3 Idiots

3 Idiots is a 2009 Bollywood Coming of Age film starred by Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni, and Boman Irani. It's loosely based in the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat.

Ten years ago, at the prestigious Imperial College of Engineering (ICE), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Joshi) are assigned as roommates along with Ranchoddas "Rancho" Chanchad (Khan), and they quickly become friends. The three couldn't be more different: Rancho is an extremely talented inventor with a great love for learning; Farhan has a passion for photography that he unsuccessfully tries to suppress in order to get the engineer degree his family wants; and Raju, coming from a very poor family, is so overwhelmed by his economical difficulties and his fear of failure that his grades suffer for it. Rancho's unconventional ideas about learning immediately put him in odds with the extremely strict and conventional director Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe (Irani), a situation that becomes worse when he meets and falls in love with Pia (Kapoor), the lovely and way more openminded daughter of Virus. On their time in ICE, Rancho basically teach his friends to be more free and honest with themselves, wins Pia's heart, and eventually gains the approval of Virus. But the day of graduation, Rancho disappeared, never to be contacted again.

In the present day, Farhan (now a successful wildlife photographer) and Raju (who has become a middle class corporate man) receive a call from their school rival Chatur Ramalingam (Vaidya). Chatur, who was humiliated by Rancho back in the day, is obsessed to prove which of them is the most successful, and will not stop until find him and show him his current success, preferably with Farhan and Raju as witnesses. Realizing that Chatur has the only actual hint about Rancho's whereabouts, the two friends decide to join him in a road-trip, on which they'll find what was become of their old friend, will rescue Pia from an arranged marriage, and discover the truth of what happened a decade before.

It got a Mexican remake in 2017.

Tropes used in 3 Idiots include:

