When Fiction Meets Reality – Part 01


Expect the Unexpected

First and foremost a big thanks to everyone for the amazing comments on the post ‘3 idiots : Confusing a Nation’. I wish we could compile the whole thing and publish as a book. Each and every comment and thought from you guys has made this one of the most mature and intelligent discussions based on a movie anywhere. I salute you all for the sincerity and intelligence in your reactions. Now it is my time to react again.

There is a lot I wish to add to the discussion apart from the obviously debatable things and it’s impossible for me to do so in one post. Hence, I plan to do few posts that can discuss in depth and touch upon various issues. This is the first part of few more to come.



The ‘Creator – Critic’ conundrum

Before going further, let us talk a little bit about the ‘Creator – Critic’ relation. Have you guys seen the animated movie Ratatouille by Pixar. In case you haven’t, you should do it soon. The movie conveys a beautiful message that no matter how great a critic is, he can never rise above the creation or the creator.

So, when I place myself in the context of the movie, I know that my views on 3 idiots don’t take away anything from the movie and its place in people’s hearts. Me being the critic, movie being the creation. In the same vein, you guys reacting to my post I guess will not take away anything from me the creator of the post. Continuing further, whatever I say to your reactions on my post will not take away anything from what you have to say. Needless to say, you being the creator and me being the critic now. Whew! That’s going to be some fun. Each over the other, don't know who is on top and not knowing where to end it all?

Forest Fires - How to fight one?

Another thought came to my mind the moment comments started pouring in. I was shocked by the speed at which comments were coming, especially on one of the Facebook Pages. There were a lot of sceptics who didn’t agree with my point of view. I felt as if a forest was on fire. My first reaction was to douse the flame.  Then going through few more comments I realised its no point trying to douse this flame alone. There was already a counter fire, lit by people who agreed partly to what I wrote. That’s when I realised this was going to be akin to a forest fire. You fight a forest fire with another fire. Once this realisation dawned on me I didn’t want to play spoilsport and wanted to let the fire simmer long enough to hear different thoughts from both sides. And I wasn’t wrong. We have an amazing amount of quality insights and feedback on the post now. My forest fire approach seems to be working.

Some Reputation Control

Even before I move on to discuss about the movie. I would like to address one issue that seems to be confusing a lot of people. Some are wondering if I am Chatur myself. The looser in life, according to many.  And some wonder if I am Rancho himself, a wolf in sheeps clothing trying to make Chaturs out of everyone. Few people have been advising me to go and find my own passions. I wonder what stuff these people are made of. Isn’t it evident from my profile and blog as to what I could be? I will not answer the question as to whether I am Chatur or Rancho. Instead I encourage them to please go through my first blog post written last month, called James Cameron & Me. This is not a post that I had written keeping in mind that I would one day talk about 3 idiots. If you talk of passion, I think, this is what passion is supposed to look like. And I hope that post answers many people’s questions and I don’t get to hear the same advice from anyone from now on. If you need further information, just google my name ‘Kartik Dayanand Boddapati’ and check my linkedin profile for my professional track record.

Chaturizing the Ranchos

Another thought occurred to me while reading many comments. Everyone talks about Rancho being the special guy who went out of the way to understand things more deeply and saw things analytically rather then just as another subject.  And they also expect the whole world to start thinking like him. Well, let me give you a simple case study. Please go through the number of comments below the post and also the facebook pages.  See how many of them ask me not to think so deeply about the film, its afterall just a film. Hah, contradictions. On the one hand these people want the world to think differently and yet when someone chooses to do so they immediately try to dumb that person down. This is what I call Chaturizing a Rancho. Chaturizing in terms of forcing one to stick to routine, this is as per the movie and the audience perception. Its another matter that I have a different impression of him. One of the biggest malaises of this country, we only talk, don’t do anything about it. C’mon, even I know that its just a movie, but the point being, I want to start an intelligent discussion about the repercussions of the movie. And if you still wish to say that it’s just a movie leave it alone, my answer to you would be. It’s just a blog, leave it alone.

Metaphors

The next most popular point of discussion is the one about the Gulab Jamuns and Tom & Jerry. Many have suggested that one could have become a mithai seller, animator to pursue these passions. Well, I think these people have either read only a part of the blog or haven’t understood what I am trying to say. Gulab jamuns and Tom & Jerry are just metaphors, it could be anything, I could have said, the only passion of mine at that time was watching Porn, for which, you guys would have suggested me to become a Porn Star. The idea being, these passions are not the be all and the end all of life. If you love Gulab jamuns its not necessary to be a mithai wala, you could still love them being either a fashion model or a journalist or by being in any other profession.

Also, as I mentioned, these passions keep changing over time and one needs to equip oneself to deal with the world. A good college education really matters here. More the exposure one has, the better one can get to realize what he really wants to do in life. This is something Farhan character played by Madhavan in the movie goes through. He spends 4 years in college and yet his heart beats for photography so he finally has the guts to pursue it full time. For a moment think, what if he was very good at engineering too? He could have got a great job, made loads of money and at the same time pursued his passion of photography as a hobby. He still would have made a damn good photographer.

I also say this from my personal experience, during my first job interview after college I was asked this question by the HR manager. So, where do you see yourself 5 years from now? I was stumped. I had no answer, all I could say was, I will try to be a good human being. He laughed at me and almost thought I was half mad. Well, the truth is, those were exciting times. We started hearing words like email and internet for the first time. How could I know then, what I would be doing 5 years hence, when the world was changing so quickly. I wasn’t proven wrong, since then, I went on pursue my interests, starting from Architecture to 3D Animation, Film Visual Effects, Console Games, Advertising, Management and something which I never thought I would do, Blogging.

