Key Lessons from the Movie- ‘3 Idiots

Key Lesson from 3Idiot Movie 

Key Lessons from the Movie- ‘3 Idiots’:

Every movie has a meaning, carrying a message. However, it depends upon the viewer to grab the message and apply the same in life. The bollywood blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’ is an inspiring story of three  students Rancho, Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi who have joined the Imperial College of Engineering. In brief, the five key lessons that we can draw from the movie can well be described below. 

Chase excellence, instead of success, and success will follow and run after you: Rancho, who is an orphaned boy, had got interest in engineering since his early childhood. He, right from the very beginning till the end, sticks to his conviction that it is not success in life but excellence that must be pursued with passion. His words, ‘make your passion, your profession’ sets the tone around which the plot of the movie is woven. Rancho pursues his goal with passion and hence emerges as the student of the year during his graduation. Within a span of ten years from leaving college, he becomes the curator of a practical engineering school where children are groomed and educated according to their passions and interests. 

 

Not just that, he had a large number of patents to his credit. In Rancho’s words, “In the future when you think of just giving up on life, remember that the letter was in your hands, the cab was at the gate, only if you had thought about it once more, your entire life would have been better”. Lo! his words turn out to be true and because of his passionate approach to achieve excellence, he is transformed into a great scientist by the name, ‘Phunsukh Wangdu’. So, always chase excellence, instead of success, and success will follow and run after you.

No one can perform excellently under fear and pressure: One of the three students, Raju, always thinks of an academic career because he has the poor financial conditions back in home with a bed-ridden  paralyzed father and an exerting mother who somehow arranges money for Raju’s education besides making both end meets in the family. All this constantly keeps him under stress to do better in college. He is full of fears -fear of getting good grades, fear of getting a good job, and fear of failing to provide money for his sister’s dowry. It is only after he makes a failed attempt to commit suicide resulting in his broken legs that he discovers courage and self-confidence so much so that even the interviewers of the company he seeks  job in , recognize this newly- gained straightforward attitude and offers him a job. So the lesson is, once you get rid of fears and turn bold, things start looking bright for you. In the end, the world recognizes the bold, not cowards.

Let passion and interests decide choice of your career: In case of Farhan Qureshi  - another key player in a group of three-  engineering is not his passion; it is expectations and pressure from parents that he is forced to join engineering. He is crazy about wildlife photography but his father would like to see him as an accomplished engineer.  The outcome is obvious. He is half-hearted in pursuing his studies and attends the class from the rear bench in the college. As soon as ‘Rancho’ comes to know the passion of Farhan, life is changed for him for the positive. When Farhan says :” I am scared that my father won't allow me to be a photographer,” Rancho encourages him saying : “Follow your dream. Don't study something that you know you are bad at and follow your passion”. Before it is too late, his parents too shed their rigidity and allow him to lead his life to where his heart was - the Brazilian Rain Forest, where he would gladly shoots photographs of wildlife. So, for the heart and mind to work in sync, let only passion and interests decide choice of your career.

Conventional and rigid attitudes pose hindrances in the achievement of excellence: Viru Sahastrabudhhe, the director of the Imperial College of Engineering, is cast in the mould of tough traditions  and rules who  never forgets to utter his pet line to newly -admitted students in the college,  “Life is a race, if you don't run fast you'll get trampled”. 

 

But the gentleman forgets that this pet line can become the cause of suicide of an innocent boy like ‘Joy Lobo’ who is building a helicopter drone with a wireless camera- which could be a major breakthrough in his engineering career -  provided he was given an extension to submit the project by the dean. The dean refused to give an extension and thus disallowed him to graduate in the current year. This heart –breaking experience drove him to take the extreme step. What was required by the dean was an enlightened and humane approach in Lobo’s case which was absent; instead, a rigid close – minded attitude was demonstrated which only resulted in tragic loss of life of a budding talent. The lesson is –more often conventional and rigid attitudes not only  pose hindrances in the achievement of excellence but also kills it.

Be Creative and Face Life with Courage and Empathy as Life is not race: Passions provide fuels to ignite the creative minds. Learning is not just about attending a class room on regular basis to listen to the lectures of teachers; it is everywhere. A creative mind, like Rancho, takes inspiration from anything and everything. The whole world is a school of learning for him; he grows with it. Rancho’s dialogues are motivating. “There is lot of knowledge flowing around us. Don’t miss it; grab it from wherever you get it,”. Which is why, with knowledge and engineering skills, he helps Mona (the director’s elder daughter) deliver a baby, which could otherwise have been life-threatening for both child and mother in tough emergency situation. The lesson is - creativity, courage and empathy together reveal excellence.

So ,never take life as a race and do not challenge anyone, you will have to cut a sorry figure in the end, just like Chatur Ramalingam (nicknamed as the Silencer in the movie).Though, he has become vice-president of an American company, but sooner than later, his success is dwarfed by Rancho’s. In the end, Chatur insults Rancho assuming him to be a mere school teacher, and asks him to sign a statement declaring that he is less successful than Silencer. To utter surprise of all, Rancho reveals himself to be Phunsukh Wangdu, a world-renowned scientist with over 400 patents to his name, with whom Chatur eagerly seeks association. Only then a stunned Chatur realizes how he went wrong in judging Rancho’s excellence and meekly accepts his defeat in ‘the so called race of life’. The lesson is simple but strong –‘compare yourself with the more talented people for positive inspiration, don’t challenge anyone out of jealousy or inferiority complex’. Finally, the message of courage and empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of others) is reflected in Rancho's core mantra of "All is well" - to help himself, classmates and friends to overcome imagined fears. How Rancho sympathize with Joy Lobo is worth- remembering.  These three words-‘all is well’- radiate empathy, courage and compassion. Definitely, as Rancho says, "This will not solve all problems but will surely give guts to us to face them".