Alliterative Name: Raju Rastogi. Also Man Mohan aka Millimeter
Always Second Best: Chatur to Rancho.
Arc Words:
- "All is well", constantly said by Rancho, to the point that they even bring a baby back to life
- "Don't chase success. Pursue excellence and success will chase you."
The "B" Grade: Chatur, who resents being this to Rancho
The Bet: Two of them
- After being humiliated by having his discourse being edited by Rancho, Chatur bets with him about who of them will be the most successful in ten years. While Rancho doesn't even care (or register) said bet, it drives Chatur for the next decade, to the point that even after Rancho disappears without a trace after graduation Chatur keeps bent into find him again to rub his sucess at his rival's face. In the end, Rancho wins, on virtue of being the famous innovator Chatur was trying to recruit into his company.
- Rancho makes a bet with Virus that if any of his friends manage to land a job before the final exam Virus will shave his iconic mustache. Virus accept, convinced that he'll win because Raju and Farhan are dead last in the class ranking. When Raju manages to do so, Virus has his mustache shaved, and keeps it that way afterwards
Big Bad: Viru Sahastrabuddhe AKA Virus.
Bunny Ears Lawyer: Rancho, to the ire of Virus and Chatur. He is a Blithe Spirit who constantly defy his teachers, but also is the best student at the ICE, so Virus cannot expel him.
Blind Idiot Translation: In-Universe. Chatur, who is an Uganda-born Indian educated in the Tamil-speaking city of Pondicherry, has a poor grasp of Hindi, so many of his word choices are very stilted.
Catchphrase: Rancho's "All is Well", who also serve as the film's Arc Words.
Chekhov's Boomerang: The story about Virus' late son, who failed the ICE exam four times, is initially mentioned as a quick joke to establish that Virus is a Sadist Teacher. Then the story emerges again after Virus' Kick the Dog moment towards Joy, which leads to the latter's suicide. Then is finally brought back in the climax of the film by Pia during a very harsh "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards her dad who had expelled a student for petty reasons, by revealing that his brother's death was actually suicide by pressure as Virus was unable to understand that his son's talents and interests were not on engineering and refused to let him follow another professional road. She is so furious to having to spell this to her deliberately obtuse father that she storms out of home, making her unavailable to help her sister when she enters in labor.
Chekhov's Gun:
- The mint sauce. Rancho spills it on Suhas' shoes during Mona's wedding, to show his real personality to Pia. About a decade later, Raju repeats the move to the double feat of proving Pia that Shuhas' personality hasn't change a bit, and to distract the guy long enough so he and Farhan can abduct Pia from her wedding to find Rancho again.
- The Fischer Space Pen. Virus promised to gift it to his most deserving student, and that presentation prompts Rancho to ask why astronauts didn't use pencils instead of such an expensive pen, a question Virus couldn't answer at the moment. Years later Virus finally tells Rancho the reason for the creation of said pen (the broken lead and powdered graphite from a pencil could damage the very delicate equipment of a spaceship, while a ballpoint pen directly deposits the ink on the written surface with no spillage) as he gives it to Rancho, finally acknowledging him as a worthy student. This pen, by the way, is the same he uses to sign the contract Chatur hand shim, revealing his true identity and winning their bet from several years ago.
- Rancho creates an inverted that can draw energy from car batteries. Said inverter is used to help with Mona's birthing.
- Also, whenever Rancho said his catchphrase "all is well" near a pregnant Mona, her baby would kick. Guess how they manage to revive the baby after believing them to be stillborn.
Chekhov's Gunman: "Phunsuk Wangdu", the genius innovator Chatur was tasked to find, turns out to be the real identity of Rancho.
Child Prodigy: Cchote/Rancho, who could solve high school level math problems while in sixth grade
Create Your Own Villain: On one side, had Rancho not antagonized Chatur needlessly, he would have been left alone by the latter. On the other side, without Chatur's anger and rivalry towards Rancho, the main plot of the movie wouldn't had happen, as Farhan and Raju wouldn't have got the hints that could lead to their friend.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Pia and Rancho become a couple to the ire of Virus, Pia's father
Deadpan Snarker: Practically everyone.
Deliberately Monochrome: Raju's home, who in universe is described to be like the house of a family from old Indian films, is depicted that way to emphasize their poverty.
Disposable Fiancé: Subhas, of the Jerkass variety. The worst part is that he gets dumped twice by the same woman, first because of showing himself to be a materialistic asshat, and then, after an off-screen reconciliation, is again dumped almost a decade later (on his wedding day!) by proving that he hadn't ditched that aspect of his personality.
Driven to Suicide:
- Joy, a senior student during the protagonist's trio Freshman year, killed himself after way too many put downs by Virus.
- Raju, due to being unwilling to choose between his friends and his family. Fortunately, he gets saved on time.
- Virus' son, in the backstory,
Focal Character: Farhan is the narrator and a good part of the film follow his antics, but the real main character is Rancho, and the plot is to unveil the mystery surrounding him and his disappearance after graduation.
Foregone Conclusion/Spoiled by the Format: Because we know that the present day Farhan and Raju are successful and doing well, we know that their college's expulsion nor the latter's suicide attempt are going to take.
Freudian Excuse: Subverted with Virus. We are initially led to believe that the death of his son was what prompted him to be a Sadist Teacher, but then it's revealed that he was always like that and in fact his son suicide was caused by Virus' academic pressuring and inflexibility towards the youth's dreams.
Gasshole: Chatur, to the point of being a Running Gag.
How We Got Here: the film intersperse their college years with the current road trip of finding their college friend.
I Have Many Names: our hero is known as Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad, Chhote and Phunsukh Wangdu.
I Have Your Wife: Farhan and Raju manage to get the real Ranchoddas Chanchad real collaborative by threatening the urn containing his deceased father's ashes.
Jerk Ass: Oh, boy...
- Virus, Sadist Teacher Extraordinaire. He gets better, but not for that much.
- Chatur, Smug Snake of the highest caliber.
- Subhas, Pia's Disposable Fiancé and with good reason.
- The real Ranchoddas Chanchad. Not only he pocketed an engineering grade he forced his family servant and childhood friend Cchote to course on his name, he was intending to kill Farhan and Raju because they discovered the secret and demanded explanations. In his defense, the whole thing was forced by the real Chanchad's father (the man felt ashamed of his own lack of education and wanted to spare his son from receiving the insults he himself received), he accepted the deal to make sure that Cchote could get an education he otherwise couldn't be able to afford, and once he became calmer he gave the direction of the imposter to his friends in atonement.
Lemony Narrator : Farhan narrative style is full of snark and bite.
The Maiden Name Debate: Pia loves Rancho, but wants to keep her maiden name after marriage because she finds his family name weird. She doesn't like his real name any better.
Only Known by Their Nickname: director Viru Sahastrabuddhe is only reffered to as "Virus" for the duration of the film. The fake Overly Long Name of our hero is shortened to Rancho. And Tagalong Kid Man Mohan is nicknamed "Millimeter" for most of his screen time.
Perpetual Poverty: Raju. He managed to escape from it, as in the current day he is shown to have a modest middle class existence.
Road Trip Episode: the present day segments.
Sadist Teacher: Virus. He is so pressuring towards the students on his charge, that he drove at least three men towards suicide, one of them his own son. Only one of them managed to survive his suicide atempt.
Secret Test of Character: Subhas manages to fail it thrice. The first mint sauce incident proved that he was a superficial and materialistic asshat. When Pia is prompted by Rancho to tell Subhas that she lost an expensive watch he gifted him to test him, his violent reaction confirms the former conclusion and prompts Pia to dump his entitled ass. And then, years later, the second mint sauce incident proves that Subhas hadn't improve his character at all.
Skewed Priorities: Back in their college days Pia claimed that if she married Rancho she would keep her family name because she found Rancho's family name of "Chanchad" very weird. After realizing that famous scientist Phunsuk Wangdu may actually the Rancho they were friends with in college, all that Pia can think is that she doesn't like his real last name either.
True Companions: Raju, Farhan and Rancho, to the point that years after the latter disappearance the other two abandon everything they were doing at the first real hint of his whereabouts and embarks on his search even if they have to team with their college nemesis.
Token Evil Teammate: Chatur in the current day segments.
"Well Done, Son" Guy:
- Virus, in the backstory, is this kind of parent towards his children.
- Mr. Qureshi, Farhan's father, really, really wants for his son to be an engineer and refuses the idea that his son wants to do anything else. He eventually relents once he sees how actually committed Farhan is to his photography vocation.
Wham Shot:
- Joy being hanging out from his ceiling. Immediately after the very upbeat number "All is Well"
- Raju's suicide attempt.