There are only two kinds of things in this world. Those that belong to the norm, the rule; and then those that don’t. Now where you place yourself out of these two kinds, the Rule and the Exception, is what decides how you live your life, what you tell your kids, and why you do what you do. 3 Idiots is a movie about one of these, in a world full of the other.

Rancho (Aamir Khan) is an Exception. And what’s a bollywood movie without exaggeration, hence, Rancho is the superlative of Exception. Unlike the rest of us, he doesn’t go to college to get a degree, but to study; he doesn’t give in to ragging, but turns it 180 degrees and pulls a hilarious one on his seniors; infact, he is such a genius that I’m sure he can even deliver a baby himself, using just a vacuum cleaner, even when the electricity’s gone. You get the point.

Ranchhod-das Shyamaldas Chanchad (Rancho) has two friends, regrettably with much simpler names, Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), who are his partners in crime and cool, in life and school, and constitute the 3 idiots referred to in the title of the movie. They are the pride of their parents, the selected few that will bring about the fortunes of many, the rare gems that the outside world worships, they are the ones who are living the proverbial dream, and hence, completely bored and frustrated with their lives. Because the dreams were not their own. Like millions of bonded children, Engineering was stamped onto their soft and damp asses right when they came out crying into the world.

Nevertheless, a hero comes along. For it would be a documentary otherwise, of bright minds rotting away in the infinity of engineering colleges, and not a movie, where a saviour comes along, flashes a few moves and frees the people from their own contained minds, and tells them of idealism bang in the middle of the real imperfect world.

Their stay at the Imperial College of Engineering (IIT) is a roller-coaster in learning. For example, they learn how to eat at an uninvited wedding, how to start an induction motor, how to kiss without the obstruction offered by the nose, and how to stop something in mid-flight, be it an Air India plane or just someone’s piss.

3 idiots offers a hearty laughing-out-loud first half with jokes that incite both fits of laughter and admiring rounds of applause. When Rancho replies to the professor with an unarming candor, a casual modesty that Aamir Khan carries with such ease and accuracy, the confusion on the face of the professor makes amply clear the whole concept of the generation gap. That a restricted curriculum adhered to like the Commandments is no more the order of the day, but a more intelligent and open approach is the apt answer to the racy dynamism of this new world we find ourselves in.

3 idiots is a cinematic treat. Rajkumar Hirani’s emotional sense of maturity shows through with full impact in the second half of the movie. It hits you strong when you suddenly find yourself letting out a laugh looking at Raju’s old illness-ridden father driving the scooty looking his happiest, right in the middle of an emotional sequence that had you crying. And suddenly when Raju’s mother cries out desperately showing off her saari to Raju, "bol na raju kaisi lag rahi hu". All your tears are belong to Rajkumar Hirani.

Kudos to Madhavan for the casual narration, Sharman for the modesty and his tear-ridden face that fills the screen twice, Aamir for the hard work, and Rajkumar Hirani for getting a decent act out of the irritation personified that goes by the name of Kareena Kapoor. She looks stunning in her bride-wear driving a scooty, with a lake on one side and mountains on the other, and the morbid expression of an irritated wife out to kill her husband with a safety pin.

You know, you know the movie is a hit when suddenly the lights in the theater went out, and instead of shouting blasphemies and getting angry or irritated, the audience let out a chant of "All is well", with their hands on their hearts.

There is so much to 3 idiots that instead of talking about it, it would be best to just go and see it, which you’re going to do anyway. Because Rajkumar Hirani knows your pulse and he just caught it hard.

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