Episode 89 - 3 Idiots

[00:00:16] Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

[00:00:20] Welcome to Movie Mistrial.

[00:00:21] The podcast where we debate the accuracy of IMDb's top 250 movies.

[00:00:27] My name is Johannes.

[00:00:29] And I am Raji.

[00:00:30] Today we discuss 3 Idiots, a movie released in 2009 and directed by Rajkumar Hirani and based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chaitan Bhagat.

[00:00:41] A satirical commentary on the Indian education system and focuses on themes like friendship, pressure, passion and innovation.

[00:00:49] The movie stars Amir Khan who plays Rancho, Ranganathan Madhavan who plays Farhan and Sharma Joshi who plays Raju.

[00:00:59] Upon release, the film received widespread critical acclaim, winning numerous awards including the Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Director and Screenplay.

[00:01:08] The movie is considered a landmark in Indian cinema, balancing humor, emotion and a powerful message, making it a must-watch Indian cinema.

[00:01:19] There's also numerous remakes of this, including a Mexican one.

[00:01:25] There is a remake of this? Really?

[00:01:28] Yeah.

[00:01:30] It's Tres Idiotas, I guess.

[00:01:32] Oh wow.

[00:01:33] Did this movie start as an Indian film or did they make it?

[00:01:36] Oh wow, that is pretty cool.

[00:01:39] Anyway, that is actually pretty cool because you always hear about movies going the other direction.

[00:01:45] It's like they make a movie in America, they want to make an Indian version, kind of like the John Wick Indian iteration, which is not as good.

[00:01:55] But this is really cool to see that, you know, the movie is going the other direction too.

[00:02:00] Yeah, and apparently there was an American remake in the plans, but that never came to fruition.

[00:02:06] I think they would have buckled.

[00:02:08] They would have messed up the American version.

[00:02:11] Of course.

[00:02:11] There's some really intricate things that just have to do with how the British culture works and how, would you call it, education works in British colonies that doesn't get translated very well into American colonies or American movies.

[00:02:29] Yeah.

[00:02:30] Yeah.

[00:02:32] But yeah, so this is, I have not been exposed to a lot of Bollywood films.

[00:02:38] I think the majority of Bollywood films that I've been exposed to have been discussed on this show.

[00:02:46] So this makes the second, I think, for the most part.

[00:02:52] So it's interesting.

[00:02:54] It's different.

[00:02:55] It's familiar, but very different.

[00:02:57] It seems like the conventions have, yeah, it's just different.

[00:03:02] Was this the first time you've seen this?

[00:03:04] Yes, this is the first time I've seen this particular film.

[00:03:08] But I wouldn't say that I'm unfamiliar with Indian films.

[00:03:12] I have grown up watching Indian films.

[00:03:16] So a lot of the tropes that Americans or Europeans or Germans, apparently, should I say, find a little bit disconcerting.

[00:03:27] Because when I was watching the film, my wife had similar opinions.

[00:03:31] She was like, I don't understand.

[00:03:33] Where is this coming from?

[00:03:35] How does this work?

[00:03:36] It's very melodramatic.

[00:03:38] And I kept saying, there's no difference between this and watching Singing in the Rain.

[00:03:44] Because in a sense, it's the same tropes.

[00:03:47] And that's just a point that we're going to be doing Singing in the Rain next to.

[00:03:53] Yeah, I was going to say, you're already giving a heads up here.

[00:03:59] But yeah, I mean, like, I think the trope of Bollywood is that, you know, at random intervals, it's just kind of sparks into a dance number.

[00:04:14] And that is true.

[00:04:17] But it's handled interestingly here, I feel like.

[00:04:21] But before we go, like, too deep into that analysis, I guess, let's hear a little synopsis first.

[00:04:33] The Be Idiots is a heartwarming and humorous Bollywood film directed by Rajkumar Hirani.

[00:04:38] The story follows three friends, Rancho, Farhan, and Raju, who navigate the pressures of an elite engineering college in India.

[00:04:45] Rancho, the most unconventional of the trio, challenges the rigid and competitive education system with its innovative thinking and passion for learning.

[00:04:54] As the friends struggle to meet their families' expectations and pursue their dreams,

[00:04:58] the film explores themes of friendship, the value of creativity over conformity, and the importance of following one's passion.

[00:05:05] Three Idiots is celebrated for its engaging narrative, memorable performances,

[00:05:09] and its impactful message about redefining success and living life on your own terms.

[00:05:18] And we're back.

[00:05:20] I'm really curious who's going to argue for and against this.

[00:05:24] So should we just dive into that straight away?

[00:05:27] Sure thing.

[00:05:29] I would go for the usual heads.

[00:05:32] Tails.

[00:05:35] I think I'll speak for this.

[00:05:39] You speak for?

[00:05:40] Wow.

[00:05:42] I am shocked.

