Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Ranchoddas Shamaldas "Rancho" Chanchad (Aamir Khan)are three engineering students who share a room in the residence of
Imperial College of Engineering (ICE). Farhan is studying engineering to
pursue his father's wishes over his own wish — to become a wildlife
photographer. Raju is studying to raise his family's fortunes and get
them out of poverty. On the other hand, Rancho studies for his simple
passion in machines and devices. Rancho believes that success in
engineering is not achieved by memorizing definitions given by textbooks
or professors, but by understanding and applying the concepts. He
believes that one should follow excellence, not success, as success will
come by itself if excellence is followed.
However, this different approach is sneered upon by the faculties, including the dean of the college, Professor Viru "Virus" Sahastrabudhhe (Boman Irani). In contrast, Virus' favorite student, Chatur "Silencer" Ramalingam (Omi Vaidya),
believes in mindless memorizing over understanding, in order to reach
his goals of corporate and social status. Meanwhile, Rancho falls in
love with Virus' daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor),
a medical student, when he, Raju and Farhan unknowingly crash her
sister's wedding banquet to obtain a free meal, which infuriates Virus.
Virus labels Rancho and his friends as "idiots" and continually attempts
to break Rancho's friendship with Farhan and Raju. He tells them that
Rancho's family is a hundred times richer than either of theirs, and so
unlike them he can afford to fail.
Things further escalate when Raju and Farhan dare Rancho to confess
his love to Pia. The three friends drunkenly break into Virus's house
one night, and urinate on the front door before fleeing. The next day,
Virus threatens to rusticate
Raju unless he squeals on Rancho. Not wanting to betray his friend or
let down his family, Raju attempts suicide and ends up in a coma.
However, with two months of extensive care from his mother, Rancho,
Farhan, and Pia, he makes a full recovery. Following his hard-won
recovery, Raju discards his fear of the future: he throws away his lucky
talismans before a job interview, and his frankness so impresses the
corporate agents that they hire him on the spot. Farhan, goaded by his
friends, convinces his parents to allow him to drop out of school and
travel to Brazil as assistant to a famous photographer.
Virus, who had a bet with Rancho that neither Raju nor Farhan would
get a job, schemes to win the bet by setting Raju an impossibly tough
final exam (as the job offer is contingent on graduation). Pia learns of
this plan and gives Rancho the spare key to her father's office. Rancho
and Farhan break in and photocopy the exam, but Raju, with his newfound
confidence, calmly throws the paper away. However, Virus catches them
and expels them on the spot. Pia angrily confronts him, revealing that
her brother, whom their father had pushed to become an engineer despite
his preference for literature, committed suicide after failing ICE's
entrance exam three times. Pia then flees to the hospital where she is a
student. Later that same night, Pia's pregnant older sister Mona (Mona Singh)
goes into labor. A heavy rainstorm cuts all power and floods the
streets, making it impossible for an ambulance – or Pia – to reach Mona.
The students rig up a power supply and other equipment so that, with
guidance from Pia by webcam, Rancho can deliver the baby. The baby is
apparently stillborn,
but kicks when Raju tells Mona to repeat Rancho's calming mantra "All
is well." Remembering that the baby had first kicked in the womb when he
said that, Rancho leads the students in chanting "All is well," and the
baby recovers. Virus is thus obliged to forgive Rancho and his friends,
and allows them to stay for their final exams, giving Rancho a space pen that he had kept for 32 years to give to some exceptional student.
Their story is framed as intermittent flashbacks
from the present day, ten years after Chatur bet that he'd become more
successful than Rancho. Chatur boasts of his wealth and his bright
career with an American company, and is eager to rub Rancho's nose in
it. Rancho does not show up at the appointed time; Raju and Farhan have
tried to find him for five years with no results, but Chatur shows them a
recent snapshot taken in Shimla, with Rancho in the background.
At the Chanchad estate in Shimla, they find a completely different man: the real Ranchoddas Chanchad (Jaaved Jaffrey).
They coerce the stranger into revealing the truth: their friend was an
orphaned servant boy called "Chhote" who loved learning, unlike the real
Rancho. After seeing the boy's intelligence, Rancho's father arranged
for the servant boy to go to college and earn a degree in Rancho's name,
as a status symbol for the family. After graduation, Chhote
disappeared. The real Rancho reveals that Chhote is now a schoolteacher
in Ladakh.
The three start out to Ladakh, but on the way Farhan calls Pia and
learns that she is about to marry Suhas, the same status-obsessed banker
whom Rancho initially talked her into dumping. They turn back south to
rescue Pia, over Chatur's objections: he wants to get the trip finished
quickly, because he is in a hurry to seal a business deal with Phunsukh
Wangdu, a scientist who has 400 patents – before a Japanese company can
beat his offer.
In Ladakh, Raju and Farhan find villagers working with a variety of
gadgets that show the stamp of Rancho's ingenuity, and they learn that
Rancho has all of Farhan's photography books and reads Raju's blog every
day. Pia and Rancho rekindle their love, while Chatur mocks Rancho for
becoming a lowly schoolteacher. He asks Rancho to sign a "Declaration of
Defeat" document, and Rancho blithely complies. Chatur turns to leave
in triumph, and Rancho reveals his true name: Phunsukh Wangdu. Chatur,
mortified, accepts his defeat and pleads with Phunsukh to forgive him
and accept his company's contract. Phunsukh, Pia, Farhan and Raju run
laughing into the distance with Chatur in pursuit. Farhan (as narrator)
recalls Rancho's advice: pursue excellence, and success will pursue you –
with its pants down.
Crew & Cast
| Directed by | Rajkumar Hirani |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Vidhu Vinod Chopra |
| Screenplay by | Abhijat Joshi Rajkumar Hirani Vidhu Vinod Chopra |
| Story by | Abhijat Joshi Rajkumar Hirani |
| Based on | Five Point Someone – What not to do at IIT! by Chetan Bhagat |
| Narrated by | R. Madhavan |
| Starring | Aamir Khan Kareena Kapoor R. Madhavan Sharman Joshi Boman Irani Omi Vaidya Mona Singh Parikshit Sahni |
| Music by | Shantanu Moitra |
| Cinematography | C. K. Muraleedharan |
| Editing by | Ranjeet Bahadur Rajkumar Hirani |
| Distributed by | Vinod Chopra Productions |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 164 minutes |
| Language | Hindi |
| Sub-titles | English |
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