Tuesday 12 January 2010

Aal Izz Well!

After much ado and several unsuccessful attempts to obtain the tickets, I finally got to watch the movie that's making news these days: 3 Idiots. Incidentally, I am not much of a fiction buff and since it's usually fiction books that 'inspire' movies, this was the first time I was watching a movie after having read the story it's apparently based on. Obviously, I was excited, anticipant and a li'l apprehensive about really enjoying the story, since I had already read it.


I am not going to spell out the story here as almost all of you must have seen the movie by now. It's but a simple story of three guys working their way through an engineering school - four years of drudgery. Reticent geeks de-stressing themselves to the tones of acoustic guitars, self-obsessed highly regarded (mostly by the outside world) faculty members, hard-core techno stuff, tons of assignments, nerdy involvement with machines and yeah, scarce presence of feminity. Being an engineer myself, there were several aspects I could relate to, both in a supportive manner as well as contradictory. For instance, my Dad didn't announce at the time of my birth that I'd be an engineer. Rather, I've been lucky to have chosen that path myself with the full support of my family. More so because it's been a passion. I still remember the day I ran my first computer program. I was in fourth grade and the programming language was BASIC and the program printed the squares of the first ten natural numbers. It was amazing to see the entire list of ten numbers being printed out in the green console font on the monitor in an instant. I took the CPU apart to try and figure out what made that stuff so quick. Although, I couldn't figure out much on the hardware side then, the software did get me hooked. I guess I got lucky with 'the knack' :D!



The experience was ethereal. Something like a first crush which later develops into an obsession! I actually slept with my the hard copy version of my code under my pillow :). Another such experience was when I wrote my first substantially involved code - generating Pascal's triangle dynamically, on a bar napkin while everyone around me was letting their hair down partying :D! So I wouldn't be the one who'd hum "Ek pal toh hamein jeene do ..."; I have been lucky to have lived it hitherto :)! And I'm grateful to everyone concerned for that!

3 Idiots, as a movie comes across to me as a touching one with several splendid moments. It's an eclectic combination of camaraderie, love, nostalgia, team spirit, mischief, the urge to break free ... and I guess I watched it at the most appropriate time, given that tonight I am catching a flight to my college to attend my convocation ceremony :). I especially liked the hospital sequence wherein the three guys bond together as a unit, helping out the ailing father. Also the climax scene has been shot beautifully against the sparkling blue Ladaakhi waters. Awesome stuff! The timing in this particular sequence has been near-perfect. One could really feel the ups and down the characters' hearts must've been experiencing when they were trying to figure out whether both of them were still single! And the pretty regular appearance of the blazing red Volvo XC70 is more than just eye candy! The director has adapted the original story perfectly for a movie-like production and I agree with him that it is 'just loosely' based on the book by (apparently) India's best-selling pulp fiction author.

Finally, to be honest, with regards to the Khan wars in Bollywood, I have been a staunch supporter of the SRK camp so much so that I ignored Aamir's performances in TZP, Ghajini etc. because of my bias. But this movie made me sit up and take notice. A masterpiece by the perfectionist. All I can say is 'Jahaanpanaah, tussi great ho!'.

9 comments:

ArkAngel said...

I told ya you'd love the movie!!!

Didn't I didn't I didn't I ???!!

I personally always liked Aamir more than SRK...atleast he acts! :D
And yes the movie is a master piece despite the not-so-cold war going on between Bhagat and the Khan/Hirani camp...I'm glad they modified the story to give it this shape...coz its awesome!

The Ladakh scene is my favourite too...but that was a Volvo?? :O

P.S. This post was a nice surprise right in the morning! :)
P.P.S. Now that you know what I was referring to when I said "Jahanpana"....do I still have those noida and gurgaon riyaasats?? :P :P

mondodello said...

I told ya you'd love the movie!!!

Didn't I didn't I didn't I ???!!

>>> Yup, and you were right! Bingo!

I personally always liked Aamir more than SRK...atleast he acts! :D

>>> That's debatable. Still!

And yes the movie is a master piece despite the not-so-cold war going on between Bhagat and the Khan/Hirani camp...I'm glad they modified the story to give it this shape...coz its awesome!

The Ladakh scene is my favourite too...but that was a Volvo?? :O

>>> Yes it was! Volvo XC70 ... the hunk among SUVs!

P.S. This post was a nice surprise right in the morning! :)

>>> See the time I posted it :D

P.P.S. Now that you know what I was referring to when I said "Jahanpana"....do I still have those noida and gurgaon riyaasats?? :P :P

>>> Hmmm ... will have to rethink on that I guess :P!

ArkAngel said...

Hehe...our patented style here too :D

Sure we'll debate over this...bring it on!! :D

Nandita Mathews said...

a very different take on the song 'saari umra hum..' :),the very first!

I personally felt that the movie right from the beginning,stretched incidences to accommodate an opinion,it kept stretching,no doubt it was entertaining,but melodramatic ,you seem to agree upon that too to a certain extent.Don't get bullied into liking it by you know who :P :)

mondodello said...

@Nandita: Yup, the movie was a bit drag at some points but still was enjoyable... the melodrama was funny so to speak!

The fact that I could associate certain aspects in there with my college life made the movie 'worth it' for me...

And nope, I ain't going to get bullied into liking it, by we-know-who ... I have successfully put up with the Twilight attack hitherto ... though I seem to be showing signs of succumbing to the pressure now :| !

Nandita Mathews said...

oh but twilight is nice
really is!
read it read it read it! :)

ArkAngel said...

@ mondodello

HAAA!!! :D

mondodello said...

@Nandita: So it is ... but I enjoyed it in the motion picture format ... and I don't think I'll be convinced enough to go through those 500 odd pages of fiction :| ... at least not until the next time Halley's comet comes visiting ...


@Arki: What "HAAA :D"??? ... I thought I'd get an :x ... Good! You are improving girl ... way to go!

ArkAngel said...

That HAAA was for Nandu taking my side! :D

and yeah im proving naa..

thanku thanku! :P