3 Idiots (2009)
3 reasons to love Bollywood.
Presentation:
If there was ever a movie to explain what Bollywood is, this might be it. 3 Idiots is a quirky buddy comedy with all the production you might expect from a Hindi film. It has the melodrama, humor and musical theatrics blended together unapologetically into an entertaining package. The film starts out a bit slow and perhaps unimpressively utilizing a strange frame rate. It takes a while to pick up steam but once it does, you should fall in love with the endearing trio. The film is anamorphic and utilizes many visuals including blow out highlights, black and white, warm sepia, animation, basically throwing everything and the kitchen sink to create peak Indian cinema. Some of the anamorphic landscapes are particularly stunning making you wonder if it is truly entirely shot in India.
Conclusion:
This film feels like a culmination of Indian sensibilities wrapped into one cohesive message. It’s quite similar to western buddy comedies like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World or Harold and Kumar. It’s silly, heartwarming, dramatic, basically all the guilty pleasures. But what makes it such a great experience is that underneath all the flourishes, it actually has a good story under the laughs. I found myself caring more about the story that caring about the comedy aspects so that when something was genuinely funny it surprises you in an uproar. Sure it’s not a very serious film, but there is still a serious message about education that ultimately makes this simple Bollywood blockbuster reach new heights.
Recommendations
And you thought your life was hard.