[00:05:43] I literally am shocked because I tried to find when I was watching this movie.

[00:05:47] I kept going, huh?

[00:05:47] He's not going to like it.

[00:05:49] But you're going for it.

[00:05:51] That's interesting.

[00:05:52] I will say one thing you mentioned before you went into the synopsis was that, you know,

[00:05:57] Bollywood movies always turn into, Indian movies always turn into stuff.

[00:06:01] It's very interesting.

[00:06:02] There are two different cultures.

[00:06:04] Cultures when it comes to Indian films.

[00:06:05] There's the North and the South.

[00:06:07] And the North is Bollywood where they have all the music and all the dance.

[00:06:11] It's like melodramatic.

[00:06:12] But in the South, it's a little bit more gritty.

[00:06:14] And they don't usually have like fancy musicals that go with it.

[00:06:18] So two different cultures.

[00:06:21] One is Bollywood.

[00:06:22] One is Kollywood.

[00:06:24] There's even a Telugu version, which is Tollywood.

[00:06:27] So there's a whole bunch of different cultures when it comes to Indian films.

[00:06:32] The ones, of course, that are the most popular, the Bollywood films.

[00:06:35] And that's the one that makes it all the way here because they're very fantastical and they're very movie-like.

[00:06:41] All right.

[00:06:41] Which I guess, Telugu, there's also a Telugu remake of this.

[00:06:46] Okay.

[00:06:49] Okay.

[00:06:49] So I guess I'm going to be arguing against this movie.

[00:06:52] Yeah.

[00:06:52] And all right.

[00:06:53] The witness will address this quote as judge or your aunt.

[00:06:56] Ladies and gentlemen, Three Idiots is a movie about three individuals who are going through the rigors of trying to make a living for themselves.

[00:07:08] They're trying to decide on what their future is going to be.

[00:07:11] They have to deal with the pressures of going to college.

[00:07:14] They have to deal with the pressures of life in general.

[00:07:18] And they have to deal with the difficulties of making a future path for themselves.

[00:07:23] The problem begins to happen when you realize that the person who plays Rancho is a bit of a...

[00:07:31] And I think they alluded to this so many times in this film.

[00:07:36] He seems to sit above the movie.

[00:07:40] From our very first introduction, when they were doing this scene where everybody was taking off their pants and exposing their underwear and doing the various dances.

[00:07:51] He comes in late, which is obviously shows that he's above the fray.

[00:07:58] And when he's told to participate in that, he decides to use his engineering skills to teach them a lesson in electropenal dysfunction.

[00:08:16] That's what I'm going to call it.

[00:08:18] And the interesting thing is, throughout the film, every single time we get to interact with this character, we notice that he seems to be the one who knows everything.

[00:08:30] He seems to be the one who stands above the fray.

[00:08:34] He has an answer for every single problem.

[00:08:38] And I think even the movie kind of realizes it.

[00:08:42] Because at the end of the film, you know, he asks...

[00:08:45] I remember this scene very, very, very well.

[00:08:48] Because I was very irritated by this.

[00:08:50] He was talking about this wonderful plan they created and they went to space.

[00:08:54] And, you know, the weird thing is, in Nigeria, we have the same story.

[00:08:57] Oh, man, the Americans thought about this stuff.

[00:09:00] And they really went in and they created this pen that can write in space.

[00:09:03] Oh, but the Russians, they went with a pencil.

[00:09:05] And everybody would laugh at the Americans.

[00:09:08] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

[00:09:09] Very stupid Americans just wasting money trying to figure...

[00:09:12] But the truth is, the pen makes more sense.

[00:09:16] Because when you have in space, the lead, all of those particles from the pencils get into your eyes, your nose.

[00:09:23] They can puncture your eyeballs.

[00:09:26] And, you know, at the very beginning of this film, they were telling this story.

[00:09:29] And the guy raises his hand and he goes, well, what about them taking a pencil?

[00:09:32] And I was like, I'm not going to like this guy.

[00:09:34] Why?

[00:09:35] Because he acts like he knows too much.

[00:09:38] But, you know, it's one of those difficult things that you have to appreciate about him.

[00:09:45] He just seems to stand above the free and it feels unrealistic when you're trying to teach somebody who feels like he knows everything.

[00:09:52] So that's one of the big problems that you have to deal with.

[00:09:55] We have a character who is difficult to deal with the initial story.

[00:10:01] The second thing that I'm going to say is they have stories they want to tell.

[00:10:05] But in those scenes, those scenes drag on for long periods of time.

[00:10:08] They have a they would go to a wedding and they want to tell a story about they want to have a an impact story about, you know, the effects of spending too much at the wedding.

[00:10:19] And rather than just tell the story in a short, brief period of time, they spend long, long, meandering hours running around the topic and trying to figure out how to tell the story.

