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:

3 idiots : Confusing a Nation!

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