3 Idiots and 3 non-professionals

Power can potentially make people not only hungrier, angrier, but also unethical. And for a change, I am not talking about politicians. They, by default, are all that. But role models that we, as common citizens, choose based on the stardom that a person has achieved can be so misplaced. Respect for Aamir Khan, Vidhu Chopra, and Raju Hirani, the 3 main 'faces' of the latest movie, 3 Idiots, has gone down immensely.

Here is some background. One of the most awaited movies of last year, 3 Idiots, released last weekend. A very well-made hilarious movie with an inspirational yet non-preachy undertone. Within a few days, author of the bestseller, "Five Point Someone" claims that the movie has "almost 70%" similarity with his book and he was not duly credited for that. His name appears at the very end along with some junior artistes and such. He also alleges that the makers hid this fact from him and told him that the movie was completely an original story and they didn't credit him with the story. On the other hand, the makers of the movie claim that the movie has "only 2 to 5%" similarity with the novel ". Aamir Khan and Vidhu Chopra have not read the book, and they go on to a press conference stating that Chetan Bhagat is publicity hungry and that the movie is completely  original. How dumb is that!

So what's the deal then? All one has to do is read the book and watch the movie and use his own reasoning to come to the conclusion. I read the novel in one sitting, and saw the movie the very next day. The movie is not a rip-off of the novel. Not scene by scene. But it is very obviously an adaptation of the book. The storyline, the situations, some scenes, some twists are lifted from the book. That's what an adaptation is. You use the storyline, and adapt it to make changes. In other words, if the book hadn't existed, most likely this movie wouldn't be made with this storyline. Plain and simple. While it would be incorrect to say the movie was a direct lift from the novel, it would be a bigger farce to say that the movie wasn't an adaptation of the novel. In Hollywood, authors of novels that are adapted into a film are given a very prominent credit. Eg. Slumdog millionaire.

It is sad that these are our role models and people look up to them. They are as ordinary and as much governed by self-interest as politicians. Which is fine, as long as they don't cheat. To take away credit where it is due is, in one word, cheating....and as some girls would say "OMG, so ewww".