3 Idiots controversy.....................

well me still recuperating from the roller coaster of emotions i experienced while watching the latest bollywood flick 3 Idiots which has taken the whole of the country by a storm and has set the cash registers literally ringing to the movie's tune.but dnt worry folks i am not going to write another cliched review of the movie coz you can find plenty of them in newspapers,magazines,net etc etc,u name it and you have it ..bt i m gonna focus on the clash between chetan bhagat and the makers of the movie on a relatively trivial issue if seen from the perspective of a average movie goer.
Now apparently the producers and directors had adapted the book and promised chetan bhagat that his name and the book's name would feature in the opening credits,so he was taken into confidence before the start of the movie and all d people who had read the book and enjoyed it cudn't wait for the movie to come out,and to increase the hype and hoopla surrounding the movie,came the news that the nation's hearthrobe and mr. perfectionist,the man himself aamir khan was going to feature in it...so the whole of the nation was anxious to learn hw a 44 year old man wud portray the character of a college going student especially given that his last movie was the hardcore action drama "ghajini",so all this and much more made the headlines almost a year back........
But as days passed on and shooting commenced,chetan bhagat was nonchalantly relegated to the sidelines,and the makers did a u turn of sorts by claiming the story as a original one and having only 2-5% resemblance to the book.........and to top it all they told chetan bhagat that inspite of the negligible resemblance they have given him his due rolling credits apart from the contract money........so like all gullible indians cb(henceforth i will use this acronym) too got fooled and after being skilfully denied permission to the premier of the movie,he told his family members when they went to watch the movie on the opening day that the story is an original one with only 2-5% resemblance to the book,but soon the clear picture emerged wen his family members saw that the entire book was replicated in the movie in fits and starts and his name appeared in the end credits and not the opening one and that too after the junior artists......having read the book and watched the movie myself i wud like to point out the following simiarities.....
1. the basic fundamental story of three friends in college.
2.their meeting each other during ragging.
3.one of the guys falling for the prof's daughter.
4.definition of machine as answered by the central protagonist
5.the poor family background of one of the guys.
6.one guy seperating from the group and joinin a geek only to return back later.
7.stealing of exam papers,the central character calling from office and getting caught.
8.one of the guys falling from terrace and still surviving.
Apart from these apparent similarities there are several one-liners,situations and conclusions directly lifted from the book.....so it was really shameful on d part of the makers of the movie to resort to such appaling behaviour......clearly the essence of the movie was captured in the movie and almost 70% of the book was showcased.......so it was apt on the part of cb to fight for his cause and was ably supported by the media after all he is one among them nt that i am saying that it wud have changed things bt still it became the top story of tinseltown even when the movie was going gr8 guns everywhere.....even though the entire truth emerged out and people came to know who was correct and who was wrong,it was really amusing to see the stubbornness of the movie staff with aamir khan even going on record saying that cb was all for popularity,surely cb need not resort to such gimmicks in order to get mileage and attention from readers,after all he is the hearthrob of the nation as far as writing is concerned and also he is a popular coloumnist in several national dailies,so if he wud have wanted more popularity he cud have gone for introducing more voyeuristic stuffs in his book and giving his opinion on controversial issues,bt surely he hasnt done anythin on the similar lines,so we cannot doubt his intention......
The most farcical part of this tiff was that the makers bought the rights of the story and claimed it as their own.......this can be compared to a situation when a person buys the rights of the famous harry potter books and claims to have written the book by himself.........so similarly the story can't be claimed as an original one under the basic copywrights law.......bt cb only wanted that his name shud appear along with the writers and it didnt matter if it appeared at the top or bottom..........he had no remorses reagrding his name being the in the end credits and that too late to be noticed or his name being there in the screenplay.........clearly this episode brought much pain,agony and distress to cb........bt still he moved on and didnt sue the makers or do anything of that sort knowing very well that he is too big a person to be affected by such scrupulous behaviour...............
The thing which baffled me the most in the entire episode was no doubt the movie was too good to be true with it having several messages without being too didactic,preachy etc without compromising on the entertainment factor with the flick being a laugh riot throughout,bt had the makers given cb his opening credits and his name featured along with other "inspired" writers,it wudn't have made much of a difference and the movie wud have been equally if nt more fascinating with people delighted to see their favourite book coming alive on screen......frankly,for a average movie goer content is the king and these issues hardly matter and all these stunts no doubt are adopted in order for the people in charge to prove their superiority and stamp their authority................bt like always "truth prevailed"......after all didnt some1 in tinseltown said "Yeh public hain sab jaanti hain"..........