3 Idiots

This article is about the Indian film. For the Pakistani TV show, see 3 Idiots (TV series).

3 Idiots
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rajkumar Hirani
Written by	story & dialogue by Abhijat Joshi Rajkumar Hirani
Screenplay by	Abhijat Joshi Rajkumar Hirani Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Produced by	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Starring	Aamir Khan Kareena Kapoor R. Madhavan Sharman Joshi Boman Irani Omi Vaidya Mona Singh Parikshit Sahni
Narrated by	R. Madhavan
Cinematography	C. K. Muraleedharan
Edited by	Ranjeet Bahadur Rajkumar Hirani
Music by	Shantanu Moitra
Distributed by	Vinod Chopra Productions
Release date	25 December 2009 (2009-12-25)
Running time	170 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Hindi English
Budget	₹35 crore (US$4.2 million)
Box office	₹392 crore (US$47 million)

3 Idiots is a 2009 Indian coming of age comedy-drama film directed by Rajkumar Hirani, with a screenplay by Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. 3 Idiots stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni and Boman Irani.

Upon release, the film broke all opening box office records in India. It was the highest-grossing film in its opening weekend in India and had the highest opening day collections for a Bollywood film. It also had the record for highest net collections in the first week for a Bollywood film. Within 10 days of its release, the film crossed the ₹100 crore (US$12 million) mark in India and became the first film of 2009 to do so. The film also created a new box office record for a release in the last quarter of a year (October to December), breaking the previous record set by Ghajini. It is also the highest-grossing film to be released in the second half of the year (July to December), breaking the previous record also held by Ghajini.

3 Idiots has become the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in India, breaking the previous record set by Ghajini which also starred Aamir Khan. It also became one of the few Indian films to become a major success in East Asian markets such as China, eventually bringing its overseas total to US$25 million—the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in overseas markets. It was expected to be the first Indian film to be officially released on YouTube, within 12 weeks of releasing in theatres on 25 March 2010, but finally got officially released on YouTube in May 2012. The film also went on to win many awards, winning six Filmfare Awards including best film and best director, ten Star Screen Awards and sixteen IIFA awards.

The film also uses real inventions by little-known people in India's backyards. The brains behind the innovations were Remya Jose, a student from Kerala, who created the exercise-bicycle/washing-machine; Mohammad Idris, a barber from Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh, who invented a bicycle-powered horse clipper; and Jahangir Painter, a painter from Maharashtra, who made the scooter-powered flour mill. This film was remade in Tamil as Nanban (2012) which also received critical praise and commercial success. It has also been announced that there will be a Chinese remake of the film produced by Stephen Chow and that there are plans for a Hollywood remake produced in the United States.

Plot

Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chhanchad (Aamir Khan) are three students who share a room in the residence of the fictional Imperial College of Engineering (ICE). Farhan is studying engineering to pursue his father's wishes, over his own passion for wildlife photography. Raju is studying to get his family out of poverty. On the other hand, Rancho studies for his simple passion in machines. Rancho believes that one should follow excellence, not success, as success will take care of itself if excellence is followed.

However, this different approach is sneered upon by the college director, Dr. Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe (Boman Irani). Virus's favourite student, Chatur Ramalingam (Omi Vaidya), known by the ICE community as "Silencer", believes in mindless memorizing over understanding in order to reach his goals of corporate status. Raju, who is initially annoyed by Rancho's methods, moves in with Chatur, where he fares worse. In order to impress Virus on Teachers' Day, Chatur, with the help of the college librarian, Dubey, writes a speech in pure Hindi which he will memorize to deliver on stage. Rancho decides to teach him a lesson and provide Raju with an example. Chatur, due his lack of knowledge in Hindi, mindlessly memorizes the paper, of which Rancho had secretly changed a few words (e.g. "chamatkaar" (miracle) was changed to "balatkaar" (rape)). Chatur delivers this speech in front of Virus and the Education Minister, and becomes the ridicule subject of the night. Highly insulted and driven to vengeance, he swears retaliation and bets that he will become more successful with his methods than Rancho.

