3 Idiots



Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), is about to travel in a plane, when suddenly he receives a phone call. He fakes a heart attack, gets out of the airport, and calls his friend Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi), telling him that he has got a call by someone who claims that he knows where they can find their old friend Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad, also known as Rancho (Aamir Khan). However, when they reach the place, they find out that the caller was an old batch mate Chatur Ramalingam (Omi Vaidya), who was also known as "Silencer" in the college days. He reminds them of a ten year old bet between him and Rancho about who will be more successful. He tells them that he knows where Rancho is, and the three seek a journey to find him in Shimla,Chail then Manali and finally Ladhak (however, when they reach Shimla, it turns out that Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad is really some one else: a special appearance by Javed Jaffrey) .



The movie goes in flash back, where Farhan, Raju and Rancho join the Imperial College of Engineering, a.k.a. ICE, a fictional Indian engineering institute (Which is actually based on the IIT's). It is shown that Rancho is an extraordinary student, or an Idiot, as labelled by the Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Virus) (Boman Irani), due to his intense interest in machines.



Rancho becomes an important part of both his friends' lives, as he makes Farhan realize that his passion is photography, not engineering. He also helps Raju boost his self confidence,he also saves Raju from dying after he tries to commit suicide, and helps him realize that Chatur just memorizes the words, does not understand it. Other things include getting on ViruS's nerves, breaking up his younger daughter, Pia's (Kareena Kapoor) engagement to an overly price-conscious NRI (Suhas), saving Raju's father, helping ViruS' elder daughter in her pregnancy, getting Virus to shave off his moustache on a bet that Raju will get a job through campus interview ("ViruS" embarrassed both Raju and Farhan saying that when potential job interviewers come to the campus, the two will not get jons), helping both his friends clear their papers and falling in love with Pia.



At the end of it all, Virus accepts Rancho as an exceptional student and gifts him his pen, reserved only for the best student(especially after Rancho delivers Pia's sister's baby; it's the type of pen that astronauts use in space and "ViruS" had originally received it from the previous director of the ICE; in the beginning of the film, "ViruS" says that millions of dollars were spent on modeling that type of pen to be used in space and Rancho asked why not use a pencil and "ViruS" later replies that if the tip breaks in [ space, it might cause complications). After the convocation ceremony, Racho vanishes, never to get in touch with his friends or even Pia. They go to Shimla but realize that thier Rancho was actually Javed Jaffrey Their friend was actually the gardener's son, Chote and he wore Rancho's old uniforms and go into any class he liked. Therefore, his combined tidbits of knowledge made him more knowledgeable than anyone his age; when the boys get caught in this, the real Rancho is sent to London for four years while Chote gets a degree for the real Rancho. But later on Raju and Farhan along with Chatur and Pia finally find Chote in Ladakh, where he runs a school for children and teaches in his own viewpoint, not the same classical book-smart teaching, but rather a hands-on experience in mountanious area (much to Chatur's delight thinking he has won the bet). His friends slap him and beat him up for lying but later forgive him. In actuality, Chote's real name is Phunsuk Wangdu, who is a science with over 400 patents and Chatur was on his way to sign a deal with him after meeting the guys about the 10 yaer old bet. Chatur asks Phunsuk to forgive him and sign the deal but Phunsuk, Raju, Farhan and Pia run away laughing at Chatur's situation. In the last scene Silencer is chasing Rancho, Farhan, Raju and Pia and Farhan's voice is heard as the narrator (he is the narrator throughout the movie), saying "Rancho was right, Strive for excellence and success would be chasing you, and not the other way around".