Anticipating the 3 idiots

Vidhu Vinod Chopra. I’ve been a huge fan of his right from Khamosh. I was 13 years old when I first saw that movie going all the way to Regal. With a lot of 3 Investigators and Agatha Christies under the belt, I was all set for a great whodunit flick. But I was still mesmerised as the plot unfolded and got increasingly intricate at the same time. The final revelation happens in intercuts between two storylines and I remember that this had blown me away. I am sure that’s a technique which is fairly commonly used in screenplay these days, but at 13, I had never seen anything like that before.

Then came Parinda in 1989. A landmark movie. Shot slickly and with amazing performances by everyone. The screenplay and direction were par excellence. I ended up seeing the movie 23 times that year and by the end of it, every dialogue, every shot and every note of the background music was etched in my memory. I realised I needed to just close my eyes and the movie could easily play itself in my head. After that was 1942 A Love Story, in 1993. A superb period drama based on the Indian freedom struggle. Again, superlative performances and direction. Kareeb was disappointing. But Mission Kashmir was brilliant. And finally Ekalavya, which brought Vidhu Vinod Chopra back up as one of the finest brains associated with film-making in India.

When I heard about Munnabhai MBBS, I knew that this is a genre that is not really up his sleeve as a director. Thankfully, he realised it too and chose another brilliant mind, Raju Hirani to do so. I honestly didn’t go for this movie expecting much. A director, whose name I’d never heard of, a cast that was run-of-the-mill, and some vague idea of it being a rip-off of Patch Adams. But the sheer storytelling and the message delivery was delightful. The characterisations of the protagonists and their interactions were works of brilliant direction. Munnabhai and Circuit have found their place in history as enduring characters for a long, long time. The follow up was equally brilliant in Lage Raho Munnabhai. Light-hearted, message-oriented films that find their mark.

Then there’s Aamir Khan. I have never been a huge fan of Aamir Khan’s. He’s a fine actor, but somehow I find him quite pretentious. It’s not as if all his movies are brilliant. For Lagaan, there’s Mangal Panday. For Taare Zameen Par, there’s Fanaa. And for Rang De Basanti, there’s Ghajini. To be fair, he has only acted in all these films (except TZP). But somehow, there is always such a huge anticipation around his movies that it looks like Aamir himself has done everything and got involved with every aspect of the film that he’s a part of. If that is true, then he deserves to get the blame for his insufferable movies too. All in all, I find the whole image of being a perfectionist and being associated with highly select projects a bit of a bore. If one really is such a perfectionist, one cannot be averaging out in the larger scheme of things like he is. You can’t just take the credit and pass on the blame, right?

But 3 Idiots is going to be brilliant anyway. That is because both Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raju Hirani have both proved time and again that they are brilliant film minds. And they haven’t averaged out yet. I am really looking forward to watch this movie. I am sure it will live up to all its expectations. But it would be a pity if Aamir walks away with all the credit for justified or non-justified reasons.