[00:10:31] And then when they tell the story, it feels like it has gone on too long.

[00:10:37] So it's a little bit tricky on that perspective.

[00:10:41] I feel like those are the two things I'm going to deal with for now.

[00:10:45] And then as time goes on, I can talk a little bit more.

[00:10:47] But those are the two major points I want to start with.

[00:10:50] Okay.

[00:10:52] Your Honor, Three Idiots is a roller coaster of emotions.

[00:10:59] And a fun one at that.

[00:11:02] It's a very relatable storyline.

[00:11:04] Just thinking about the trials and tribulations of going to school and kind of acknowledging and understanding that the skills that you learn are not necessarily the skills that you need to make it in the world.

[00:11:21] It's also a film about friendship and enjoying life and finding yourself.

[00:11:30] And it's ultimately a film about following your passion.

[00:11:38] Because if you follow your passion, your life will be much more enjoyable.

[00:11:45] Don't follow what other people tell you to do.

[00:11:47] But follow your heart and do that.

[00:11:50] And I think that's incredibly powerful.

[00:11:56] The commentary that we have here on the social structures and all that is fascinating to me.

[00:12:02] Because obviously this is done through an Indian lens.

[00:12:08] And there's lots of baggage I feel like that is there.

[00:12:12] That is brought up even in the film when they take a picture.

[00:12:16] It's like, why do we rank people this way on the picture?

[00:12:19] Like, it's kind of a case system-esque type of deal here.

[00:12:24] Like, should we really be doing this?

[00:12:27] I think that's a fascinating just comment on the structures that surround not only people in India.

[00:12:36] But I think in general we have these structures that happen out of tradition or wherever they may come from.

[00:12:44] And I think this film kind of deals with that quite a bit.

[00:12:48] I think there's a lot of hunger and yearning that we get here from everybody to succeed and be the best.

[00:12:56] And I think the critical lens that we have on that system where people are driven to be the best,

[00:13:06] purely by memorizing stuff and just being able to check the box,

[00:13:12] is fascinating because it's not necessarily setting you up for success in life

[00:13:15] where you need to be able to think on your feet and, you know, apply,

[00:13:22] be the MacGyver in the world and kind of, you know, make do with what you have around you.

[00:13:27] And yes, apply your knowledge.

[00:13:29] But if you just learned everything to pass the test, then you may not have that knowledge.

[00:13:34] So I think there's a lot there to unpack alone to fill an entire episode here.

[00:13:40] But it's a very funny movie, but it's also like dragging you down in the matter of a second.

[00:13:51] You may be part of a fun kind of song and dance number and then it just sucker punches you.

[00:13:59] And I think while it's kind of abrupt and harsh in some ways, it's also life.

[00:14:09] And I think that's why I enjoyed this film so much.

[00:14:12] At the end of the day, I think it's a film about life and celebrating life with all the bad stuff that happens around it.

[00:14:19] And it's a film about friendship.

[00:14:22] And that is great.

[00:14:25] So I do think that, you know, I take into account everything you've said.

[00:14:30] But I'm going to just build on a couple of the points that I made earlier.

[00:14:35] I think that your point about celebrating friendship is interesting.

[00:14:39] I think your point about life being life is good.

[00:14:44] But I want to say that one of the issues, you know, and I think this also falls into the point where I was making where Rancho would come into a scene and he would just seem to be above the fray.

[00:14:57] And he knows the answers to everything.

[00:14:59] I feel like there was an oversimplification of complex of some of the characters.

[00:15:06] They're stereotypical characters who didn't change throughout.

[00:15:09] The anxious student was the anxious student from the very beginning on to the very end.

[00:15:15] Well, he did change in the end when he took off his rings and he felt like he had grown.

[00:15:21] But Chatur, who was the highly competitive student, did not change.

[00:15:26] All through his life, he was depicted as somebody who had fallen into the trap of being

[00:15:37] being stuck in the loop where you need to actually compete to win.

[00:15:42] And his losses never seemed to have an effect on him.

[00:15:47] The other stereotypical character that we saw was the professor, the virus.

[00:15:53] Professor Virus, let's just call him that.

[00:15:57] We see him being hard edged on his students from the very beginning to the very end.

[00:16:04] I felt like it became a bit of a caricature, him walking around with his high pants, looking mean.

[00:16:12] It became, it just reinforced the stereotype that we had.

[00:16:17] And generally speaking, we only got to see him as the professor.

[00:16:22] He was the only professor throughout the film that got built on.

[00:16:26] There's an oversimplification of the complex issues.

[00:16:29] I think one of the things that we have to appreciate is that India is the highest population in the world right now.

[00:16:35] They've overtaken China.

[00:16:37] And in a scenario like that, you need to figure out a way to train and teach students through the education system.

[00:16:46] And you need to have a merit-based system that allows the people who are doing very well to rise to the top.

