Hacker Cinema
3 Idiots
2009 · Film · 171 min
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani
Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down—along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. Together, they make life miserable for "Virus," the school’s uptight and heartless dean. But when Rancho catches the eye of the dean's daughter, Virus sets his sights on flunking out the "3 idiots" once and for all.
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31 comments on Hacker News
Fun connection—"3 Idiots" is a Bollywood film about the journey of three engineering students at an Indian college, inspired by Wangchuk's (the engineer's) life!
Curated list of favorite underrated movies:
#1 pick for HN Crowd: The Man From Earth // must see, especially if you like philosophical movies (don't recommend the sequel by the way)
Runner's Up:
Being There // absolute classic and must see for every person, at least once
Peaceful Warrior
The Lion In Winter // one of the best dramas ever made, and unbeatable cast with young Anthony Hopkins
Predestination // incredible drama about time travel paradoxes
The Interview // Hugo Weaving
Vitus // amazing story about a piano prodigy who fakes losing his talents to have a normal life
The Perverts Guide to Cinema // documentary, Slavoj Zizek's tour de force psychoanalysis of cinema as an art form; addressing the philosophical and psychological question of whether cinema (and other art forms) fulfil your desires, or rather teach/train you both to desire (and what you should desire), thus the sensationalistic and polemical invocation of it as "perverted"
Le Professionnel (French film, not to be confused with the one with Natalie Portman)
Revolver // Guy Ritchie's quote "It took me three years to write this film whereas Snatch took me three months". It is a masterwork metaphor about the ego, ego death, consciousness, meditation, spirituality, and the nature of reality. Recommend reading an interpretation of the film either before or after viewing to better appreciate what is happening in the story as it is most metaphorical.
Rest of the List: The Big Kahuna, Tao of Steve, Crazy Stupid Love, Megamind, Eyes Wide Shut, Dead Poet's Society, Before Sunset, Gambit, Five Minutes of Heaven, Temple Grandin, Croupier, The Good Guy, 3 Idiots, Limitless, Drive, Whiplash
As an Indian living outside it’s great to see us doing well as a group. I think this comes from traditionally Indian families and parents putting extensive focus on getting skilled and educated as the focus of bringing their children up.
For non-Indian folks, a few interesting movies to watch that go into this aspect of the culture l: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_30_(film)
This cultural phenomenon is not unique to Indians though, it’s also seen in China and may be other countries in Asia that I’m missing.
I’m also a little surprised by some of the comments here, I would expect comments on hackernews to be intellectually stimulating and balanced arguments that are atleast with some effort removed of personal biases. Some examples of biases that I see — lumping Indians as a group or general human tendencies quoted as exclusive to Indians such preferring your group over others (in-group out of group mentality)
On the flip side though, I’m not much surprised. As the under developed countries industrialize they’re taking back what has been historically their share of the world GDP. And as a result a larger Indian influence is visible and likely to grow as the Indian economy continues to grow. I think some folks should find it in themselves to reconcile the changing world around us.
Probably the best Indian-as-indian-can-be movie that's released in a longtime. This is the highest grossing film of all time in Indian cinema, the Avengers Endgame / Jurrassic Park of India.
Pros
* Incredibly stylized and fresh (not derivative)
* great bro-drama
* arguably best dance scene EVER
* Not deeply cynical towards society like everything made today.
Cons:
* Long (but still somehow incredibly fast paced and dense, just a lot of arcs)
* over the top (but shamelessly so, and taken seriously)
______
RRR is a tectonic shift in how Indian cinema views itself. It is worth watching purely because of its place in the Movie movement zeitgeist.
IMO, This is the first Indian movie in 10 years that makes it to must watch territory for universal audiences (the last one being 3 idiots).
Reminds me of the main character from the movie 3 Idiots (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/3_idiots).
Thank you. I looked him up.. and found that the movie 3 Idiots was loosely based on his first novel! I love that movie so much, and it got me into the wonderful world of 21st C Indian cinema.
3 Idiots (2009) and PK (2014) are my favourites. The best of the other recent Indian movies I've seen:
Barfi! (2012), Mardaani (2014), Lagaan (2001), Rocket Singh (2009), Dangal (2016), Dabba (2013), Black (2005), Rang de Basanti (2006), Taare Zameen Par (2007), Dhobi Ghat (2010), Secret Superstar (2017), My Name Is Khan (2010)
For more background on this, if you have the time, watch this movie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots
They literally used it in a Blockbuster Hindi movie called '3 idiots' as if it was a real story. A huge section of the population takes these urban legends seriously. But i guess as long as the message is decent , no harm done ?