Meanwhile, Raju's paralyzed father goes into a cardiac arrest, and is saved in the nick of time by Rancho and Pia (Kareena Kapoor), Virus' daughter, a medical student who is doing residency in the city hospital. This makes Raju genuinely change his mind about Rancho and becomes his bosom friend along with Farhan. Rancho falls in love with Pia, and she reciprocates. Angered, Virus continually attempts to break Rancho's friendship with Farhan and Raju. However, they stick with Rancho always, who continuously comes first in every exam, while they are always last, barely passing, due to Farhan's photography passion, and since Raju is a scared man. Things further escalate four years later when the three friends drunkenly break into Virus's house one night, in order for Rancho to finally profess his love for Pia. Unfortunately Virus finds out about this and catches them in a classroom the next day. Virus threatens to rusticate Raju unless he pins the drunken incident on Rancho. Not wanting to betray his friend or let down his family, Raju attempts suicide and ends up in a coma. With two months of extensive care from his mother, Rancho, Farhan, and Pia, he makes a full recovery and thus discards his fear of the future, adopting Rancho's outlook. His frankness impresses the corporate agents during a job interview and they hire him. Farhan, goaded by his friends, convinces his parents to allow him to drop out of school and follow his wildlife photographer dream.

Furious, with his dignity and pride ruined as a result of Farhan managing well with his future and Raju getting a job, Virus schemes to set Raju an impossibly tough final exam, as the job offer is contingent on graduation. Pia learns of this and informs Rancho and Farhan, who break into Virus's office for the exam. However, Raju, with his new-found attitude, refuses to cheat and throws the paper away. Virus catches them, beats Rancho with his umbrella, and expels them on the spot. Pia angrily confronts him, revealing that her brother, whom their father had pushed to become an engineer despite his preference for literature, committed suicide after failing ICE's entrance exam three times. After revealing this secret, a sobbing Pia then flees to her hospital. Later that night, Pia's pregnant older sister Mona (Mona Singh) goes into labour. A heavy rainstorm cuts all power and floods the streets, making it impossible for an ambulance to take Mona to the hospital, or Pia to reach Mona. The students rig up a power supply and other equipment so that, with guidance from Rancho and Pia by webcam, they can deliver the baby. The baby is apparently stillborn, but kicks when the students all chant Rancho's calming mantra, "All is well". Thus, the baby is resuscitated. Virus finally reconciles with Rancho and his friends, allowing them to stay for their final exams, and giving Rancho an astronaut pen, a symbol of excellence that he has been keeping for thirty years to give to some exceptional student. But on the day of their graduation, when everyone else was busy with their friends and families, Rancho quietly slips out of the enjoying lot, and disappears from their lives.

This story is framed as intermittent flashbacks from the present day, ten years after Chatur vowed that he'd become more successful than Rancho. Chatur, who now boasts of his wealth and his bright career with an American company, is eager to rub it in Rancho's face. Raju and Farhan have tried to find Rancho for five years with no results. With Chatur's help, they travel to the Chhanchad estate in Shimla, where they find a completely different man: the real Ranchhoddas Chhanchad (Jaaved Jaffrey). Breaking in to the estate after the real Rancho's father's funeral service, they coerce him into revealing the truth. The real Rancho tells them that their friend was an orphaned servant boy called Chhote who loved learning, unlike the real him. After seeing Chhote's intelligence, Rancho's father arranged for the servant boy to go to college and earn a degree in Rancho's name with the real Rancho going to London for college too. He reveals that their friend is now a schoolteacher in Ladakh.

On the way, the three rescue Pia from an unhappy wedding, over Chatur's objections. He wants to get the trip finished quickly, because he is in a hurry to seal a business deal with Phunsukh Wangdu, a world-class scientist with hundreds of patents. In Ladakh, Raju and Farhan find villagers working with gadgets that show the stamp of Rancho/Chhote's ingenuity, and learn from an old acquaintance MM that their friend has all of Farhan's photography/research books, reads Raju's engineering blog every day, and kept Pia's helmet. The three friends reunite and Pia and Rancho/Chhote rekindle their love, while Chatur mocks his rival and makes him sign a "declaration of defeat". When Rancho/Chhote reveals his true name, Phunsukh Wangdu, a mortified Chatur accepts his own defeat and pleads with Phunsukh to forgive him and accept his company's contract. Phunsukh, Pia, Farhan and Raju run laughing into the distance as Chatur begs him to sign the contract and save Chatur's job.