[00:16:53] So it becomes very simple to just say, hey, just do what you want in a highly competitive market where you have thousands of people who you don't want.

[00:17:08] And you don't want the country to become downgraded into chaos.

[00:17:12] So generally speaking, a number of carriers are, what do you call it, are promoted so that it increases the betterment of the school, of the culture, the country as a whole.

[00:17:25] And I think that this movie kind of oversimplifies the complexity of India as a whole in trying to solve those kinds of problems.

[00:17:34] And finally, there's an overdramatic, college is overdramatized.

[00:17:43] I mean, when they start to dance and sing in the bathroom, I've been to boarding school.

[00:17:51] And when they start to sing and dance in that bathroom, the first thing I thought to myself was, there's pee on the ground.

[00:18:00] I was like, there's pee on the ground.

[00:18:02] Those people are dancing in pee.

[00:18:05] But, you know, they romanticized the whole idea of it.

[00:18:09] And, you know, it was interesting to watch.

[00:18:13] They made it very, very engaging to look at.

[00:18:16] But I also feel like there's a lot of things that were left on that didn't feel earned.

[00:18:23] The fact that, you know, Rancho and the lady loved each other was a bit far-fetched.

[00:18:31] But for somebody who's lived under the strict guidance of virus for all her life, jumping into a car with three people she barely knows.

[00:18:40] And then driving for almost their whole day to trying to find Rancho, who you don't know if he's married or not.

[00:18:51] Was a little risky and was out of character for the person who we've seen throughout this film.

[00:18:58] Even the fact that she went back to the guy after telling him blankly that she was no longer interested in him.

[00:19:05] Lots of things just happened to happen.

[00:19:08] They just happened to arrive on the day of her wedding.

[00:19:11] Lots of coincidences that seemed pretty interesting.

[00:19:16] It carried the story, but it also felt a little far-fetched.

[00:19:21] So, you know, it's an Indian film.

[00:19:23] You've got to take a little bit of, what do you call it?

[00:19:28] You've got to shut your brain down just a little bit.

[00:19:31] But I think even with that, I think some of those things were a little bit egregious.

[00:19:37] So the fascinating thing about this show, right?

[00:19:40] Like I mentioned that my exposure to Indian films is fairly limited.

[00:19:47] And one of the other films that I've seen from India is 12th Fail, because we talked about this on the show.

[00:19:53] And the similarities to a degree are fascinating because at the core, both films are about the school system.

[00:20:05] Right?

[00:20:05] And how challenging the school system in India is because of reasons that you mentioned, right?

[00:20:16] Like highly competitive, because the population is so huge.

[00:20:21] And everybody wants to succeed in the world, right?

[00:20:26] And set their family up for success and themselves up for success.

[00:20:31] I think, at the end of the day, that not every character here is growing and kind of learning the life lesson that we're supposed to take out of this is human.

[00:20:44] Right?

[00:20:45] Because it's always kind of opportunists.

[00:20:48] And there's always the people that go by the book and also succeed in their ways.

[00:20:57] And I think both of these versions are valid and true.

[00:21:05] If I take this film, I think you can be on either side of that coin, right?

[00:21:14] You can be following Rancho and that kind of mantra of follow your passion.

[00:21:22] Because if you follow your passion, you'll be good at that because you're interested in doing that.

[00:21:28] Right?

[00:21:28] For him, that was learning.

[00:21:30] And leading by his example, you know, he excelled and has 400 patents and whatnot.

[00:21:40] But another valid strategy is not doing that, but following the system and getting all the degrees and being second best, but still, you know, highly regarded and getting a good job and all that kind of stuff.

[00:21:55] Right?

[00:21:56] But with that comes other pressures.

[00:21:57] Right?

[00:21:58] Because you always have to please.

[00:22:00] And it's not necessarily that what you want to do.

[00:22:04] It's not your passion, but, you know, so you're always kind of in that in that kind of back and forth of like, I need to do this because it's the expectation.

[00:22:13] And I'm good at it because I learned how to adapt to it.

[00:22:18] But it's not necessarily kind of what I want to do.

[00:22:20] And it's not what I strive in.

[00:22:22] That's creating stress.

[00:22:23] But both of these things are kind of valid.

[00:22:25] Right?

[00:22:26] So the – and for the marriage, it's kind of a similar thing there.

[00:22:32] Right?

[00:22:32] It's do I follow kind of the expectation and, you know, marrying kind of upwards a rich dude or gal?

[00:22:45] And because I would think she's also pretty well off.

[00:22:49] You know, just kind of following that path.

[00:22:52] And it's not necessarily, you know, what I want or like this person.

[00:22:57] Right?

[00:22:58] But it's kind of the optics of it.

[00:22:59] And it's kind of the expectation of it all.

[00:23:02] Everybody's happy around me.

