[[ 3 Idiots ]] Language: Hindi Genre: Social Awareness

3 Idiots is a 2009 film directed by Rajkumar Hirani, with a screenplay by Abhijat Joshi, and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It was loosely adapted from the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. 3 Idiots stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan,Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni and Boman Irani. This film has become the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time in India. The film set a box office record for the Indian film industry, grossing Rs 400 crore (US$ 87 million) worldwide. It is expected to be the first Indian film to be officially released on YouTube, within 12 weeks of releasing in theaters on March 25, 2010. The film also went on to win many awards, winning sixFilmfare Awards including best film and best director, and ten Star Screen Awards.

Plot

Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi), and Rancchoddas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan) are three engineering students who share a room in a hostelat the Imperial College of Engineering, one of the best colleges in India. While Farhan and Raju are average students from modest backgrounds, Rancho is from a rich family. Farhan wants to become a wildlife photographer, but has joined engineering college to fulfil his father's wish. Raju on the other hand wants to uplift his family fortunes. Rancho is a wealthy genius who studies for the sheer joy of it. However, Rancho's passion is for knowledge and taking apart and building machines rather than the conventional obsession of the other students with exam ranks. With his different approach Rancho incurs the wrath of dean of college, Professor Viru Sahastrabudhhe (ViruS) (Boman Irani). Rancho irritates his lecturers by giving creative and unorthodox answers, and confronts ViruS after fellow student Joy Lobo hangs himself in his dormitory room. Joy had requested an extension on his major project on compassionate grounds—his father had suffered a stroke—but ViruS refused, saying that he himself was completely unmoved by his own son's accidental death after being hit by a train. Rancho denounces the rat race, dog-eat-dog, mindless rote learning mentality of the institution, blaming it for Lobo's death.

Critical reception

• It is a vital, inspiring and life-revising work of contemporary art with some heart imbued into every part. In a country where students are driven to suicide by their impossible curriculum, 3 Idiots provides hope.
• The film is a laugh riot, despite being high on fundas.
• It's a lovely story, of a man from nowhere who wanted to learn, told like a fairy tale, with the secret heart carrying its coded message of setting all of us free.
• Rajkumar Hirani's one of the directors of the decade, a man with immense talent and a knack for storytelling.

[[ Lage Raho Munna Bhai ]] Language: Hindi Genre: Comedy Drama

Lage Raho Munna Bhai is a 2006 film directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It is the second film in the popular Munna Bhai series of Bollywood. Sanjay Dutt stars in this film as Munna Bhai, a Mumbai (Bombay)underworld don. The film was generally well-received by both critics and the mass audience. It was a box office success and was elevated to a "blockbuster" rating on Box Office India after grossing over Rs.720 million. It is the recipient of a number of awards, including four National Film Awards. Lage Raho Munna Bhai is the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations, and also played to a packed house of mostly French students who "clapped till the credits were finished" during the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, praised the film, stating that it "captures Bapu's message about the power of truth and humanism.

Plot

The central premise of the film rests upon the relationship between Munna Bhai (Sanjay Dutt) and the image of Mahatma Gandhi (portrayed by Dilip Prabhavalkar) who teaches him the principles of Gandhian philosophy. Munna is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (Arshad Warsi) who speaks with him in Bambaiya Hindi, a dialect specific to the Indian city of Mumbai.At the beginning of the story, Munna is in love with the voice of Janhavi (Vidya Balan), a radio jockey. He devises a plan to meet her when she announces a contest featuring the life and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi set for 2 October—Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday celebrating the birth of Gandhi. Circuit helps Munna win the contest by kidnapping and then bribing a group of professors. As the winner, Munna is granted an interview with Janhavi wherein he presents himself as a professor of history and a Gandhi specialist. Janhavi subsequently asks Munna to present a lecture on Gandhi to a community of senior citizens who live in her home, called the "Second Innings House". In order to prepare for this event, Munna engages in a period of intense study at a Gandhi institute. For three days and nights (and without food or sleep), Munna reads about the life and ideologies of Gandhi.

Social Impact

Lage Raho Munna Bhai has had a strong cultural impact in India, popularising Gandhism under Munna Bhai's notion of Gandhigiri. As noted by critics, the film has "stirred the popular imagination," leading to a number of Gandhigiri protests in India and in the United States: "For generations born after Gandhi's assassination, Munnabhai, the eponymous hero of the film, has rendered 'Gandhism' passé and 'Gandhian' arcane. The new buzzword is 'Gandhigiri,' a value, and valuable, addition to the lexicon of a culture suffused with every abominable kind of 'Dadagiri' and 'Goondagiri.'

[[ Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. ]] Language Hindi Genre: Comedy Drama

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. is a 2003 Indian comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced byVidhu Vinod Chopra. The story involves protagonist, Munna Bhai, (Sanjay Dutt), a goon, going to medical school. He is helped by his sidekick, Circuit (Arshad Warsi). It is the first film in the popular Munna Bhai series It stars Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Jimmy Shergill, Sunil Dutt, Gracy Singh and Boman Irani.It went on to win not only the 2004 National Film Award for Best Popular Film, several Filmfare awards, including the Critics Award for Best Movie, Best Screenplay, but also became the fifth highest grossing Hindi film of the year.

Plot

Murli Prasad Sharma, nicknamed "Munna Bhai" (literally "Brother Munna") is a bhai or Gunda; a crime don in the Mumbai underworld. Given that his father had wished him to be a medical doctor, he creates the faux Sri Hari Prasad Sharma Charitable Hospital (named after his father) and pretends to live in accordance with this wish whenever his father (Sunil Dutt) and mother (Rohini Hattangadi) visit him in Mumbai. Munna, in grief and despair, decides that the only way to redeem himself and to gain revenge for the humiliation suffered by his father at the hands of the spiteful Dr. Ashthana is to become a doctor in fact. He therefore decides to go to a Medical College in order to obtain an M.B.B.S.degree. Eventually, Munna is shamed into leaving the College, his guilt for not being able to help a dying friend getting the better of him. In the moments immediately following Munna's departure, Anand miraculously awakens from his vegetative state; at this point Dr. Suman gives a heartfelt speech wherein she criticizes her father for having banished Munna, saying that to do so is to banish hope, compassion, love, and happiness etc. from the College.

[[Traffic Signal]] Language: Hindi Genre: Social Awareness

Traffic Signal (2007) is an Indian film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It stars Kunal Khemu, Konkona Sen Sharma and Neetu Chandra. Bhandarkar won National Film Awards in 2007 as Best Director for this film, and Anil Moti Ram Palande, the first National Film Award for Best Make-up Artist.

Plot

This film is about the lives and travails of people living around a fictitious traffic signal in Mumbai. Anybody who drives in Mumbai has experienced the 2-odd minute wait at a traffic signal. But do you know that you contribute to the economy at that signal? The traffic signal includes a microcosm of people who derive their daily livelihoods from it. There are beggars (kids and adults), prostitutes, tricksters, eunuchs and others who sell clothes, flowers and trinkets. They speak quickly, act fast and operate somewhat honorably (with each other) to eke a meager living out of the harsh Mumbai street life. They owe allegiance and hafta (weekly "protection" fee) to the Signal Manager, Silsila (Kunal Khemu).