Cast

• Aamir Khan as Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad - One of the group of the three friends in the university. He went missing and his two friends travelled across India looking for him. Rancho, as a student, was intelligent and had brilliant methods to be successful and content in life. He fought against the wrong system of teaching and was often punished for this. Also he is in a romantic relationship with Pia throughout the movie.
• Kareena Kapoor as Pia Sahasrabuddhe - Viru "Virus" Sahasrabuddhe's youngest daughter who pursues being a doctor and Rancho's (Phunsukh Wangdu) love interest. She was engaged to another person but gets attracted to Aamir Khan's character in the movie.
• R. Madhavan as Farhan Qureshi - the film's narrator and a friend of Rancho and Raju. His father wants him to be an engineer despite his love for wildlife photography. Towards the climax of the movie it is shown that he convinces his parents about his love for photography and embarks on the journey for the passion of wildlife photogrphy with the help of his friends.
• Sharman Joshi as Raju Rastogi - the third member in the gang of Farhan and Rancho. In his college days, he came from an impoverished family with a mother who's a retired school teacher and a paralyzed father who was a postman. His sister is unmarried in the film during his college days. In the present day, he is shown to be a settled married man in delhi.
• Boman Irani as Dr. Viru Sahasrabuddhe - better known as "Virus", he serves as the strict college director and Pia's father. He is the film's antagonist. He went on to another level of acting in altering his dialogue delivery and thereby bringing a crude strictness to his character. His character focuses on a person who is highly competitive and challenging in nature and he has done complete justice to the role. towards the end of the movie he is shown to be a changed man in terms of his teaching ideologies.
• Omi Vaidya as Chatur Ramalingam - better known as "Silencer". Omi plays a nerdy character born in Uganda and completed his schooling in Pondicherry. He believes in mindless memorizing and also sneers Rancho's ideas just like Virus. It is heavily implied that he was called Silencer because he popped "bengali baba's" pills and farts plus cramming on exams by handling out pornographic magazines to the fellow students in order for him to rise his grades. After being insulted due to his speech, he swears retaliation and vows to be more successful. In the present part of the film, he is shown to be a very successful person holding the vice president position of a company. He mocks Rancho into signing a declaration defeat only to learn that Rancho is actually his client, Phunsukh Wangdu and later accepts the fact that Rancho is more successful than him. Vaidya was chosen by Hirani for the role mainly because of his dialogue memorization and his typical slang.
• Rahul Kumar as Man Mohan - Better known as "Millimeter" or "MM". He is a young man who does chores in the college such as helping students by ironing their clothes, finish assignments, in return for money. In the present day, he works as a faculty member in Rancho/Chhote/Phunsukh Wangdu's school in Ladakh.
• Mona Singh as Mona Sahasrabuddhe - Pia's elder sister and Virus's elder daughter. She has a supportive role in the movie.
• Sanjay Lafont as Suhas Tandon - a minor character who is Pia's ex-fiance.
• Parikshit Sahni as Mr. Qureshi - Farhan's father, a strict but loving parent who just wants his son to be settled in life.
• Farida Dadi as Mrs. Qureshi - Farhan's mother, a loving mother.
• Amardeep Jha as Mrs. Rastogi - Raju's mother, who is a retired schoolteacher and tireless complainer.
• Mukund Bhatt as Mr. Rastogi - a former postman who lost his job to paralysis. He suffers cardiac arrest but survives, thanks to Pia and Rancho's timley help.
• Javed Jaffrey as the Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chhanchad - a person met by Raju, Farhan, and Chatur during the Shymaldas Chhanchad funeral service. His character is shown to be a corrupt person right from childhood, taking benefits from 'chhote' in his homework and his exams. His father sends him to london and sends 'chhote' to ICE to gain an engineering degree in his name.
• Arun Bali as Shamaldas Chhanchad - father of Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chhanchad. He notices the servant boy's intelligence and arranged for him to get to college.
• Dushyant Wagh as Centimeter/Elder Man Mohan - the present day Millimeter who works as Rancho's/Phunsukh Wangdu's assistant in Ladakh
• Atul Tiwari as the Education Minister - the V.I.P. guest during a Teachers' Day program in the college.
• Madhav Vaze as Joy Lobo's father. A loving father who is happy for his son is soon-to-be a graduate.
• Ali Fazal as Joy Lobo - the student who has similar passion for machines like Rancho. After Virus tells him that he would not graduate, he commits suicide.
• Akhil Mishra as Mr. Dubey Ji - the college librarian. He helps Chatur write a speech in pure Hindi but is sabotaged by Rancho.
• Rajeev Ravindranathan as leader of ragging seniors. When he threatens Rancho, he gets electrocuted on a wired spoon while trying to urinate on the door.
• Harvinder Singh as Mr. Dhillon / Man at the airport
• Meghna Bhalla as Raju's Wife
• Achyut Potdar as Workshop Class Professor
• Pitobash Tripathy as ICE college student