[00:23:03] Maybe I'm not.

[00:23:04] But, you know, I can suck it up.

[00:23:06] Or I can follow my heart and my passion and be okay with whatever that means.

[00:23:12] Right?

[00:23:12] So I think it's very consistent with the story presented, the way the marriage stuff shakes out here.

[00:23:22] Okay.

[00:23:24] So, you know, it's – I think it's pretty interesting if you do get to watch a lot of Indian films.

[00:23:34] I think there's a lot of really good ones.

[00:23:37] And they range from comedies that are like Deli Belli to – what do you call it?

[00:23:47] Real gangster movies like Gangs of Waisipur.

[00:23:50] And some of these movies are as intense as what you would find.

[00:23:54] And you have medium films like Dil Jatahe, which are – all of them are very interesting.

[00:23:59] And they tend to be quite good.

[00:24:02] I think it's just the sheer amount of Indian films that you have to dig through to find, like, the real gems.

[00:24:10] I shouldn't say that.

[00:24:12] It's the same with over here.

[00:24:13] There are lots of good movies.

[00:24:16] But you really have to find the gems that stand above the ground.

[00:24:21] But I will say, I get your point about how a lot of the things that we see are just an indication of how they need to translate the movie.

[00:24:32] And how it's just a reflection of how time works.

[00:24:38] In a sense, you're right.

[00:24:42] But I also think that given the way the system works and all of the things that are reflected through the efforts of the students.

[00:24:53] You mentioned one of the tragedies that happened in the film after the guy helped him build his – I mean, you hinted at it, should I say.

[00:25:05] Where you would have a success and everybody would be singing.

[00:25:09] And at the very point of the climax, you are hit with a tragedy.

[00:25:17] And I think they used that trope quite a lot.

[00:25:19] Even when the baby was being born, they used a lot of ingenuity to try to solve the problems.

[00:25:27] But I do think that, in a sense, the directors took a lot of liberties to try to create this, should I say, a very idealistic version of college.

[00:25:47] And I guess if you didn't want to extend the movie too long after that, maybe this is the old solution.

[00:25:55] The only solution you can have.

[00:25:57] And you talked about 12th Phil, and you're quite right on that.

[00:26:00] One of the things that happened when I was watching this film was everybody kept going,

[00:26:03] is it the same 12th Phil movie that you were watching the other time?

[00:26:06] Because the themes are very similar.

[00:26:10] And I think that it kind of shows how important this kind of topic is to the Indian population, that it becomes very difficult.

[00:26:19] And the weird thing is that 12th Phil was an exam to get into the civil service.

[00:26:26] And this one was an exam to get into engineering.

[00:26:29] And their college to engineering path is quite interesting because they have companies coming in to interview right after the,

[00:26:39] before your final exam.

[00:26:44] But, and so that you can get a job right after you start, which is very, very efficient in a sense.

[00:26:51] But I think if you don't actually succeed, you get pushed into the bottom.

[00:26:56] And you end up like Raju's family, where you don't get to live your life.

[00:27:02] So this is like pure capitalism, where there's no, there's no safety net whatsoever to save you.

[00:27:10] And I think that that kind of pressure is what makes that whole thing so competitive.

[00:27:15] Because if you don't succeed, you are going to fail.

[00:27:19] Because there's just too many people that the country has to deal with.

[00:27:24] I would say generally speaking, that's all I have to say about the negatives of this film.

[00:27:30] I don't know if you have anything you wanted to add to the positives before we go into the...

[00:27:35] Sidebar. Now we can go to the sidebar and I can, whatever, you know, I feel like I would tag on, I can do there.

[00:27:42] So let's move over.

[00:27:44] Overruled. Sidebar. Guilty. Speculation. Hearsay. Bailiff. Briefcase. Disregard. In my chamber.

[00:27:48] Stop Beaver and the witness. Arrest. We could totally be lawyers.

[00:27:52] Sidebar. Welcome.

[00:27:54] I'm going to say something about this movie in comparison to 12th Phil.

[00:27:58] This is basically the same idea between the two of them.

[00:28:01] But it was a scene in 12th Phil after the guy, he had pushed the girl away and he goes back to the house.

[00:28:09] And the girl lives on a mountain.

[00:28:11] And on the mountain, in a mountain city.

[00:28:14] And he goes there and he walks up the mountain.

[00:28:16] You know, he showed glimpses of what the life, life in the mountain area looks like.

[00:28:23] And he goes to the girl's house, rings the bell and he speaks to the butler.

[00:28:28] I should say, or the house help.

[00:28:31] And in that scene, I was talking to myself, like, this is so different from, you know, Delhi that they've been showing us.

[00:28:38] Delhi was just packed so tight.

[00:28:41] Everything was just, you know, crammed.

[00:28:43] And we get to this part of India where it's like this space.

[00:28:46] You see beautiful views.

