With Another December comes another major Aamir Khan release. And this time, more than ever, he has proved why he’s the most dependable actor working in Bollywood today. 3 Idiots is a delightfully charming, enlightening and entertaining romp that ranks amongst one of the best films India has produced and is hands down the best Bollywood film of the year.

Loosely inspired by Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller ‘Five Point Someone’, 3 Idiots follows the journey of three friends. We begin with Farhan (R. Madhavan) and Raju (Sharman Joshi), two friends that get a hint about the location of their long-lost friend Rancho (Aamir Khan) who has disappeared completely since college. As they begin their road trip, we flash back to their college years and how they met each other. We go through their antics, lessons they learned and how the presence of Rancho affected many lives. But in the midst of all that they realize Rancho may not be what he may seem on the outside after all.

3 Idiots succeeds where majority of Bollywood films fail – it has something to say. The theme of the film might seem similar to director Rajkumar Hirani’s previous Munnabhai M.B.B.S. but on further observation it’s something very different. Rancho is here to change the way the education system of India works. His theory outlines that instead of creating mechanical graduates that go on to get high paying jobs, colleges should focus on nurturing creative minds that might someday end up winning accolades for new inventions. It’s a commentary on the education system similar to ‘Accepted’ but more elaborate and deeper in execution.

But instead of being heavy-handed and preachy about it, 3 Idiots uses the best way to prove its point – humor. By injecting humorous situations and characters into almost every single scene, the message is understood and sent across without having to resort to a sudden shift towards a serious tone and then back to comedy. Even though the film further deals with dark subjects like student suicides and poverty, it never becomes downright depressing or overwrought and keeps its lightweight tone consistent all times and that’s where it shines.

The humor itself is very aimed at teenagers and college students considering its setting and more than delivers on it. The film is 3 hours long but the filmmakers do a great job of keeping the momentum going and never does the story run out of gas. They’re some quality and genuinely hilarious sequences spread out in the movie including a prank where a student’s speech is replaced with a raunchy version, a student ragging session, and some hilarious exchanges with the professors. The film is sure to keep the audience laughing and the actor’s charm is a good part of the reason why.

Aamir Khan is a tour-de-force here in arguably his most dedicated role yet. Just moments after Rancho appears on screen, one completely forgets the huge star highlighting the role as we are instantly invested in the character himself. Rancho is mysterious, lovable, quirky and most of all a character strong enough to carry the film effortlessly. All that is multiplied when Aamir Khan takes on the character (much younger than his real age but Khan is surprisingly believable). And that’s one of the biggest strengths of the film where most others fail – compelling characters. Each of the three friends have genuine characteristics, Raju and Farhan are more than just supporting fare with family backgrounds and unique goals and outlooks on life that add layers to their personality and make them human.

The film has a couple of flaws though. Although the flashback narrative is rich and full with conflicts, the present narrative about the group looking for Rancho never really felt conflicted and the characters just breezed through most of the situations making it evident that the present was merely a support for the main narrative. Also, a long pregnancy delivery towards the end, although well-acted, seems very over the top and borders on implausible at times.

As already mentioned, Aamir Khan is the highlight of the film proving once again how dedicated he is to his film. The character is well-suited to his persona and he does a brilliant job with it. The real surprise here is R. Madhvan and Sharman Joshi who give a surprisingly dramatic and strong performance while I expected only comedic fare from them. Kareena Kapoor, although being absent from a good part of the film, plays a likeable and realistic character after a long time. Boman Irani is competent as a strict and uptight professor that refuses to learn Rancho’s outlook on life although Irani seems to be stuck with professor-life roles (Main Hoon Na, Munnabhai). All other actors are great complements to the story.

In short, 3 Idiots is a triumphant end to a year marred with failures and disappointments in Bollywood. The masses are bound to love the film and will be remembered for one of the most consistently entertaining Bollywood films of the decade.

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