/> Cast: Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Omi and others

Producer: Vidu Vinod Chopra

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

SantaBanta Rating: ****

Coming out of Avatar or 2012, one really wonders if we'll be able to watch something like this, ever in Bollywood. Or are we doomed to watch the same old boy-meets-girl skullduggery over and over again?

And exactly a week later, as you step out after your rendezvous with the ‘3 idiots' you can't help but think, what the heck... so what if we can't blow up some planets or save the human race with our SFX, at least, we can blow some minds with our honesty and pristine performances.

Inspired from Chetan Bhagat's ‘Five Point Someone', ‘3 idiots' is a heartwarming tale woven around three friends and the frailties which ail India's education system. Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) get on a journey to find their long lost friend, Rancho or Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan).

Right from the first year at ICE, he was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as dean Viru Sahastrabudhhe aka ViruS (Boman Irani) would have it, an idiot.

He was the Patch Adams of one of the most prestigious Engineering College, a non-conformist; always in the pursuit of excellence and not success; defying rules; inventing the unthinkable and always listening to his heart's calling. Contrary to everything what Sahastrabuddhe preached at his premium institute.

ViruS' model students looked more like Chatur (Omi), a geek, who could cram every possible tome on this planet and would do anything to kill the competition. So, you see the Idiots' triumvirate having the run-ins with the princi, time and again and as if that wasn't sufficient to invoke his wrath, Rancho falls for his daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor).

Now, the dean is out to make Rancho's life miserable but much to his chagrin Rancho tops his class, year after year, even confounding his pals. You can't help but laugh when Farhan narrates his experience as , "We learnt an important lesson, when your friend fails an examination, you feel bad. But when he tops it, you feel worse."

In their journey to find Rancho, they encounter a long forgotten bet, a wedding they crash, and a funeral that goes impossibly out of control. Despite some not-so-believable adventures of threesome, like helping a woman to deliver a child in the campus with the help of their ‘engineering skills', 3 Idiots is a laugh-riot that talks about the most important of human pursuits- the journey towards the self.

Like always, Raj Kumar Hirani, the master storyteller he is, never lets the plot get too preachy and retains the sense of humour intact for the full 2 hour and 50 minutes.

Aamir Khan, as always, excels as the wide-eyed rebel Rancho. Maddy looks and plays the confused Farhan with utmost ease and narrates the entire tale with aplomb. Sharman is good.

Kareena shines as well, as the spunky medical student in her relatively smaller role. Omi is great as Chatur and his Teacher's day ‘balatkar' speech will leave you in splits. Lisping Boman Irani saves the character that had every possibility of going over the top.

Shantanu Moitra's music isn't exactly rocking but blends with the story. The credit also goes to Abhijat Joshi, Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for writing such brilliant screenplay, script and dialogues.

Much of 2009 has been a disaster for Bollywood but Hirani and Chopra ensure that ‘Aal Izz Well' in the end. I bet there is going to be no dearth of ‘idiots' queuing up in front of multiplexes to catch the glimpse of these three. So what are you waiting for? Go, grab your ticket and be the fourth one.