[00:28:48] But we only get to see it behind curtains.

[00:28:51] The curtain was not even drawn.

[00:28:52] So it's like you just get glimpses of it.

[00:28:54] And it's like you wanted more.

[00:28:56] I wanted to know more about this area.

[00:28:58] And you know what this movie does?

[00:29:00] It gives me that.

[00:29:02] Vast expanses of land.

[00:29:04] People driving through mountaintops, rivers.

[00:29:08] All sorts of beautiful scenes.

[00:29:10] Scenery in this film.

[00:29:13] And after the movie, I just kept saying to myself, like, whoa, India is breathtaking, man.

[00:29:18] Let's just ignore the whole Delhi area.

[00:29:21] Let's ignore the idea of Delhi belly where you go there and eat something poisonous from the streets and you start to take a dump for the next three hours.

[00:29:29] Let's ignore all of that.

[00:29:30] What if you just go to India and you just experience how beautiful the landscape is?

[00:29:35] Just driving for miles in these beautiful scenes.

[00:29:37] I was really, really, really, really impressed by that.

[00:29:42] And I can give it more of an effusive place of giving India a little bit more of a leg up on my travel plans.

[00:29:48] Oh, wow.

[00:29:49] Yeah.

[00:29:50] You're bringing up a good point.

[00:29:52] It's a very romantic version of India.

[00:29:55] It seems like a very stylized version, which is on par with this film.

[00:30:00] I think, like, in general, this film is very stylized, like super saturated colors.

[00:30:08] And then, like I said, like the music stuff is very fantastical.

[00:30:13] I think the whole thing is pretty fantastical.

[00:30:17] It seems like when I was watching it, I kind of likened it to, oh, okay.

[00:30:23] So this is kind of like American Pie meets High School Musical, right?

[00:30:29] Yeah.

[00:30:31] So kind of from that lens, it's a kind of neat version to see kind of an Indian interpretation of that genre of a high school film with the same tropes of like 40-year-olds playing 20-year-olds.

[00:30:49] Yes.

[00:30:50] And they're like...

[00:30:51] Yes.

[00:30:52] Yes.

[00:30:53] Which is very true.

[00:30:54] Which is always weird and fascinating.

[00:30:58] And this film has a weird fascination with just pissing on stuff.

[00:31:05] Yes.

[00:31:06] It's like, okay, whatever happened there, like whoever needed to get that out on film, just put that out there, that that's a thing.

[00:31:18] That we keep on showing.

[00:31:22] But, I mean, all in all, I think it is a very good film.

[00:31:27] I think I enjoyed this more than The Twelfth Fail.

[00:31:33] Interestingly enough, because I think I argued against The Twelfth Fail back then.

[00:31:38] But at the end of the day, right?

[00:31:40] Like it's the moral of this is very applicable to everybody.

[00:31:46] I think if you're in any work environment, you're coming across kind of that dilemma of, you know, hey, I want to work for X company.

[00:31:57] Right?

[00:31:58] I don't want to work for X.

[00:31:59] But let's say, hey, I want to work for the Googles in the world.

[00:32:03] Right?

[00:32:04] You are so replaceable because there's so many people that want to have that job that that essentially creates the same dilemma.

[00:32:11] Right?

[00:32:11] Where it's like, okay, I need to, if I got a job there, I need to perform the way they expect me to perform and not necessarily perform as me.

[00:32:22] Because the expectation is potentially a different one.

[00:32:26] Right?

[00:32:27] And if they don't like what I do, like there's hundreds of people that can replace me.

[00:32:34] Just then they replace you.

[00:32:35] Right?

[00:32:37] And yeah, it's kind of an interesting dilemma or like moral tale.

[00:32:45] Right?

[00:32:45] So what do you do with that?

[00:32:47] Is everybody now going and creating their own company because that's fulfilling you the most?

[00:32:55] I don't know.

[00:32:56] I think it's just kind of kind of interesting thing to think about.

[00:33:02] And overall, performances are great in this too.

[00:33:06] Even though they're very over the top and comical and, you know, you said the professor is Professor Virus or whatever his name is.

[00:33:16] Of course he's very comical.

[00:33:18] And because it's almost like it's the caricature point of view from a student.

[00:33:27] He's not a real person.

[00:33:29] It's just kind of the interpretation that his students have of him in a way.

[00:33:34] And I think we have similar caricatures of teaching authorities in American films like American Pie and the like where teachers are this over the top weird, almost inhuman framework of something.

[00:33:52] Right?

[00:33:53] They're not real people.

[00:33:54] And he's kind of the same.

[00:33:55] He's not necessarily a real person.

[00:33:57] He's just a caricature of all the bad things in the world when you're a student.

[00:34:06] So, yeah, of all, great film.

[00:34:10] Maybe a little too long.

[00:34:11] I think, you know, cut it down by half an hour.

