Ben Paolo C.

Rabara 3FPharmacy Aal Izz Well

SocioAnthro 9/18/2012

"Whatever the problem in life is... just say to yourself 'Aal Izz Well'.. This wont solve your problems but it will give the courage to face it.." 3 Idiots is a story of friendship, hope, aspirations and most importantly, the goodness of life. It shows us what friends are and what they should mean to us. He encourages his friends to look beyond the ordinary and seek for excellence as passion leads to excellence and excellence creates success. Raju, Farhan and Rancho are best friends at the most prestigious University in India. Though all are smart, Rancho is far and away the best in the class even while constantly butting heads with the head of the school, a man they not-so-lovingly call Virus. Together, the three suffer through happiness and sadness and a competition against the full-of-himself Chatur a.k.a. Silencer. While Raju is in school to help support his family - being an engineer is the only thing he knows and wants to be. Farhan has been pushed into engineering by his domineering father. What he really wants to do is become a photographer, but how would that look? Rancho is more of a mystery and once they leave school he disappears. Years after graduation Farhan and Raju get a call that Rancho has been found, and during their road trip to track him down, they flashback to all the times they had together, from pissing on Virus's door, to Rancho's love affair with Pia, to the time Raju almost killed himself. The message that most hit me was his questioning of their educational system which pressurizes the students and does not allow to choose his destination by his own wish, in a satirical way and brings out some of the flaws in it like the suicide attempts made by several students. Rancho is the rebel among them always questioning things and believing that learning is more than just the usual mode of education. But excellence cant be had if you strive half-heartedly or fearfully or, worst, mechanically. You have to love your work so that it would feel less like work and more like play. This is his secret to life, despite his fun and frolic, Rancho always surprises everyone by topping the class. He even manages to win the affections of the director's daughter Pia. But Rancho's greatest contribution lies in making his friends realize their true calling, to look beyond the ordinary. Having said all that, I do not think the message that 3 Idiots is trying to impart 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.