"3 Idiots" is just a name of the movie. Just have started to watch it and it looks pretty relevant to the discussion, so far. I presume that downvotes to your comment are unwarranted.
I have a question to Hindi speakers: they say a word that sounds like "futur" meaning literally "future". Is that a borrowed word? Or is it something native to Hindi?
I am quite astonished that I can grasp a bit of it. The language kind of reflects some European languages. For instance, I can understand a tiny fraction of what actors are saying in Hindi. Never learnt it before, but that lingual link is interesting.
3 Idiots is a remarkably inspirational Bollywood movie depicting the problem; one of my all-time favorites. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/3_idiots
In India, your major is largely determine by your academic results and social pressure when you finish up secondary schools.
If you score at the top in your entrance exams, you will applying to medical or engineering schools. The good schools are hyper selective and only take the top scorers (at a rate more selective than our ivy's). Very, very few people consider majors outside of these areas. Secondly, there is a huge amount of social pressure to be an engineer or doctor. It is quite often that parents choose your major, or at least heavily push their kids into one. There are lots of Bollywood movies whose plots are centered around parents forcing their kids into engineering.
Since your choice of major is largely determined by academic and social reasons there isn't a big gender disparity. Females do just as well on the entrance exams, and there is no societal view that engineering is a male major. If you are a parent who wants your kids to earn well and marry well, you will push your kids towards medicine or engineering regardless of gender. If you are female who scored well and got entrance into a top engineering school, dropping out would be unthinkable. It would be an insult to your family. You would be throwing away years of hard work in their view; some kids start preparing for entrance exams when the hit 14. There is even a suicide problem when people fail out of the top schools (see the movie 3 Idiots). Essentially majors and careers have a hierarchy which is the same regardless of gender.
As to why there isn't a societal bias that engineering is a male major, I'm not sure. It was definitely a quick change as it was only in the 1960s when most engineering colleges started admitting females.
There is definitely still a gender gap (many women are not supported to even finish basic schooling), but there isn't a huge societal bias that engineering major or STEM is a male profession.
I have heard that some of the USSR countries (Russia, Ukraine) have a similar culture and don't view engineering or STEM as "male" majors.
Maybe the problem is parents don't bully their daughters and sons into engineering here :)
This. It is a massive cultural problem which the Indian society has perpetuated over the past couple of decades. This competition was so intense that kids scoring 94/95% were also not good enough. 98/100 or bust. Colleges in this country had cut-off lists at 99% for the first 4-5 lists. A vast majority of Indians who grew up and were schooled, till atleast as late as early 2010s, have faced this. I've seen kids as early as 5 taking extra classes after school to get ahead of others. I've heard of parents enquiring about "what" to do for their kid who will write a competitive exam 20 years later. Yes, they are panicking/preparing for something which is going to happen 20 years later.
Fortunately, winds are changing directions. Young Indians have come around to the prospect that engineering, medicine, law or civil services are not the only career options. Success of companies like Flipkart, Paytm have played a massive role in turning students towards entrepreneurship. People in major cities are open to pursuing unconventional careers on Youtube, Instagram, Blogs etc.
But there's still a massive way to go. I'd estimate it will take another generation or two to bring about this cultural change that marks are not everything.
If you need to grasp the intensity of the problem, be aware that multiple prime ministers have made multiple remarks over the years, telling the kids that the exams are not the end of their life[1]. Movies have been made to emphasize that skills/passion is way more important and valuable[2]. To see the after effects of such an education system, read The Made-In-India Manager[3]. Some positive effects are that you get really ambitious and competitive people out of such a system. On the negative side, you'd see that many Indian workers do not really have a hobby or life beyond work.
[1] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/board-exam-is-not-the-exam-for-life-modi-tells-students/story-mey38ekYP46ou8mID71qrI.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots
[3] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42611062-the-made-in-india-manager
Reminds me of the movie 3 idiots (https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/). I guess the story is still valid nowdays. Great inspirational movie btw...
There is a Bollywood movie that excels on this subject and delves deeper into the culture that creates an environment favorable to such outcomes.
Name = "3 Idiots"
For those who have watched the Bollywood movie “3 idiots”, the role of Dr Phunsuk Wangdu was/is inspired by Sonam Wangchuk.
Ice stupas are quite a sight if you happen to visit Leh Ladakh area in India
>>Other than in extraordinary circumstances, you gave the teacher and the system the benefit of doubt.