[00:34:14] Yeah.

[00:34:15] I don't disagree with you.

[00:34:18] I think, yes.

[00:34:19] I think those scenes, they had many scenes that just were long, that dragged on for longer than they needed to drag on.

[00:34:29] And, for example, the scene with them where the guy was trying to, with all of them trying to do the hazing scene at the beginning of the film where everybody was taking off their pants and stuff.

[00:34:41] I think that scene could have been shot by almost three, four minutes to get to the introduction of, what do you call it, of Rancho.

[00:34:55] Because what we got was they had individual people doing individual things.

[00:35:00] The guy who was doing the James Bond stuff, it was pretty funny.

[00:35:03] I'm not going to say it wasn't.

[00:35:04] But I think it didn't push the story forward as much as it needed to.

[00:35:10] So, when Rancho joins, basically what the point of that was, was to show that he thought higher than everybody else.

[00:35:20] And as a result, they got attracted to him to become friends.

[00:35:27] So, those kinds of scenes took a little bit longer.

[00:35:29] I also felt like the scene where they found out Rancho was the son of the gardener felt a little bit undercooked.

[00:35:39] Because, yeah, we get there on the day his dad died and they're doing stuff and he goes, I'm Rancho.

[00:35:47] And then they look at all the pictures and they see that their friend was not in the picture.

[00:35:51] Somebody had used Photoshop, some really good Photoshop from 2000 and from early 2000s or from the mid-2000s to replace Rancho in that photo.

[00:36:02] And that scene dragged on for a little bit long.

[00:36:05] And the goal was just to say, hey, it wasn't me.

[00:36:09] My dad paid him to, what do you call it, to get me an engineering degree.

[00:36:17] Because he felt like his lack of education was one of his weak spots.

[00:36:21] And I felt like those scenes could have just been cut down by 5 minutes, 10 minutes.

[00:36:26] And if you just keep cutting down some of the scenes, you would get a tighter film.

[00:36:32] But you might lose some of the humor.

[00:36:34] So, it's like one of those weird balances that you have to deal with.

[00:36:40] But I did like the film a lot.

[00:36:43] I'm not going to lie.

[00:36:45] I loved it a lot.

[00:36:46] The end of the film was also long after they get there.

[00:36:50] And one of the things that I appreciated was the fact that a lot of the things they talked about played out.

[00:36:55] You know, in the middle of the film, he's talking to the girl and he says, oh, I had a dream where you came to me on the beach.

[00:37:01] And you took off your hat, you know, in a bride's dress.

[00:37:06] And you took off your hat and you were wearing a bike helmet and all of those things.

[00:37:10] And it happened at the end.

[00:37:12] And then he was like, oh, wow, really cool.

[00:37:15] I was like, that was a really good callback, you know.

[00:37:19] There were lots of funny things that happened at that very end.

[00:37:21] You know, the guy taking off his shoes and hitting him.

[00:37:23] And I was like, man, I would do that to my friend who did this to me.

[00:37:27] But I also felt like some of it went on too long.

[00:37:30] Like how they treated Chatto and all of that.

[00:37:33] But yes, long story short, this movie is an excellent film.

[00:37:39] I would say that it's way, way better than the movie we talked about last time.

[00:37:47] And I think that it deserves to be higher on the list.

[00:37:52] I think it's better than 12th Phil, honestly.

[00:37:56] So yeah, that's my perspective on this.

[00:37:59] Oh, yeah.

[00:38:00] I mean, there's something you brought up that I wanted to comment on, but I forgot.

[00:38:09] Great.

[00:38:16] I agree that.

[00:38:21] Yeah.

[00:38:22] Stump now.

[00:38:26] I think it's a great film.

[00:38:29] Very enjoyable.

[00:38:29] I think it's kind of fantastical.

[00:38:31] The thing that I find crazy here is the roller coaster thing, right?

[00:38:37] You go from happy dance to suicide.

[00:38:42] Yeah.

[00:38:44] It's like, whoa, okay, where is that coming from?

[00:38:46] And that's kind of a fascinating through line to this film where they make the argument that the system that is currently in place at that school and Professor Virus is responsible for people committing suicide.

[00:39:06] And that's such a fascinating take because it's and they make the argument that in India, I guess the highest reason for death in schools is suicide.

[00:39:21] So the pressures are immense.

[00:39:27] And so I suppose, you know, moral of this is also like, let's try to change that framework in schools and kind of the pressure.

[00:39:38] But again, like you were making the argument that it's just it's hard because there's so much competition.

[00:39:44] Like, how do you deal with that?

[00:39:46] Right.

[00:39:47] There's got to be some some form of crowd control and like entry control for for that if you have so many people that want to get in.

[00:40:00] Not everybody can work at Google.

[00:40:02] Right.

[00:40:03] As much as that might be interesting.

