3 Idiots

I read somewhere that 3 Idiots has made more money in the US than any other Bollywood movie. It sure looks like it. In our neighbourhood cinema complex, where Hindi movies rarely last more than a week, and where I saw Wake Up Sid in an auditorium with about twenty people on a Saturday night, this movie is still running with packed audiences in its third week.

Totally worth it. In spite of Kareena Kapoor, who had suddenly turned into a tolerable, almost good actress with Jab We Met and then began to go downhill again. She's done a good job here. Though, of course, not half as good as Sharman Joshi and not a quarter as good as Aamir Khan. I love the way he works on just one film every year and then delivers a wonderful film towards the last few weeks of each year. Last year, I went out to watch Ghajini in theatres twice. The year before that, I went to watch Taare Zameen Par twice.

Aamir's character in the film is just so great. He's innocent, dreamy, inventive, innovative, and super intelligent. And he has this huge desire to actually learn. And he's also a little mischievous. He's about as close to a perfect guy as you can find. But the way the story has been handled is so crafty, nobody steals the show single handedly. Each character has their own importance in the plot, and it shows. Boman Irani with his Daffy Duck like slurred speech and his crazy scientist hair is just so funny. And the character they call "Chatur" adds a new, fun angle to the story.

When we came out of the movie hall, I heard a teenage boy humming All Izz Well as he jogged towards his car. It's been a while since I heard someone do something like that. Made me feel all the more at home.