abhijaykulkarni.com

My life as a Rutgers student majoring in urban planning and design has become a reality because of many factors. Over time, these factors influenced my personality and motives as a person. One in particular that has remarkably changed my life is the movie “3 Idiots“, a Bollywood film dubbed in Hindi, based on three college students majoring in engineering who have widely different personalities becoming lifelong friends. The process of how they became friends is deep and taught me several valuable lessons about life. Because all three of them are different, they all have a series of obstacles holding them back from what they genuinely want in life. 

The film’s main character, Rancho, loves learning, whether it’s in engineering or history. He quickly grasps concepts and even teaches other students. This, however, backfires as he tries to deny the teaching methods of a conservative Indian professor nicknamed “Virus.” In becoming an engineer, his dream job, he faces several issues with Virus as the professor thinks Rancho is questioning his authority, almost leading him to expulsion.

Rancho’s personality has taught me something significant. It taught me that you should always have the desire to learn. In other words, you should be deeply curious about one thing or another. The movie perfectly proves why this is important in Rancho’s character and success. Rancho has the best time at college since he is passionate and enjoys learning about engineering. Contrary to his classmates, Rancho spends most of his free time applying whatever he learned in engineering to real life, whether flying drones or putting together a TV. Essentially, his curiosity and excitement about learning led him to achieve the highest grades in his class and earn one of the most appreciated and worshipped items by professor Virus. Not only is this idea of curiosity discussed in this movie, but Steve Jobs also touches upon it in his 2005 Stanford commencement speech. In his speech, Steve Jobs says, “Stay hungry, stay foolish,” essentially saying that someone should never lose their student mentality and continue to learn no matter what. 

Farhan, another character in the film, is different from Rancho because he isn’t interested in engineering and only goes to engineering school because of his parents and their pressure on his future. Though Farhan is not interested in engineering, he is brilliant and passionate about wildlife photography and eventually wants to be a photographer after college. As a result, Farhan fails every class in college, to the point where he is also almost kicked out. 

Another lesson I learned is that you should do what you are passionate about. The movie teaches this lesson well through the lens of Farhan. Farhan has a miserable time in college as he is failing all his classes, and his parents and professors are close to giving up on him, including himself. This happens to him because what he is doing is not aligned with what he wants to do. Eventually, Rancho helps him achieve his passion and dream job. Toward the end of the movie, when Farhan is a wildlife photographer, he has fulfilled his dream with his incredible work and opportunities. Coming back to Rancho, not only did his overall curiosity help him achieve the highest grades in his class, but it was also his deep passion for engineering that was equally responsible. Steve Jobs also talks about this in his commencement speech when he says, “You have to love what you do.” further proving that doing something you are passionate about is critical and should be manifested.

Lastly, Raju, another character in the film, also wants to be an engineer; however, his fear and lack of self-esteem bring him down as he constantly worries about letting his family down because they are already struggling to make a living. 

Raju taught me that you should be optimistic and fearless about the future. The movie does an extraordinary job of showing why this is important through Raju’s actions. Raju comes from a low-income family to university and is constantly anxious that he won’t live up to his family’s expectations and can’t take care of them in the future. Despite Raju’s interest and ambition in engineering, he falls short and fails most of his classes. At one point, his fear completely overtakes him, and he tries to commit suicide just after a meeting with his principal. He is then hospitalized for weeks and fully recovers with the help of his friends Rancho and Farhan. He eventually got an engineering job, but the path was challenging because of his worrisome nature.

Despite each other’s differences, Rancho, Farhan, and Raju help each other to the top, where all three eventually land their dream job. After watching this movie for the first time at age six, I learned these lessons about life I will live by forever. These three life lessons have molded me as a person into the man I am today. Even though I could be better at following them every day, I try to do the best I can every day, implementing them when facing the different circumstances of life. I wouldn’t have gone to Rutgers in the first place if I wasn’t optimistic about the future. In addition, I picked urban planning and design as my major because I followed my heart and curiosity. Because of that, I’m thankful that I was fortunate enough to see this movie early in my life, and I hope everyone can have a chance to see it one day in their life.