This is changing or has changed in India. These days you can't do anything much to the child, even if the child is clearly getting spoilt. Parents seem to have very bloated egos these days.
The bad side effect of this is many teachers don't really have the same degree of connect with their pupils these days. So its largely like - "What have I too lose, should you get spoilt' mentality is getting common.
In a generation back during my parents's time, teachers were literally looked up as very honorable and respectable. I even know of an incident which my uncle told. He used to play a lot and was not good at studies, when he passed examinations, my grandparents would go to the school and ask the teachers if they gave their pupil a honest evaluation. They literally would be surprised if he got a pass, and asked the teachers to be honest if had failed. Compare this with parents today.
This reminds of a song in Hindi from the movie '3 idiots':
kandho ko kitabo ke boj pe jhukaya, rishwat dena to khud papa ne sikhaya
Seconded. 3 Idiots is fantastic fun film. If you haven't seen it you should!
In an environment with few opportunities, a B/A is not good enough. Highly recommend the Indian film "3 Idiots" for a great critique of the pressures that students face in other parts of the world. It's also one of the most accessible and enjoyable Indian films.
didn't you watch the movie "3 idiots" ? pencils didn't work well in outer space too!
from:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
"Originally, NASA astronauts, like the Soviet cosmonauts, used pencils, according to NASA historians. In fact, NASA ordered 34 mechanical pencils from Houston's Tycam Engineering Manufacturing, Inc., in 1965. They paid $4,382.50 or $128.89 per pencil. When these prices became public, there was an outcry and NASA scrambled to find something cheaper for the astronauts to use. Pencils may not have been the best choice anyway. The tips flaked and broke off, drifting in microgravity where they could potentially harm an astronaut or equipment. And pencils are flammable--a quality NASA wanted to avoid in onboard objects after the Apollo 1 fire."
I think that you completely missed my point. I understand that India makes the most films. What I'm saying is that they should diversify into the American (or global) market and make another couple billion a year.
Animation is probably the logical place. It's not the quantity of films, but the quality.
Bollywood does makes some great movies, of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots
Here's what Hollywood makes:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/how-much-does-hollywood-earn/
It looks like they get around $10 billion US and $25-$30 billion internationally.
So, in the big scheme of things, a billion dollars is less than the Avengers made at the box office.
First time I heard about this was on the Indian movie "3 Idiots". Never did any research on it but the movie explanation just made sense to me. I didn't know there's some history behind it.
I think deciding that learning and understanding is more important than pleasing markers and getting a qualification is one of the most important decisions you can make.
One of my favourite movies ever is a bollywood film on this topic. 3 Idiots. Here's a snippet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35sfBjmVWpU
I still think the opportunity is there. I've seen several specials on the IITs, and they are a very well respected institution both in and out India. In addition, I think people generally realize that the educational system should offer more. I'll offer up Aamir Khan and friends as anecdotal evidence. :-) Great movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Idiots
> I can imagine them being put off by how they went about it
Remember that we're talking about the same movie industry where a man can slap another man and have him fly some 20 feet, after which he gets up and starts dancing with a lover. Relatively speaking, 3 Idiots was sane.
The movie is filled with impossibilities, true. But have you seen Bollywood movies? Have you known the Indian audience they cater to? The impossibilities are the reason the movie did well; no half educated person is going to seriously attempt delivering a child with a vacuum over a webcam. At the same time, these stupid feats brought people to the movie, and forced them to realize how pathetically screwed up our education system is. Sure, we didn't do anything to fix it from that one movie--but for at least a few months, every time the movie was brought up, people started caring about changing the way our kids were taught.
I'm not suggesting this movie was something that raised awareness about an unknown issue, but it did succeed in bringing it to the forefront for quite a while, as Aamir's movies have been known to do. If you've seen other Bollywood movies, you know that 3 Idiots is a godsend when compared to the literally thousands of song filled intellectually vacuous love stories that we've been inundated with.
Furthermore, that suicide wasn't for the helicopter. It was after the dean called his (sick?) father, and told him that his son was not graduating that year. I do not remember the specific circumstances (I have terrible memory and watched this movie a few months ago), but claiming that the suicide was due to an engineering failure is ignoring many aspects of the student's life.
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As for the string solution--I don't really see why you need precision in cutting a pizza in 11 slices for a random customer. It's an interesting solution, one I hadn't thought of, and I'd say one that many others hadn't thought of. The point was to deal with what a cook would have in his hands, not a mathematically sound approach. While the latter might be clean, it would be physically impossible to implement with a pizza cutter that might not be sharp enough, or a pizza where the cheese and sauce still oozed over the crust* (in which case you never could get equal slices).
