Three Idiots: A Reaction Paper

`It all started in the college days of three best buddies: Farhan Qureshi, Raju Rastogi, and

Rancchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad “Rancho” at the Imperial College of Engineering, India.

Farhan, is one of the many college students who was forced to pursue his parent’s dream of

becoming an engineer. Raju is a poor lad who strives hard to get good grades yet he still gets

low marks. He hopes to land a good job someday for the sake of his family; while Rancho, the

one who stands out among the crowd, studies engineering for his passion of machines and

devices. However, due to his different approach in studying, Rancho incurs the wrath of the

dean of college, Professor Viru “Virus” Shahastrabuddhe. Rancho criticizes his professor’s style

of teaching for lacking enthusiasm and understanding in discussing their lessons; thus this leads

to a series of conflicts. In contrast, Virus’s favorite student, Chatur “Silencer” Ramalingam,

believes in memorizing over understanding in order to be a successful engineer. Chatur is the

typical student who studies without passion.

Things become more complicated when Rancho falls in love with Virus’s daughter, Pia; a

girl whom he met when he crashed a wedding party.

At their senior year, Chatur was humiliated for giving a ridiculous speech in front of

everybody because Rancho pulled a prank on him. Chatur found out and then he promised to

get revenge by insisting on becoming more successful than Rancho.

After ten years, Chatur, now a successful millionaire, is boastful that he has surpassed

Rancho and he was also looking forward to sealing a deal with a famous scientist and

prospective business associate named Phunsukh Wangdu. Having lost contact with Rancho

after graduation, Chatur, Farhan and Raju goes on a journey to search for Rancho.

On their adventure, they found out that the Rancho they knew of was not the real

Rancho. Rancchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad was just a wealthy guy who made a deal with their

best friend. The real Rancho wanted the fake Rancho to earn a college degree for him by acting

undercover as him, the real Rancho. In exchange for this, the real Rancho will provide the fake

Rancho his tuition fees and his needs as long as he “gives” him a good educational background.

The real Rancho reveals that the fake Rancho is now a school teacher in Ladakh. When Chatur

found about this, he laughed to his pleasure and mocks Rancho for becoming an ordinary

school teacher despite of his grades.

Raju, Farhan, Chatur, and Pia goes to Rancho’s school. Pia and the fake Rancho rekindles

their love. Chatur hurriedly asks Rancho to sign on a “Declaration of Defeat” document. When

the fake Rancho’s friends asks for his real name, he reveals that he is actually Phunsuk Wangdu.

Chatur was horrified when he heard of this; he swallows his pride and pleads his case to

Phunsukh that he establishes the business deal he was after.

Questions:

1. Which character can you relate to the most?

I can relate to Farhan the most because we are in the same dilemma. Like

Farhan, I was forced to pursue my parent’s dream. They told me that I should take

accountancy because my degree pays high; but what I actually want is fine arts because

I was told that I have a very creative mind. I also “married something I didn’t love”. My

parents do not understand this; but I decide to follow what they told me because I

wanted to make everyone happy and to stop everyone from worrying about me. After

watching the movie, I became more convinced that I should take the course that I want;

but of course, I won’t shift unless I fail accountancy and I am left with no choice.

2. What lesson can you learn from the movie and how can you apply it to the real world?

“Do something you love.” – This is the lesson I learned from the movie. If you do

something you really love and persevere in learning it, you will surely become

successful; as long as you offer it to God. Do not be scared in being different. Ignore

other’s opinions and value your own. If you let yourself to be influenced by other’s

decisions, you’ll become like everyone else – a normal, ordinary, plain jane.

Deciding on doing something you dislike for your whole life would most probably

give you regret; doing this is similar to being a robot. A robot just does what it’s

designed to do. It isn’t asked what it wants to do because it’s just an “it”, a thing. We are

not robots to be ordered what to do! Least of us were lucky to be given an opportunity

to pursue our dream; so we should make our own choice and pursue our own dreams.

Anna Caira Klariza S. De Venecia

C33

BSA