Production

The shoot of the film with the supporting characters began on 28 July 2008. Hirani and his team left in late August for the shoot with the principal cast. The film was shot in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ladakh, Chail and Shimla. Aamir and rest of the cast began shooting in early September. Hirani planned to wrap up the film by December. The first scene was shot in an aircraft with Madhavan. From Mumbai, the crew and cast comprising Aamir and Kareena went to Ladakh for a 20-day schedule. Filming of the ICE college scenes took place at the Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore campus for 33 days as a part of the second schedule of production.

Release

The film initially opened up on 1800 prints worldwide. 3 Idiots was released in 1149 screens in India at that time,which was a big domestic release. 3 Idiots was released in 415 screens overseas.

Box office

As of February 2012, 3 Idiots grossed roughly ₹385 crore (US$46 million). Box Office India declared the film an "All time Blockbuster", and it is one of the films on their list of "Biggest Blockbusters Ever in Hindi Cinema". A success party was organised to celebrate 3 Idiots box office success.

India

3 Idiots worldwide Collections breakdown

Territory	Nett collections (After entertainment tax)
India	₹202.57 crore (US$24 million)
	Distributor share: ₹99.2 crore (US$12 million)
	Entertainment tax: ₹67 crore (US$8.0 million)
Overseas (Outside India)	US$26 million
	US$6,532,874 (United States)
Worldwide	₹392 crore (US$47 million)

It broke all box office records upon release. 3 Idiots created highest collection record of paid previews with Rs 2.75 crore that time,which was broken by Chennai Express with over Rs 6 crore in 2013. In its four-day first weekend, the film netted ₹38 crore (US$4.6 million), and broke the record held by Ghajini for the first weekend collections. By the first week, the film netted ₹79 crore (US$9.5 million), again breaking the box office record held by Ghajini. 3 Idiots had nett grossed ₹56 crore (US$6.7 million) in its 2nd week,₹30.25 crore (US$3.6 million) during the third week,₹16 crore (US$1.9 million) in its fourth week and ₹9.75 crore (US$1.2 million) in fifth to make a total of ₹191 crore (US$23 million) in five weeks.

Box Office India declared the film an "All time Blockbuster", and it is one of the films on their list of "Biggest Blockbusters Ever in Hindi Cinema".

Overseas

3 Idiots is the highest-grossing Bollywood film in overseas markets with record overseas gross of US$ 25 million. 3 Idiots first weekend opening collection in overseas was $4 million. It set record collections for Indian-produced films in territories such as United States, Australia, Fiji, and some African territories. In the United States, the film earned $6.5 million since its opening, in addition to over $2.5 million in the United Kingdom, over $2 million in Canada, nearly $1 million in Australia, and over $3 million in South Korea. 3 Idiots has the biggest first week total in US with around $3 million over its first four days.

