9 Valuable Life Lessons I Have Learned from ‘Three Idiots’ Movie
Movies are modern teaching tools to highlight and address educational issues
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Modern technologies cater to the educational needs of society at large. Technologies provide the best tools for educationists, filmmakers, and drama performers. It provides them with an opportunity to demonstrate themselves in a limited time with a worldwide appeal. Without the use of modern technologies, teaching and learning cannot be realized in their true potential.
Yet, for better education and propagating of ideas that have a far wider effect, films are the best platforms to use. That’s why films are the best sources to entertain and educate the masses.
The film Three Idiots is an Indian movie, released in 2009, highlights educational issues that permeate Asian society for a long. The film is a tremendous success and, according to Wikipedia, has earned 90 million dollars worldwide. It has won six Film fare awards, National Films Award, and the Best Popular Award.
Three Idiots is written by Abhijat Joshi, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Amir Khan, Sharman Joshi, R. Madhavan, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya, and Boman Irani as prominent characters in the story.
They developed the story with the consultation of various educationists, teachers, and filmmakers. While making the film, they kept the general perspective of common people towards education.
The film circles around the dominant themes such as parental expectations, Student choices, teacher’s traditional attitudes towards learning, societal influences on the student’s educational development, and creative learning vis-a-vis rote learning.
The film also presents four types of students and their expectations, aims, and attitudes towards their learning. The film stars Amir Khan as (Ranchu), Sharman Joshi (Raju Rastogi), R Madhavan as (Farhan), and Omi Vaidya as (Chatur Ramalingam) as major characters. However, Bomi Irani is presented as the principal of the college (DR. Viru Sahasrabuddhe known as Virus in the students and staff of the college).
Story in short
The story starts with a scene in the hostel of an engineering college. After their admission, Raju, Ranchu, and Farhan come to the hostel to spend their first night there. Their seniors welcomed them traditionally by fooling with them.
Ranchu was the last one to enter the hostel that night amid a fooling session. The seniors directed him to get into newcomers and be part of fooling. But he went straight to his room and locks it up. One of his seniors started knocking on the door with his full might to bring him outside. But, all in vain, he started peeing on the door. While inside, Rancho was preparing a trick by connecting a spoon with electricity through wires. When the senior started peeing, Rancho put that spoon under it and the senior got a serious shock. That trick made him a hero of the college and after that nobody messed with him.
Rajo and Farhan were happy that their roommate is a real engineer. They enjoyed being with him and learned a lot from him throughout the film.
Rancho’s actual name in the movie was Phunsukh Wangdu. He was the son of a servant who served Ranchhoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad’s Father. Chanchard’s father was a wealthy man, but uneducated. Chanchad’s father wanted his son to be an educated person, but he didn’t enjoy getting an education and went abroad.
Phunksukh Wangdu, known as Rancho in the college, was eager to learn. Chanchad’s Father put him in the school by his son’s name Ranchhoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad. Because he wanted a degree for his son. So, they decided that Wangdu will study under the name of Ranchodas. Wangdu, known as Rancho in the film till last, was in love with engineering. It was his passion to be an engineer, and he didn’t care about the degree.
Rajo Rastogi was from a poor family, and he was the only son of poor and old parents. He has a sister too. He was pursuing engineering because the field has a bright future. He could do away with his poverty once he became an engineer. So, he was afraid of failure and was superstitious. They considered him a ray of hope in his family as he was the only son. Once he becomes an engineer, he will change the destiny of his family.
Farhan Quraishi was in love with photography. He was very good at it, but his father wanted him to become an engineer. His father thought engineering was the only profession that could earn him respect, money, and fame in society.
After becoming friends in college, they got the name ‘Three Idiots’. Not because they were idiots but because they challenged the status quo. They thought of things in a way the rest of the society could not imagine.
Initially, Farhan and Rajo were also grinding under the pressures of the family and society. But after becoming friends with Rancho, they both learned what they want. They learn to view things with open-mindedness, to think out of the box, and break the long trodden conservative traditions. But the journey of their realizations and success didn’t go easy.
For example, Farhan didn’t want to study engineering. He loved photography instead. But the expectations of his father made him study engineering that he couldn’t understand. Because photography was his only passion, he could not concentrate on his studies and always came at the last in the exam results.
Rajo was afraid of failure. He was constantly under the pressure of failure. He would think if he couldn’t become an engineer he will tell his parents. How he will find a better suiter for his sister without money and fame. These fears led him to commit suicide, but they saved him in time.
Only Rancho, the hero of the movie, was free from all these compulsions of society. Part of it was that he was free from parental expectations. Because we are not told about his parents except that his father was a servant of Chanchard’s family. But it is also related to other things. His very nature was creative since childhood and was not accepting of traditional ways. He was just after learning. He did not care what he was learning or what grade it is, but he followed his passion — learning.