Catching the Tigers tail

Well, I think I shall call it a day for now, got to catch up with some sleep. Looks like I have addressed only a few issues. Which is why, I said I will be posting this in parts. Shall try to do part 2 at the earliest. Till then, good night, goodmorning, good afternoon or good evening to you all, depending on whichever part of the world you are in. And, by the way, Part 2 is going to talk about far more controversial issues. Real issues that are plaguing our system and not the fictitious and escapist ones the movie talks about. Thats why, I like to call it, catching the tigers tail. Keep the comments coming till then.

Love you all.
Kartik


Also don't forget to read my other posts on 3 idiots:



When Fiction Meets Reality - Part 02 (My second reaction to your comments)

Spread the word:


Comments

  1. Hi KD,

    First I want to tell you something like , you don't need to answer for such stupid comments in face book or some where else . But I really appreciate how you handle the matter . Once again you showed your mind power (coz we all are experienced in DQ ). We are really expecting lot from you , coz your writing style is unique and so much intersting . Keep going ,never mind how others think , otherwise we cant do anything in this world.

    Cheers KD

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. good going...keep it up

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  4. Hey Karthik,

    Nice blog!

    And thanks for stretching the return of investment on the money I spent on the movie ticket by starting this interesting debate! : )

    Joining this debate little late…at the risk of repeating arguments that might have already appeared before…here are some my observations –

    You make a good point on pursuing one’s passion. Responsibilities do keep us grounded in reality for most of us. We all make choices that work best for us based on our priorities in life at any particular point of our lives. Lucky if you could make a career out of your passion. I guess that’s what great artists, scientists, discoverers are successful at.

    Coming to the movie – Rancho and Chatur represent opposite ends of a spectrum with people like Rajus, Farhans and majority of us falling somewhere in between. Who is a better hero or who is more successful is not the point. After all success is relative and personal. If you reach the goal you set for yourself you are successful. I guess both characters are successful in that aspect although Chatur could not prove that he is better than Rancho as he originally set out to prove. Both of them were chasing different goals. Of course there are always metrics of success that society sets for you. The discussion of those metrics is beyond the scope of the current debate.

    Does the world need more Chaturs than Ranchos? Well…statistically there have been and will always be a million Chaturs, Rajus and Farhans for every Rancho. As you point out Rancho is a born genius with extraordinary intellectual prowess. People like Rancho are the inventors, independent thinkers and game changers. People like Chatur become the propagators, implementers, administrators and of course consumers of the ideas of the likes of Rancho! They are important too.

    Before we decide who is more needed we should look at the systems that produce Chaturs. I don’t know if things changed now but as students we were discouraged to question what’s been taught to us at school. The emphasis was on getting the right answer to the questions in the exam rather than understanding the question itself! Remember those Science record books? I remember making sketches of microscope, dissected frogs and writing down results of experiments without ever stepping into a science lab! Our society and education system in general favor accepting/following/going with the flow to critical thinking. The movie does point this out well.

    One could argue that lack of resources partly to blame. The lack of resources is exactly the reason why we need thinkers – out of the box thinkers, problem solvers and innovators. You don’t have to be a genius to make life better for yourself or for people around you. But I believe if you are equipped with decent amount of analytical thinking (part Rancho) and perseverance (part Chatur) you can certainly make a difference in your life – small or big. Don’t you think?

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  5. Sorry Kartik ... But I am unable to post comments here but I've written whatever I wanted to say. Please visit
    http://impurnesh.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/22january-2010/
    for reading what I wanted to say... It's a long comment and you have a space only for 4096 characters...

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  6. First thing..
    Everytime i see someone writing such amazing posts on their blogs i get really jealous..Man..How do you guys do it..
    Ok that was the confession..
    I totally agree that passions keep changing..
    I wanted to be a "rocket-pilot" when i was a kid..my dream shattered when i realized that rockets don't have pilots..:-)

    I wanted to be a 3D artist in college and make animated movies about based on our own culture and history..and if there is ever one i want to voice the characters too...

    But....
    Yeah..there is always a BUT..
    I am an engineer in power sector with BHEL now..working my ass off for the last one year..but that doesn't make me feel any less passionate..
    I still have things in my mind i want to pursue..early retirement being one..and anyway i hate all the Ranchos and their extraordinary resumes yaar..

    If somebody gets a BIG, "passion-pursuing-making-money" life..its good for them..i can look upto them and envy them.
    If i get it, i can have people envy me..
    and if not, its ok..
    For me..this whole question is answered by Meg ryan's mail in "You've got mail"..she says..

    " Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life. Well, valuable, but small. And sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So goodnight, dear void."

    Amazing na..(god..i want to write such dialogues but how do you do that in a hindi movie?);)

    Really..with or without passion,we all have a life..it may be small but as Kathleen puts it "small but valuable"..

    anyways now if you read this then please watch that movie..it answers all life's questions..!!
    and you just have to love meg ryan in the last scene when she sees tom hanks for the first time..
    We just need a little love in this world..
    "Prem karo..mere Desh premiyon.."
    old hindi song i heard..

    and we just had our pay revision too..that helps..

    and karthik..kya naam hai baap..'karthik dayanand banaptty'..ab toh famous bhi ho gaya hai..movie jo ban gayi..
    wish i had such a bhari-bharkam ame..

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  7. Okay I am going to take your advice and "Leave it! It's just a blog".

    One advice before I go tho - u need 2 get out of the INDIA perspective & look at the world with India a part of it, not the whole. Understand what is education, what is nurturing, how are other countries making it to the World Cup, while we pat ourselves on the back for being Chaturs.

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