 participants out of almost 2,000 submissions and exposes them to Warner Bros. Television’s top writers and executives, all with the ultimate goal of earning them a staff position on a Warner Bros. produced television show. Selected writers will attend lectures, work in a simulated writers' room and get connected with staffing opportunities. To apply, submit a resume, one or two spec scripts (from WB's list of accepted shows), a one-page statement and a submission agreement.
The ASPRS Student Chapter at the University of Kansas, the Mount Oread Geospatial Technologies Club, focuses nearly all of its efforts on our annual GIS Day @ KU celebration. This year marked our seventh annual GIS Day @ KU and each year the event has been better organized, better attended, and more useful to undergraduate and graduate students. The GIS Day Planning Committee is chaired by a graduate student and composed of several undergraduate and graduate volunteers as well as several professors who serve as advisers. Several dedicated university employees also contribute to the committee. We collected funds from various departments and programs across campus who utilize GIS in their research or classrooms. This year, donating departments consisted of the Department of Geography, the Kansas Biological Survey, the Data Access and Support Center (DASC) of the Kansas Geospatial Community Commons, the Institute for Policy and Social Research, the KU Libraries, the KU Transportation Institute, the KU Biodiversity Institute, and the Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS). The Coca Cola company, via a contractual relationship with the university, also donated money and beverages. Most of these are repeat donors who support GIS Day @ KU every year. We also benefit from a close association with the Kansas GIS Policy Board, which allows us, among other things, to send emails to many state and local GIS agencies and government groups.
In the early stages of planning, we select a theme for our GIS Day. This year we focused on open-source and web-based GIS applications. We select guest speakers based on their expertise and knowledge of the theme. We also sponsor a student GIS presentation competition where students from KU and other schools (this year we had students from Haskell Indian Nations University and Baker University) are able to present their research. About half of participants come from outside of geography departments. Prizes this year were $250, $150 and $100 for first, second and third places.
GIS Day @ KU is a big deal. This year, we had 196 people pre-register. Due to the hard work and programming expertise of Xan Wedel, of the Institute for Policy and Social Research at KU, registrants entered their information on our event website and their location appeared on a mashup of Google Maps. Attendees were plotted based on whether they were from academia, private business, government, non-profit or if they were a guest speaker. You can see the map here. A Google Maps mashup was also used to direct attendees from the parking lot to the event, as seen here.
When attendees arrived, they were greeted by a group of student volunteers who issued them a preprinted name tag and provided them with an agenda of the day's events. They were then directed to a parlor, which contained the Information and Job Fair as well as coffee, juice, bagels and pastries. This is the first year that we have organized an Information and Job Fair. Not only did the Fair allow students to meet with local and national GIS related businesses and share their resumes, it also helped us cover the costs of GIS Day @ KU since participating agencies were charged a nominal fee. Participating agencies included:
At 9:00 a.m. Joshua Campbell, geography graduate student and this year's planning committee chair, started GIS Day @ KU with some opening remarks. After his brief introduction participants listened to talks from Goeff Zeiss, Director of Technology at Autodesk; Brian Timoney, Founder of the Timoney Group; Andrew Turner, Founder of Mapufacture and author of 'Introduction to Neogeography'; and Jeremy Bartley, ArcGIS Server Developer Team, ESRI. The presentations of all of these speakers are available on our website. The planning committee has worked with various departments and programs on campus throughout the history of GIS Day @ KU and through their generous support, we were able to cover the airfares, hotel expenses, and food costs of all of our guest speakers.
Following these speakers, we broke for lunch. Then, from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m., attendees watched the Student Research Presentation Competition. This consisted of 8 student presentations about their own research. Presentations were limited to 8 minutes with a 2 minute question and answer period. A list of this years' winners, and all of the student presentations, are available on our competition website found at the link above.
After the student competition, we listened to presentations by Aimee Stewart, Systems Programmer at the KU Biodiversity Institute; Professor Nathaniel Brunsell, professor in Atmospheric Studies and Geography at KU; and Jude Kastens, Research Assistant at the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) program. Their presentations are also available on the GIS Day @ KU website. The formal event ended around 5:00 p.m. but the celebration continued at Free State Brewing Company.
GIS Day @ KU has been a great way to unite the local GIS community and increase awareness of GIS in university departments other than geography. It has also served to mentor undergraduate students by developing working relationships between them and graduate students. This relationship helps to ensure continuity of GIS Day @ KU planning into the future. Our event started small, but has had continued support and has grown to a nearly $5,000 event with over 200 participants. One great benefit to this years' event was listening to speakers talk about the future of GIS web-based applications. Many of these speakers made suggestions to faculty regarding changes to class offerings that would better prepare students for the workplace. If anyone has any questions regarding GIS Day @ KU, please feel free to contact Jonathan Thayn.
During Geography Week, the KU GeoClub sponsors a Globe-O-Mania Trivia Bowl, which is also a great idea for an ASPRS student chapter interested in increasing geography awareness at their university.