[00:40:05] I don't know.

[00:40:09] But yeah, it is definitely too long.

[00:40:13] And oh, I remember what I wanted to say did the thing at the core of it that Rancho is replacing or standing in for the prime minister son.

[00:40:25] If you think about that a little long and a little more in depth, it's not making a lot of sense.

[00:40:34] The Photoshop can be great.

[00:40:35] But at the end of the day, like he's part of a class of 200 people.

[00:40:42] And it's not like he was kind of doing the invisible thing of just kind of being there and getting the great degree.

[00:40:48] He was very visible and very against the grain.

[00:40:51] Right.

[00:40:52] So I would think there's at least 200 people that if they know about the prime minister son and see him in a in a paper at some point, like, but hold on, that's not the guy I went to school with.

[00:41:04] Right.

[00:41:04] Right.

[00:41:05] Like that's that's going to happen at some point, I would think a huge scandal in the making there.

[00:41:12] But I guess you cannot prove it.

[00:41:14] But still, right, if enough people speak up and are like, hey, that's not the dude I went to school with.

[00:41:19] He was kind of a jerk.

[00:41:21] You know, on which side, whichever side you are.

[00:41:23] Right.

[00:41:23] He's kind of a jerk or he was he was interesting.

[00:41:26] Right.

[00:41:27] I never.

[00:41:29] So if you think about things like that a little too long, it may have the tendency to ruin the film for you.

[00:41:35] So don't do that.

[00:41:39] OK, I guess.

[00:41:41] I guess.

[00:41:43] But no, all in all, it's it's a fun movie.

[00:41:46] It's it's very fantastical.

[00:41:49] So the trope of giving birth and on the ping pong table at night in the in the rainstorm with a battery like the MacGyver ism of it all is fascinating.

[00:42:02] But it's also set up because he's he's already mentioning it's like, oh, yeah, there's power out of just that marriage at that wedding.

[00:42:09] So we could do this inverter thing.

[00:42:12] Right.

[00:42:12] So it's all set up.

[00:42:14] OK.

[00:42:14] Right.

[00:42:15] It's not he it's not like he's really kind of getting it out of the air.

[00:42:19] But yeah, it's it's a little wild.

[00:42:23] It's a little.

[00:42:25] I get fantastical with all as well and the baby cakes and all that kind of stuff.

[00:42:30] Right.

[00:42:32] But it is a little wild that the dude playing Rancho was like in his 40s, mid 40s, and he's playing this young dude.

[00:42:43] Yeah, I think they were all old in that film.

[00:42:46] But I mean, the makeup was good.

[00:42:50] Yeah.

[00:42:50] I wasn't convinced that he was young, but he didn't look egregious.

[00:42:56] Yeah, that's fair.

[00:42:58] It's not like what they do in Alien Romulus.

[00:43:03] I'm not going to go in spoilers there, but oh boy.

[00:43:07] De-aging is not for everybody.

[00:43:11] Or CGI-ing people.

[00:43:14] But yeah, no, it's a good film.

[00:43:18] I enjoyed it.

[00:43:19] Do I need to watch it again?

[00:43:20] No, I don't think so.

[00:43:23] I think the songs in the movie were bangers, though.

[00:43:26] I like the songs.

[00:43:27] They were good.

[00:43:28] Yeah.

[00:43:28] Yeah.

[00:43:29] But those also, a good minute to long.

[00:43:32] Each of them.

[00:43:34] Right?

[00:43:35] Yeah.

[00:43:35] Fair enough.

[00:43:36] But yeah.

[00:43:37] No, watch it.

[00:43:38] It's fun.

[00:43:41] It's fun for an evening.

[00:43:44] And then think about it.

[00:43:45] And then you can move on with your life.

[00:43:51] Speaking of moving on, though.

[00:43:53] You already alluded to this.

[00:43:54] What's the next film we will move on to?

[00:43:56] The next movie we're going to be talking about is Singing in the Rain.

[00:44:01] We're not dealing with engineering anymore.

[00:44:04] We're moving to Singing in the Rain.

[00:44:06] So bring your umbrellas.

[00:44:08] Yes.

[00:44:10] Cool.

[00:44:12] Fantastic, classic American cinema.

[00:44:16] Until then, though, where can people find us?

[00:44:19] You can find us on X.

[00:44:22] You can send us an excrement on at Movie Mistrial.

[00:44:26] You can find us on Facebook and Instagram on at Movie Mistrial.

[00:44:29] But if you do want to send us an email, you can send it to us at contact at Movie Mistrial.

[00:44:34] All right.

[00:44:38] Thank you so much for listening.

[00:44:39] Hope you enjoyed this episode.

[00:44:40] We'll see you soon.

[00:44:41] Yep.

[00:44:42] Take care.

[00:44:42] Bye.

[00:44:43] Bye.