Aal Izz Well?
Let me formally introduce my spiritual leader during high school: Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad! About four years ago, I was still struggling with Chinese GaoKao, American SAT, piano audition, and the pressure of applying for colleges. At that time, I wrote his famous quote “Aal Izz Well / All is well” on my homework, the first page of my book, my wall, and every part of my life. I worship him like a god, someone that could save me from my endless homework and forever studying pressure, though I know he is an ideal character that only lives in the film. There is something else I know as well — I am not the only Chinese that appreciates his version of life.
Ranchhoddas, or Rancho, is the protagonist in the 2009 Indian film 3 idiots. This comedy-drama follows the friendship of three students at a highly competitive Indian engineering college and each of their personal developments. It has won 9.2 points out of 10 on Douban, an online poll in which more than 189,800 Chinese participated, with five stars from 70 percent of the pollsters. As a non-Hollywood film that gained millions of Chinese market capital, 3 idiots resonates with the Chinese audience through the satire about the social pressures under an Indian educational system, touching on some detrimental outcomes, such as suicide rate, parental expectation, and students’ lack of academic curiosity, that both Indian and Chinese societies share in common.
China and India own specific historical and cultural contexts that nurture competitiveness in higher education. Both countries are known as the giant of exam-oriented education, meaning that if students need to stand out from the mass, they need a vast amount of memorization exercise and problem set practice. When the rigid system is intertwined with social and family pressure, students suffer the most. According to Midstory Review, “following the parents’ directions is a duty, and following duty is something rooted in Hindu tradition.” In Hindu culture, people should fulfill their duty no matter what the circumstances are. Therefore, Indian students take study well or “become an engineer or doctor” as their personal duty, and the only method to break through the Hindi social hierarchy and economic class. In the middle of this film, there is a scene that portrays Raju’s poor home as “80s black-and-white vibe.” And the reason for him to pursue higher education is his mother’s new clothes, his sister’s marriage, and his father’s medical care. Having to put on such heavy stress and expectations on one student is cruel emotionally, which foresees his suicide attempt afterward.
There is also fierce social pressure that is reforming the educational system in Chinese society. Ever since the implementation of the one-child policy and the overall economic development, each household has the ability and is “forced” to financially invest more in their only child. With 3–5 children in one house in the past, though each may not gain enough educational resources to go to college, the responsibility to carry the family is separated as well. However, nowadays the only child is a single hope, the candle in the dark. Most parents hope their child gains better jobs and the only method to achieve that is to train students to hit higher scores in the GaoKao exam. As the Indiatimes concludes, “China’s education system doesn’t seek to treasure or cultivate the hidden talents of its myriad children, which is the crux of 3 idiots.”
The expectation from family and the focus on the grade, together, evolves to a deformed Chinese education and evaluation system. Students are harshly judged based on scores they get in daily exams, so a phrase that my teacher regularly said is that “you cannot lose one point, because one point means 200 others go to better schools than you.” This crazy pursuit of a high score is displayed in 3 idiots through Farhan’s parents. When Rancho told Farhan’s father to let his son pursue his own interests, his father said “do you know what his grade was that year (when he did photography)? 94 percent! Before he was 97 percent!” The performance that his father expressed so straightforward implies the normality of this strict score measurement. If scores got lower, no matter how much, the whole family was disappointed. I developed personal resonance with this scene, as I clearly remember that I have experienced a similar situation when I was in the third grade. When my math exam grade dropped from 100 to 97 percent, my grandfather cried. I cannot remember whether he talked to me afterward, but at that moment, I felt the conditioned love that is built on the number.
Chinese students who have been through Gaokao must be able to connect with the characters in films because they are living our previous lives. For example, Farhan represents thousands of high school students in China who merely follows parents’ recommendation about their major selection. In the film, Farhan loves photography and always want to work for a Spain animal photographer. However, because of his Hitler father who dictates his future career once he was born, he never had the courage to tell his father his real passion. He mirrors millions of Chinese students who went through the Gaokao system. In China, students cannot change their major in undergraduate education. Therefore, they struggle in universities because their parents picked the major that gains the most social respect but ignored their child’s own voice.
Some may say that Rancho is too idealistic, that he can only create daydreams for the current students, but will never happen in the problematic educational system. He achieves fame in the end because he is a genius, but most of us are the general public, like Chartur, who tried to follow the teacher’s suggestions. To be clear, I am not saying that all Chinese high school students should ignore their parents’ opinions and run away from their current education. What I think the film wants to deliver is the courage to make your own decisions when the personal preferred career does not align with the socially preferred ones. If you make a wrong choice, you can always change it. But if you never make a choice by yourself, then you will never discover your true self. For the past several years, I have been considering how the film has changed me. I stopped writing “All is well,” because I gradually understand the spirit that Rancho delivers to the audience — stop preying on others but make changes on your own. I have made wrong decisions about majors or schools, but I never regret making those mistakes, because I gained the courage to discover the true self that was once buried in others’ expectations and crazy competitions.
Seven years after the film was released globally, the one-child policy has ended. Ten years after the film was released globally, the Gaokao reformation starts. The Chinese education is moving towards a more liberal structure that values personal differences and talents, rather than the previous “Gaokao factories.” It moves one step forward towards Rancho, towards curiosity of content and the freedom to chase personal dreams.
Aal Izz Well.