* You can tell I haven't had lunch yet.
Even in the movie 3 Idiots, at the end of the movie, the man with the pen points out that there's a reason for the complexity: bits of graphite flying around in zero gravity near instrument panels and people's eyes, etc.
Simplicity is great, but sometimes complexity is warranted. More importantly, assuming other smart people (many other smart people) are wrong without deep thought is not a good idea.
IMO, the problem is that the guaranteed short-term profit strategy (MBA?) has infested Hollywood. These days they will only make a movie that has already done well. That means sequels and remakes. Every time you think your seeing an original Hollywood film in the last "I don't even know how many" years you're actually just seeing a foreign remake (e.g. Shall we Dance, Departed, 13, 3 idiots, etc.). These days they're waiting less and less time to remake popular foreign films. 3 idiots is from 2009 and they're already copying it.
Some people are saying "but this is what makes the most money!"... weren't we just complaining that revenues have fallen? They may make the most money of any of their other offerings (which are just more of the same!) but they're making less over all.
People still try to have the movie experience as we have for so long but then why pay so much? I can watch a well made series on free TV and then I only need to wait a week to see the next episode instead of 2-3 years.
Being an Indian and a former student myself, I can't relate enough to OP's article or to your comment. I took up biology in +2, because my mom insisted it would "lead to more options later" even though I wanted to take up Computer Science (Yes my +2 college had that as an option). But I didn't get to. And I regret that decision even now.
I ended up studying something I didn't like in Engineering and didn't get good grades. I failed in a few exams. As shown in the movie 3 idiots, I did get selected in 2 companies after Engineering, but due to those failed exams, they ended up not giving me an offer letter even though I had got selected among a group of 3000(me and 12 others had gotten selected.) And my classmates who memorized everything in the textbooks got a high salaried job. I mean these people would never even know how to solve the maths problems which weren't in the textbooks.
Anyway all this has left a very sour taste in my mouth regarding all things Indian. In the next few months, I'm going to the US to pursue a Computer Science Master's like I always wanted, but I do realize that this puts me at a disadvantage over people who did study Computer Science at the Bachelor's level. But I hope I can do well </rant>
3 idiots. It makes me laugh and crying in one film.
Well, I upvoted them back to normal :)
Anyway here's my list:
Even if you don't watch this movie called Any Given Sunday, you can find Al Pacino's 5-min inch-by-inch speech. That's the best I've seen. You can look it up on youtube. Worthy 5min :) It sort of dopes you with inspiration.
My favourites (may mostly include lesser known movies):
"The World's Fastest Indian" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/) It's based on the real story of Burt Munro, an old hobby biker, from New Zealand who sets the world's fastest land speed record on his Indian motorcycle beating all odds like an unfit, aging body (with prostrate and a ticking heart) and very little money to spare. It's not known that much. But Anthony Hopkins is good in that movie.
This movie is a bit different, there are no bad guys and it's really awesome to watch. Gives you a very different perspective of the world ("everybody is good" sorta thing). It left me in tears after he breaks the world record in the end.
Others: Dead Poet's Society ("Carpe Diem - seize the day"), Walk The Line and a 1990 movie called Chaplin (for which Robert Downey won an Oscar for playing Charlie Chaplin) and ofcourse Forrest Gump ("life is like a box of chocolates you'll never know what you get")
Also Mongol (Story of the rise of Gengiz Khan told from a different perspective). Some other language. But you'll get sub-titles.
And if you like Bollywood (Hindi) movies, try "Lagaan" and "3 Idiots" (this is a must watch).
After reading a lot abt Chariots of Fire, I'm going to watch it this weekend.
EDIT: if you like watching action cartoons, you should try watching Transformers - Cybertron series. Although gets a bit repetitive after a few episodes (loop: "beat villian. he returns again"), the "we are a team" quote echoes thru-out.
P.S: If you notice closely in Forrest Gump, when Tom Hanks is narrating that his friend put his money in a fruit company and it seems like he's looking at a letter for shareholders, you'll notice that the letter contains Apple's old 'colorful apple' logo :D
Ok I know I am going to get many down votes for no apparent reason for this comment but I think this was ridiculous that this post made it to the home page of HN. There was nothing of value in this post, the author just told some vague things about the movie (3 idiots by the way is a fantastic movie). No opinion was put up, no analysis was done just nothing was there. It was just like saying "I like 3 idiots and its about failing education system".
There are way better posts than this that could have made the front page.