3 Idiots, 2009

3 Idiots, 2009
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Mona Singh



Stage: Home theatre, nice afternoon scenery

3 Idiots in short: Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi want to re-unite with their fellow collegian, Rancho, after faking a stroke abroad an Air India plane, and excusing himself from his wife - trouser less - respectively. Enroute, they encounter another student, Chatur Ramalingam, now a successful businessman, who reminds them of a bet they had undertaken 10 years ago. The trio, while recollecting hilarious antics, including their run-ins with the Dean of Delhi's Imperial College of Engineering, Viru Sahastrabudhe, race to locate Rancho, at his last known address - little knowing the secret that was kept from them all this time.


Preps: None in perticular. A good recommendation


Reality: Well, it seems that every time I run into a Bollywood scene, it evolves in somehow romantic perspective of the world. Is India really the place, where the only two options what to become in life, are doctor or a scientist (engineer)? Saving the last penny for the kid to go in school, placing all your bets on his good being and trying to feed yourself while the youngster comes home with a degree, ready to serve the nation and bring home the big bucks? Maybe so.. however, much in this piece, that I simply cannot buy without research. Is there really so many suicides in India, and all of them because of a bad grade, bad choice in faculty, your parents forcing you to live up their dreams? Might be also true, however, in this piece it's depicted somehow from a perspective of a romantic scenery, "all is well" saying, so juvenile, not convincing at all.

Nevertheless, a cute piece, suits perfectly to the Sunday atmosphere, trying to relax and watch something amusing up to some extent and not demanding from a viewer's perspective. This is a genuine description I am giving to this one. Because the story doesn't fit the reality, the main characters are at least ten years too old to be hanging around the faculty. The times of Beverly Hills 90210 are over, you cannot have the audience by implementing elder people in the roles of students. Nevertheless, a relaxing one, trying to make you visit India (because of the scenery and the music, and evidently openess of the people involved, the habits they have, the poverty that seeks for foreign capital.

Nothing really thrilling about this piece. But can make you smile and laugh hard in many moments. Therefore, a nice perspective for the afternoon, nothing more. How come all the Bollywood movies seem to have a happy ending? Need to see more, I guess. Not all of them should be like this, I am sure.


My personal rating: 5,0 (amusing Sunday entertainment, even a bit more, from my perspective. Could be shrinked to one hour and a half, though)

3 Idiots on IMDB

Dark Matter, 2007

Dark Matter, 2007
Director: Shi-Zheng Chen
Cast: Meryl Streep, Ye Liu, Peng Chi


Stage: Home theatre, TV selection of a random Wednesday evening

Dark Matter in short: Liu Xing is a scholarship boy from China, newly arrived in Salt Lake City, a graduate student in cosmology, in Utah to study in Professor Reiser's prestigious program. Back in China, Liu Xing's parents are proud of him, and he dedicates himself to fulfilling their hopes. All the graduate students in the program work on projects that extend and further Reiser's model of the origins of the universe. Liu Xing does well until his own theories move him away from Reiser's. Will Reiser and the department recognize Liu Xing's brilliance? Can the young man's benefactor, Joanna Silver, intercede?


Preps: None in perticular, as I don't know the movie, nor the cast. I might be surprised in positive way, as normalwise, the selection on Wednesday suits my taste.


Reality: The movie strikes with a true and ironic story of a young person wanting to suceed - based on his previous region or location, he comes from, also something inspiring. There are a lot of asian students arriving in EU or USA educational institutions, willing to work harder, try longer, dedicate all of their time in order to achieve the education and in the end, being much more grateful than most of local students. In Asia, education is something that is worth as much as being a millionaire. I also believe, the charma or dare I say, the mindset is completely different as oppose to european or US standard. Therefore, in the end, the students tend to be much more successful just because of this mindset. Normally, they would have a sponsor - in this piece, briliantly cast of Meryl Streep, naive and supportive, as I would see them without knowing any in person - but they often strike me as optimists, following an inner reason to support students from other cultures. In this case, she dedicates her life to Chinese students for the simple fact that she likes and is inspired by China in general.

The movie exposes another problem all students are facing - failure to admit that the scholar or student exceeded his tutor. This happens all the time and in some sense doesn't stimulate science at all, it does have the antieffect. In this piece the student cannot understand, how he came from the top position in tutor's or menthor's mind to the last. The brilliance, through which Liu gets to his ideas and to his discovery that he pursues, is absolutely unique. For ordinary people (with normal ways of interaction, thinking, etc, the process of creating unique and breathtaking ideas is simply something you cannot dare to imagine. In the movie, it reveals, that the breathtaking ideas in some cases can be driven by a simple every day task like cooking.
The main dissappointment, deriving from unability to at least listen to Liu (from his menthor) and furthermore, not confirming the thesis for Ph.D, is devastating to the student, it makes him fall down on his knees, not knowing what to do, lying to the parents that have a "famous son" on the other side of the world. On one hand, the escape from normal asian life that he tries to avoid or surpress, on the other hand, the unability to make the menthor listen and praise another science discovery.
The downfall unikely shows how a person can be destroyed externally and also internally, burying his soul over a thing he cannot bring out in the open. Dark Matter in this sense appears obscure and ununderstandable to the viewer, absolutely something too profound to understand. But you get the sense it must be something too scientific to handle for a normal human being.


My personal rating: 6,0 (a classic "wannabe this person" movie, but only in the first part. The second part of the movie will break your heart).

Dark matter on IMDB