My Opinion on "3 Idiots" Movie, and the Problem of a Selfish Ambition

Let LIVE

Nuren

Dec 18 2011 |15:15

When I was working in the United States last year, my friend Vamsee and I used to hangout on the weekends quite often . He would come to my apartment on Friday evening, spend the weekend with me and drive back on Monday morning.

We would buy spicy biryani from a good Indian restaurant. Then we would rent a movie, or go to a theatre to watch movie for the last show. After watching the movie, we would discuss about many ethical topics sometimes until early morning, where we specially used to attack verbally on the ‘system’.

I sometimes wonder whether Rajkumar Hirani overheard our conversation and stole our idea for his movie “3 Idiots” ? Well, you know that I am kidding. Many friends have been recommending me to watch “3 Idiots” movie for a long time. But somehow I missed watching it, not until November of last year. The same goes with my review of this movie. It is probably very late to write a review of the movie at this time, so I would try to keep it brief and to the point.

I like the theme of this movie. I enjoyed how the movie portrayed the educational system in India. It appears to me that there is a standard check-list to be followed, to be recognized as a successful person. The list goes like this:

- Study hard, and attain good grades.

- Get admission into a reputed university.

- Achieve good academic scores and get selected in campus interviews to work for a famous company OR Study abroad and get a good job

- Buy a new home in India or upgrade the older home

- Invest in various business opportunities

- Marriage

- Kids

This cycle goes on with transferring this check-list into the lives of their children too. This check-list is imprinted on the heart of an average Indian parent. Because parents care for their children, it is understandable how they desire for their children’s welfare and security.

Then, what’s the problem? One of the main problems is that parents desire this check-list to be completed at the risk of their children’s happiness. Parents are more concerned about what ‘others’ think about their family, rather than what is really good for their children. Because of this, children feel unloved and they look for approval in other places such as drugs, sex and bad friends. To say the least, even though they are ‘successful’ in the eyes of the world, they feel unsatisfied and meaningless.

The other problem is that people lose their interest to be creative, and eventually behave like robots. They lose confidence and become frightened to try anything new. Their enthusiasm in work is just for pay-cheque and nothing more.

Perhaps the more dangerous problem is that when parents want their children to succeed at the risk of integrity and honesty. This can cause risk to many other lives. For example, if a father is obsessed about his son to become a Doctor, and bribes many higher officials to have his dream fulfilled, this can result in rejection of a well-deserved intelligent candidate. This can put many innocent patients at risk; for now the job is in the hands of not only an unskilled professional, but an immoral person.

What is the solution? Watching “3 Idiots” movie? Most of us feel very comfortable enjoying such movies, and that is the end to it. When anyone tries to implement such things in real life, he is considered a crazy person. Having said that, we must agree that many of these movies do not deal with the reality of a practical life.

So I do not think watching “3 Idiots” movie is the solution, though it might be a good thing to start with. What we need is a reality that living selfishly in this life is not all that counts. When we understand that life on this earth is a temporary journey, and we are on our way to a more exciting and eternal journey along with our fellow human beings, and when we understand that we are committing sin if we are just living for ourselves, we will start seeing a bigger picture. The solution lies in gaining strength to live such a selfless life.

Can we really gain such strength? It is possible for anyone who is sincerely seeking.

3 Idiots Photo credit: Vinod Chopra Productions.

I sometimes wonder whether Rajkumar Hirani overheard our conversation and stole our idea for his movie “3 Idiots” ? Well, you know that I am kidding. Many of my friends had recommended me to watch “3 Idiots” movie for a long time. But somehow I missed watching it, not until November of last year. The same goes with my review of this movie. It is probably very late to write a review of the movie at this time, so I would try to keep it brief and to the point.

The list goes like this:

- Study hard, and attain good grades.

- Get admission into a reputed university.

- Achieve good academic scores and get selected in campus interviews to work for a famous company OR Study abroad and get a good job

- Buy a new home in India or upgrade the older home

- Invest in various business opportunities

- Marriage

- Kids

Perhaps the more dangerous problem is that when parents want their children to succeed at the risk of integrity and honesty. This can cause risk to many other lives. For example, if a father is obsessed about his son to become a Doctor, and bribes many higher officials to have his dream fulfilled, this can result in rejection of a well-deserved intelligent candidate. This can put many innocent patients at risk; for now the job is not only in the hands of an unskilled professional, but also an immoral person.

So I do not think watching “3 Idiots” movie is the solution, though it might be a good thing to start with. What we need is the reality; that living selfishly in this life is not all that counts. When we understand that life on this earth is a temporary journey, and we are on our way to a more exciting and eternal journey along with our fellow human beings, and when we understand that we are committing sin if we are just living for ourselves, we will start seeing the bigger picture. The solution lies in gaining strength to live such a selfless life.

Can we really gain such strength? It is possible for anyone who is sincerely seeking.

Nuren
	Nuren likes writing, teaching, people, nature and many kinds of creative work such as photography, design, studying articles related to astronomy and science. He is positive, dedicated, open-minded and always looking for a way to learn something new. One of Nuren's favorite quotes is "How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints" (by C. S. Lewis). Read More >>

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