Unusual for an Indian film, 3 Idiots has become a major success in East Asian markets. The film had the longest showing period at cinemas in Taiwan, for more than two months from December 2010, breaking the record of Avatar, with over TWD $10 million grossed. The film was the first aired Indian film in Hong Kong, where it grossed HKD $22 million since its showing from 1 September 2011, as of January 2012, and the equivalent of over US $3 million as of 4 March 2012. In China, where it is known as San Geshagua ("Three Idiots"), the film grossed $1.15 million in four days in December 2011, eventually crossing the $2 million mark within 18 days, and nearly $3 million within a month, as of 5 January 2012. Alongside the original Hindi version, a Chinese-dubbed version was also released, with the popular actress Tang Wei (best known for Lust, Caution) voicing Kareena Kapoor's role. One reason for its success in East Asian markets such as China and Hong Kong is because of their similar education systems, thus many students were able to identify with the characters, with some Chinese universities "even prescribing the film in their coursework as a kind of stress-relief in their classrooms." Following its success in other Asian markets, Japanese distributor Nikkatsu has announced plans to release the film in Japan. Upon its release in Japanese markets, it went on to collect around ¥100 million(6.1 crores) in its first two weeks of run - That makes the film the highest grossing Hindi film ever in Japan.

Critical reception

Unlike the original novel, 3 Idiots received highly positive reviews upon its release. Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) states: "It's not that 3 Idiots is a flawless work of art. But it is a vital, inspiring and life-revising work of contemporary art with some heart imbued into every part. In a country where students are driven to suicide by their impossible curriculum, 3 Idiots provides hope. Maybe cinema can't save lives. But cinema, sure as hell, can make you feel life is worth living. 3 Idiots does just that, and much more. The director takes the definition of entertainment into directions of social comment without assuming that he knows best." Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it four and a half stars and suggests that, "The film is a laugh riot, despite being high on fundas [...] Hirani carries forward his simplistic `humanism alone works' philosophy of the Lage Raho Munna Bhai series in 3 Idiots too, making it a warm and vivacious signature tune to 2009. The second half of the film does falter in parts, specially the child birth sequence, but it doesn't take long for the film to jump back on track." Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times gave the film three and a half out of five stars and comments that "this is the sort of movie you’ll take home with a smile and a song on your lips." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave 3 Idiots four and a half out of five stars and states: "On the whole, 3 Idiots easily ranks amongst Aamir, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra's finest films. Do yourself and your family a favour: Watch 3 Idiots. It's emotional, it's entertaining, it's enlightening. The film has tremendous youth appeal and feel-good factor to work in a big way." Kaveree Bamzai of India Today gave 3 Idiots five stars and argues that "it's a lovely story, of a man from nowhere who wanted to learn, told like a fairy tale, with the secret heart carrying its coded message of setting all of us free."

Other critics gave the film a mixed review. Sonia Chopra of Sify gave the film 3 stars and said "Though a bit too calculated and designed, 3 Idiots is still an ok option for the significant message, interesting cast and scattered breezy moments." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film three out of five stars and states: "Going home after watching 3 Idiots I felt like I'd just been to my favorite restaurant only to be a tad under-whelmed by their signature dish. It was a satisfying meal, don't get me wrong, but not the best meal I'd been expecting." Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express also gave it 3 stars, stating "‘3 Idiots’ does not do as much for me. The emotional truth that shone through both the ‘Munnabhai’ movies doesn’t come through strongly enough." Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film two out of five stars and states: "Rajkumar Hirani's one of the directors of the decade, a man with immense talent and a knack for storytelling. On his debut, he hit a hundred. With his second, he hit a triple century. This time, he fishes outside the offstump, tries to play shots borrowed from other batters, and hits and misses to provide a patchy, 32*-type innings. It's okay, boss, *chalta hai*. Even Sachin has an off day, and we still have great hope."

The film has also been highly acclaimed overseas. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 100% "fresh" critics' rating based on five reviews as well as an audience rating of 92% based on nearly 20,000 votes. Derek Elley of Variety wrote that "3 Idiots takes a while to lay out its game plan but pays off emotionally in its second half." Robert Abele of Los Angeles Times wrote that there's an "unavoidable joie de vivre (symbolized by Rancho's meditative mantra "All is well") and a performance charm that make this one of the more naturally gregarious Bollywood imports." Louis Proyect described it as a "fabulous achievement across the board. A typical Bollywood confection but also social commentary on a dysfunctional engineering school system that pressures huge numbers of students into suicide." The Korean site Naver gave the film a review rating of 9.4 out of 10. On the Chinese site Douban, 3 Idiots currently holds an average audience rating of 9.1 out of 10 based on nearly 250,000 votes.

