CROSSROADS

Story of a Braveheart

Rajib Kumar follows Aamir Khan’s heart


There are a handful of us and even fewer with some authority who actually care to stand up and question the system.

And may I quickly add: many of those who do; do a whole lot of good for society. The “good” is more like a Management Development exercise, whose results we don’t get to see immediately; yet once we do the learning is long lasting.

In the field of education, take the case of my very good friend Prof Varun Arya, director of Aravali Institute of Management, Jodhpur. Dual Alumni of IIT and IIM, Arya shunned lucrative jobs and followed his heart over head in setting up a management institute.

In the process, he ended up battling a long war with some vested interests in the country’s key accrediting body in the area of technical education. His battle was won few months back which involved lots of patience and sacrifice among other things for years together.

Arya’s battle (his story was first carried in this part of the country by Offline and was subsequently picked up by the major
Dailies) was perhaps instrumental in clipping of AICTE’s wings some days back in the area of inspection of existing institutes.

Aamir Khan, ofcourse, is a better known face. Initially dubbed as the “chocolate boy” hero Aamir today has matured into a serious filmmaker and actor. Each theme he has tried has been a box office hit and he uncannily admitted to Prabu Chawla in Aaj Tak’s “Siddhi Bath” programme that when he made these movies he never really thought of them as money spinners. He followed his heart. No wonder, thus, that his latest experiment is on following the tweet of one’s heart.

In recent times, wherein impact uniformity is hard to come by, no single movie has caught the nation’s imagination (especially the so called “Youngistan” segment) as much as 3 IDIOTS. Whether Chetan Bhagat’s book was adhered to or whether it motivated some depressed fella in some town undermine Aamir, the artist’s creativity and his daring to stand up and get counted. In his unique style Khan questions the system but never antagonizes the powers that be. In the process he manages to churn up a chemistry of a cocktail in each one of us-that of nostalgia and “feel good”.

Aamir Khan has handled a complex theme with maximum lucidity; I guess this has been his greatest achievement. His questions are serious; to say his treatment is down to earth is an understatement. He questions the great Indian rote trick but he never churns up a revenge feeling or bitterness. That would be the work of a run of the mill moviemaker –not Mr. Aamir Khan. Even the most hated character in the movie “Virus” is rendered lovable; at times we tend to admire him for his innovative wickedness!

Aligning with the mind of the citizen of Youngistan, Aamir’s film reinforces - laughing at ourselves, laughing through our failures or even the state of our personal economics. This is where 3 IDIOTS reaches out to the IDIOT in each of us.

Whether Aamir’s film shall ultimately make some headway in the mind of those who matter- policy makers -only time will say but it is needless to say that he has already managed to reach out to the hearts of the nation’s young by his message of following one’s heart.

(Offline, Volume-5, No-9, January 2010)