3 Idiots and FPS

For most of the first half, I thought the movie had nothing to do with the book with two guys embarking on a search for a lost friend. Even as the IIT scenes appeared, I felt this was just a nod to Five Point Someone, and the movie will soon take on a different course. The twist before intermission convinced me that the first half was masti and the second half will take a serious turn. That was not to be. It was more of the campus antics and juvenile gags. As the movie ended I walked out with the feeling that it was closer to the book than I thought. Apparently, Mr. Bhagat thought so too.

I had read the book a good 5 or so years back so I didn't remember it vividly. I could see that the film was not a shot-for-shot ripoff but I felt a strong sense of deja vu nevertheless. And since the controversy blew up so spectacularly, I couldnt resist re-reading the book. And since I obviously spent so much time on this, might as well blog my analysis.

Bhagat is absolutely right in claiming the story credit. I will simply outline it here and you can draw your own conclusions.

The book has three central characters who meet during ragging. One of them, Ryan, doesnt believe in the education system, the second, Alok, is from a lower middle-class household and must get a job to pull his family out of poverty - the family has a paralytic dad, mom, the sole bread earner, who hasnt bought a new saree in five years, and an elder sister waiting to get married but for the lack of funds to pay dowry. The third character, Hari, happens to be the narrator, and although no background is provided in the book, it is fair to assume he hails from a typical middle class family with no clear cut views on life and just followed the crowd to get into IIT.

All three of them are laggards with GPAs of 5.x. After the first semester, Alok is not happy with the effect of this friendship on his grades, and tags up with Venkat, the typical studious class topper. The association lasts for a year until a day when Alok must to go home to see his dad, but Venkat insists he rather complete a group assignment that was delegated to Alok and is due the next day. Ryan steps into help and the three get together again.

Hari falls in love with Neha, Prof Cherian's daughter. Prof Cherian (uses a bicycle) was an alum of the institute and had a GPA of 10 during his days, but chose the institute over lucrative overseas opportunities so he could give back to the society. Naturally the prof wanted his offspring to keep the tradition alive, but his son having failed to get in after three attempts commits suicide, a fact not revealed to the father. As GPA is how people are judged in IIT, to impress Prof Cherian and compensate for his poor form overall, Hari slogs his ass off and is determined to get an A in Cherian's course, but a series of unfortunate events results in a situation where he needs 47 out of 50 in the final exam for an A. Ryan suggests stealing the paper and Hari gets a duplicate key through Neha (without her knowledge though). They enter the office at night, and Ryan has taken out the question paper and is resealing the envelope when Alok decides to use the phone in the office to call home. An alert night employee manning the EPABX sees a call coming from a Prof's office, raises an alarm and three three are caught in the act. Consequently, all 3 are suspended for a semester, and since this happens to be the final year, they wont be able to graduate within 4 years. Unable to bear the consequences, Alok jumps from the roof and breaks 13 bones.

A sympathetic prof helps the 3 out so they can work on a research project based on Ryan's idea during their suspension, which is eventually counted for some credits, and they are able to somehow graduate on time. Owing to their poor grades, however, they cant hope for lucrative jobs. Hari and Alok manage to get jobs, and Ryan ends up assisting the prof in furthering the research.