Awards

3 Idiots awards and nominations

Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations 55th Filmfare Awards 6 8 Stardust Awards 3 3 11th canon Awards 16 22 57th National Film Awards 3 3 Apsara Awards 2 2 Screen Awards 10 3 40
Totals
Nominations	41
Note

This is a list of awards and nominations received by 3 Idiots. The film won 40 awards; among these are six Filmfare Awards including best film and best director, ten Star Screen Awards and sixteen IIFA awards.

Filmfare Awards

3 Idiots won 6 awards at the 55th Filmfare Awards in 2010, more than any other film that year.

Category	Winner's Name
Best Film	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Director	Rajkumar Hirani
Best Supporting Actor	Boman Irani
Best Diologue	Rajkumar Hirani & Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Story	Rajkumar Hirani & Abhijat Joshi
Best Screenplay	Rajkumar Hirani & Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Star Screen Awards

3 Idiots won 10 awards at the 16th annual Star Screen Awards in 2010, more than any other film that year.

Category	Winner's Name
Best Film	3 Idiots
Best Director	Rajkumar Hirani
Best Popular Actress	Kareena Kapoor
Best Villain	Boman Irani
Best Comedian	Omi Vaidya
Best Screenplay	Rajkumar Hirani , Abhijat Joshi & Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Dialogue	Rajkumar Hirani & Abhijat Joshi
Best Editing	Rajkumar Hirani
Screen Award for Best Choreography	Bosco-Caesar
Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male	Omi Vaidya

Stardust Awards

3 Idiots won 3 awards at the 8th Stardust Awards

Category	Winner's Name
New Musical Sensations (Male)	Suraj Jagan - Give Me Some Sunshine
Best Actress in a Editor Choice	Kareena Kapoor
Film of The Year - Drama	Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Apsara Awards

3 Idiots won 2 awards at the Apsara Awards 2011

Category	Winner's Name
Special Honour of 2009 Best Film	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Special Honour of 2009 Best Director	Rajkumar Hirani

National Film Awards

3 Idiots won 3 awards at the 57th National Film Awards.

Category	Winner's Name
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Audiography	Anup Dev
Best Lyrics	Swanand Kirkire - Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh

International Indian Film Academy Awards

3 Idiots won 16 awards at the 11th IIFA Awards.

Category	Winner's Name
Best Picture	Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Director	Rajkumar Hirani
Best Performance In A Leading Role Female	Kareena Kapoor
Best Performance In A Supporting Role Male	Sharman Joshi
Best Performance In A Negative Role	Boman Irani
Male Debutant Star	Omi Vaidya
Best Lyrics	Swanand Kirkire
Best Male Playback Singer	Shaan - Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh
Best Background Score	Sanjay Wanderkar, Atul Raninga and Shantanu Moitra
Best Story	Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Screenplay	Rajkumar Hirani,Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Best Dialogue	Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi
Best Cinematography	C.K.Muraleedharan
Best Editing	Rajkumar Hirani
Best Sound Recording	Bishwadeep Chatterjee and Nihal Ranjan Samel
Best Re-Recording	Anup Dev

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Shantanu Moitra with lyrics penned by Swanand Kirkire.

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Bollywood Hungama
Behindwoods
Rediff
Planet Bollywood

Track#	Song	Singer(s)	Duration
1	"Aal Izz Well"	Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Swanand Kirkire	4:36
2	"Zoobi Doobi"	Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal	4:08
3	"Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh"	Shaan, Shantanu Moitra	5:01
4	"Give Me Some Sunshine"	Suraj Jagan, Sharman Joshi	4:07
5	"Jaane Nahin Denge Tujhe"	Sonu Nigam	3:32
6	"Aal Izz Well (Remix)"	Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Swanand Kirkire	4:41
7	"Zoobi Doobi (Remix)"	Sonu Nigam, Jaive Samson, Shreya Ghoshal	3:29

Controversy

Prior to the release of the film director Rajkumar Hirani commented on the relationship between Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat and 3 Idiots stating:

Chetan gave me this book to read and I wanted to make a film on it. But I knew right from the start that I could not make a film completely on the book, as it was very anecdotal and a film needs a plot. So I had decided to rewrite it in a screenplay format. You'll see that the film is very different from the book. After I wrote the script, I called Chetan and narrated it to him. I told him that if he did not like the script, I would stop the project. But he was okay with it.