At last, all of them got what they wanted and were quite successful. But before their success happens, it tells us something and by the end of the movie, we learn valuable lessons.
So, here are the top 9 valuable lessons that I have learned from watching ‘Three Idiots’:
Lessons We Learn
9# Don’t follow success, follow excellence; success will follow
Throughout the story, Rancho is telling his friends that don’t chase success. But achieve excellence and success will come to you themselves.
But, unfortunately, we only want success and don’t focus on excellence because it demands hard work, commitment, and passion. Once you are focusing more on excellence, no wonder, success will follow.
8# All is well
His well-known phrase, All is well, was a synonym for relaxing in a time of difficulty. He always chants this mantra whenever he is nervous. He also suggests it to his friends to follow it. As it gives an immediate psychological relaxation to his heart and mind to cope with the hard times bravely.
This tells us that nothing is bad or fearful unless we make it so. If we are psychologically strong, we can easily face and ward off any critical situation in life. But we have to remind ourselves that ‘All is Well’.
7# Learning is everywhere
Rancho’s only goal was learning, so he always tried to find learning everywhere. He would recommend to his friends that learning is everywhere. Just focus and the entire world is teaching something.
It happens in the film that a poor child expressed his wish to Rancho that he wants to study but can’t afford it because of his poverty. Rancho said to him that learning doesn’t require money. It requires your willpower to move on and learn it somewhere else.
He further told the boy that poverty should not hinder his learning. Just buy a uniform, go to a school, and learn. If they catch you, change your uniform and change school. When the city’s schools end, ride a train and start in other schools in other cities.
6# Learn concepts and apply them
Racho often tells us that do not learn by rote. Learn by heart and whatever you like will be easy to learn. Apply it to your life and practice it to change your and others’ lives.
5# Have some idiot friends around
He tells us to have some idiot friends around us. He calls idiots to those people who can think out of the box and can go against the set traditions. If you have such friends who follow their hearts, and ambitions and strive for excellence, you are in excellent company.
So, have friends that give you visions and inspire you to follow your dreams.
4# Do what you love
If you do what you love, you might not earn a lot of money, but you will be happy and satisfied with what you do. If you go for a thing out of compulsion and get a splendid position and money, what to do with that money and position which cannot give you thrill and passion.
This is how he persuaded his friend Farhan in the movie to leave engineering and go for photography.
So, leave all other things and follow your heart.
3# Life is not a race
Don’t chase others. Go on your pace. It’s your life. Live it according to your passions and love. We can't live for others, but for ourselves first. If you can’t serve yourself right, how come you serve others well.
So, what I learned from this is that we should give time to what we love and are passionate about. We should work on what gives us satisfaction. And when that happens, life will turn strange and wonders will happen.
2# Avoid naysayers
Avoid haters, naysayers, and people who say it is impossible. Yes, it is impossible for them because they cannot imagine it and ultimately cannot do it.
So, follow your path and let the dogs bark. Don’t pay heed to anyone unless you are pursuing something very wrong that may endanger the lives of others. Once you are on the right track, go on it and don’t listen to naysayers because they will only waste your time.
1# Try it and take the risk
Rancho often tells us that take the risk because it gives you an unknown thrill, even if you fail. And there is nothing worse than failure. But failure is nothing if you have the guts to move on.
What I Learned from Ranchu is failure is not the real problem but not trying is a significant problem.
If you try and fail, at least you will learn something. If you don’t take risks and try, you won’t know you could have done it.
Takeaways
Movies are the modern world’s primary source of entertainment. But they are also a substantial source of educating people about social, educational, and societal problems.
One such movie is Three Idiots. It is an Indian movie that primarily deals with education problems such as parental expectations, blindly following a career path without looking into one’s hidden talent, pursuing a degree for high monetary rewards, and the notion that getting a degree in a specific field will change one's social status.
The film negates all these things and aims to root out these dilemmas of the students and parents.
The film broadly focuses on these issues, which if addressed properly, can bring success to one’s life.
- Success is nothing but an allusion. Don’t go after it. Try to be excellent and competent and success will follow.
- Don’t give up in any situation. Everything tests your ability. Trick your heart for a while by reminding yourself that ‘All is well to face the problem boldly.
- Learning is not confined to certain institutions. It is everywhere. Learn the essence of the things which you love and apply them in your practice life.
- Ordinary friends will not benefit you much in your success journey. Choose your friends wisely. Have friends who think out of the box.
- The success formula is to do what you love or love what you do. There is nothing in between.
- Don’t compare yourself with others. Because life is not a race but a life. You are not meant to achieve what others have to achieve. You get what you strive for. Therefore, live it at your pace.
- There are always people who doubt your abilities — avoid them. Because they don’t know you. Even you don’t know yourself until you try. So go on, try it.
- Winners are those who take the risk and play the match. The cowards are always the spectators, and you are not a coward.
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