Rarely does a Hindi film come along and change the way people think. But Aamir Khan and Raju Hirani's 3 Idiots seems to have pulled it off. It has made a difference in the thinking and priorities of simple, middle class families that relentlessly pressure their kids on academics. This blog isn't based on hearsay. It's based on conversations I have had with other mothers of school-going children.
One lady, whose older daughter is now just a month away from the high-pressure 10th standard board exam, said her husband had made her back off from forcing their first-born into any academic stream after watching the film. Post-3 Idiots he apparently advocated that the daughter be allowed to do what she chooses and be happy.
A friend of mine in Powai said she'd heard something very similar from a mother in her kids' school. After watching the blockbuster movie this mother had backed off, stopped pushing her son on the academic front and also cut down on micro-managing his life.
3 Idiots is a laugh riot (I loved it). But the subliminal message - let kids and youngsters be; don't sacrifice their happiness on the altar of success - behind the jokes seems to be penetrating the middle class consciousness. The film harshly brings out just how heavy a toll academic pressure can take on some - one suicide and an attempted suicide by students at an engineering college. The book on which the film is loosely based, Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone, somehow doesn't manage to communicate the message as effectively.
No matter who the messenger, I'm just glad the message is finally getting across to some people. Indians as a people can be extremely demanding of their children. The cut-throat competition and unrelenting pressure in academics has led thousands of kids to take their own lives in the past few years, choosing death over humiliation from a poor result. A drastic change in mentality urgently needed. Kudos to 3 Idiots and all those behind it for nudging Indians in the right direction.
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I too am glad the message is getting through...
ReplyDeleteI agree. My classmate at college had killed herself after failing third year. Being the only girl amongst the Stephanians who had gone over to meet the family, I was nudged in the direction of her mother's bedroom. The poor lady was quite ill and had been crying without breath all morning. On seeing me, she said, "Wo batati rahti thi ki mere class mein sab bahut intelligent hain aur mein nahin hoon". Even now, when some of my friends talk about how they could have helped her out with the occasional math problem or fought for extra time for her (She had very weak eyesight due to lack of melanin), I think that it wasn't that.
ReplyDeleteIt was always that competitiveness -trying to get ahead of the class. Mattered more at Stephen's because one's main competitors for scholarships and jobs were one's classmates. Things had become so hectic that classmates never talked about their subject for fear to let the others in on their weaknesses. They cracked jokes and talked about teachers but never discussed anything that really mattered. The teachers never helped either -they pushed their favourites quite openly and actively discouraged question and classroom discussion.
My god Ruch! That's plain scary. The film is bang-on in that sense. There is no longer any fun in learning. If the movie changes thinking in even a few people, it's more than anyone else has managed.
ReplyDeleteI think it is also that aamir seems to have a sense of the zeitgeist. 3 of his movies that have really gone home to me are 3 idiots; rang de basanti and dil chahta hai. They've all captured the mood of the nation at the exact time. His story is simple, compellingly told - even the lecturing monologues are exactly what the indian audience is used to and drools over :)
ReplyDeleteAnd it is effective.
Net net, I agree with you and too, I like the guy's movies.
Very true Ranjeet. Perhaps we should also mention Taare Zameen Par here. The film came at a time when Indian society was just about getting mature enough to acknowledge learning disabilities and courageous enough to address the problem openly.
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