The day after the film opened, Chetan also noted:

Initially I did sit down with Raju and Abhijat while they were deciding to make a film based on '5 Point Someone'. I even went to IIT with Abhijat a couple of times. But it was just not possible for me to be involved at every stage of the screenplay writing process since I was in Hong Kong at that time, working full time and busy writing other books. Moreover, Abhijat is based in USA, Raju was in the US for quite a while working on the screenplay but it was not practical for me to do that [...] The film retains the soul of the book. 3 Idiots is different from the book but at the same time it does borrow many things from the book. The core theme and message of the film is coming from the book itself. And that's why the makers have officially credited the film as 'Based on a novel by Chetan Bhagat.'

A controversy developed a few days after the release, however, over the fact that Chetan's credit, "Based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat" appeared in the closing credits rather than in the opening ones. At that time, Bhagat stated that he "was expecting an opening credit and I was quite surprised on not seeing it. They had bought the rights, made the payment and committed to a credit in the contract. It’s there, but it’s not about it being there, it’s about the placement and the prominence." In a 31 December 2009 blog post on his personal website, Bhagat stated that he was told the movie was only 2–5% based on the book, but when he saw it, he felt that it was 70% of the book. He also argued that he was misled by the makers of the film, though he noted, that "this has nothing to do with Mr. Aamir Khan [...] I am a big fan of Aamir and he has made my story reach people. However, he was told by the makers not to read the book, and he hasn’t. Thus, he cannot comment on the issue in a meaningful manner."

A few people responded to Chetan's statements. According to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), during a press conference with reporters producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra "clarified that in the agreement between the producer and Bhagat, it was clearly mentioned that the author’s name would be put in the closing credits." IANS also reported that Chopra "lost his cool" and "asked a reporter to shut up after being questioned whether his hit 3 Idiots was lifted from author Chetan Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone." Chopra later apologised, stating: "I really think I’m silly. I was provoked, but I shouldn’t have done this. I saw myself on TV and saw how I was shouting ‘shut up, shut up’ like an animal. I told myself — ‘what nonsensical behaviour’." Aamir Khan also responded to these claims. Rajkumar Hirani stated that "We have officially bought the rights for the film. We drew a contract with him and it clearly mentions about the position of his credit. With open eyes he had seen the contract, consulted his lawyer and signed the agreement [...] In the contract, we have said that the title would be given in the rolling credits. We haven't changed the font size. We haven't increased the speed of the title. It's exactly there where it was agreed to be." Chetan Bhagat later apologised stating, "I definitely do not have anything against team 3 Idiots. I may have some issues on the mistake they may have made but nothing about their personality or the kind of people they are. I apologise to their families if there was any distress caused to them. I also want to thank all my fans, who stood by me but I don't want them to turn against anyone especially Aamir."

Remakes

See also: Nanban (film)

This film was remade as a South Indian Tamil film entitled Nanban, in January 2012.

Following the success of 3 Idiots in East Asian markets such as China and Hong Kong, the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra has announced that Hong Kong film star Stephen Chow (known for comedy films such as Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle) will be producing a Chinese remake of the film. Chopra also announced that there are plans for a Hollywood remake, and is in talks with three different American studios interested in remaking the film. Chopra also stated that there is an Italian film studio also interested in remaking the film.

See also

• List of highest-grossing Bollywood films
• List of Bollywood highest-grossing films in overseas markets

External links

• Official website
• 3 Idiots at IMDb
• 3 Idiots at Box Office Mojo
• 3 Idiots at Rotten Tomatoes
• 3 Idiots at the TCM Movie Database
• 3 Idiots at AllMovie
• 3 Idiots at Bollywood Hungama