The
location
is
filmmaker
Rajkumar
Hirani's
office
in
Bandra
where
our
long
due
meeting
is
supposed
to
take
place.
Seated
in
the
sanctum
sanctorum
of
the
aforementioned
venue,
director
Rajkumar
Hirani
looks
a
happy
man.
And
with
good
reasons
too.
His
much
talked-about
project
tentatively
titled
3
Idiots
is
back
on
track
after
running
into
a
roadblock.
The
film
about
the
drawbacks
of
the
education
system
initially
had
Shahrukh
Khan
penciled
in
for
the
lead.
Matters,
however,
went
awry
when
the
star
evinced
an
interest
in
producing
the
film
that
was
being
produced
by
Vinod
Chopra
Films
(Chopra
has
also
produced
Hirani's
Munnabhai
MBBS
and
Lage
Raho...)
but
a
few
upheavals
later,
Hirani
has
come
up
tops
with
a
stellar
cast
that
includes
Aamir
Khan
and
Kareena
Kapoor
to
be
supported
by
Sharman
Joshi
and
Boman
Irani.
The
film
will
be
shot
in
Simla,
Ladakh,
Delhi,
Mumbai
and
Bangalore
between
September
and
December
this
year.
"Each
film
comes
with
its
own
destiny," says
Hirani
philosophically
about
the
change
in
cast,
"It's
the
second
time
that
a
film
with
Shahrukh
has
not
worked
out...perhaps
some
other
time."
His
enthusiasm
to
make
3
Idiots,
a
deviation
from
his
Munnabhai
series,
is
undiminished.
Neither
is
he
breaking
into
a
cold
sweat
about
directing
an
actor
whose
reputation
as
a
ghost
director
precedes
him.
"Aamir
is
somebody
who
is
immensely
involved
with
the
project
that
he
works
in
and
I'd
rather
have
an
actor
who
is
involved
than
indifferent." And
for
those
who
were
wondering,
the
recently
reported
five
crore
remuneration
along
with
a
40
per
cent
profit-sharing
arrangement
for
the
perfectionist
Khan
is
not
true.
And
what
of
the
popular
belief
that
the
film
is
based
on
writer
Chetan
Bhagat's
book
titled
Five
Point
Someone...?
"Chetan
sent
me
his
book
and
though
I
liked
it,
I
wasn't
sure
if
it
could
be
turned
into
a
film.
The
book
had
a
series
of
events
and
in
that
format
did
not
lend
itself
well
to
a
screenplay.
Once
we
started
writing,
the
scenes
kept
reducing
and
it
was
a
different
story
altogether.
So,
while
the
idea
about
a
story
set
in
an
educational
institute
came
from
the
book,
the
story
of
the
film
as
it
stands
is
completely
different.
Chetan
is
aware
of
our
story
and
in
agreement
that
it's
not
his
book."
The
story
set
in
an
engineering
college
(not
IIT)
has
Hirani
all
excited.
"The
unfortunate
truth
is
that
the
system
forces
people
to
pursue
success
rather
than
excellence.
My
belief
is
that
if
you
pursue
excellence,
success
is
bound
to
follow."
And
Hirani
should
know,
for
his
life
has
followed
the
script.
Hirani,
an
FTII
alumni
(he
trained
in
film
editing)
with
a
background
in
advertising-he's
also
modeled-is
a
success
story
that
many
in
the
industry
want
to
emulate.
Having
come
from
a
middle-class
family
in
Nagpur
where
he
even
helped
his
father
sell
typewriters,
Hirani
believes
that
his
small
town
sensibilities
set
him
apart.
He's
more
amused
than
excited
about
attending
swish
set
parties
and
being
linked
to
glamorous
starlets.
"When
writing
my
first
script,
I
knew
that
being
seen
at
social
do's
would
not
get
me
anywhere
but
a
good
script
would."
He
approached
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra
-they
had
worked
together
on
Mission
Kashmir
which
Hirani
had
edited--for
putting
him
on
to
actors
and
so
impressed
was
Chopra
with
the
script
that
he
even
decided
to
produce
it.
And
the
rest,
to
quote
a
cliche,
is
history.
The
defining
feature
of
Hirani's
work
perhaps
is
the
ideological
core
around
which
he
weaves
his
narrative-
Munnabhai
MBBS,
his
first,
where
Sanjay
Dutt
the
lovable
goon,
introduced
doctors
and
the
world
at
large
to
'jaadu
ki
jhappi' followed
by
'Gandhigiri'
in
Lage
Raho
Munnabhai
(co-written
by
Abhijat
Joshi)
are
examples.
"A
part
of
it
stemmed
from
my
own
anger
towards
doctors
in
the
way
they
treat
patients
but
I
toned
it
down
because
one
realizes
that
there
are
good
doctors
too."
And
yes,
he
is
an
ardent
believer
in
the
Mahatma
and
'Gandhigiri'.
Perhaps
it
is
the
sum
total
of
such
convictions
that
makes
Hirani's
brand
of
aam
aadmi
stories
so
popular--as
appealing
to
the
corporate
tycoon
as
to
the
local
hick
and
of
course,
the
B-Town
actors.
Says
Kareena
Kapoor,
"I
am
really
excited
to
be
working
with
Vidhuji
and
one
of
the
finest
directors
Raju
Hirani.
My
dream
of
working
with
Aamir
Khan
has
also
come
true."
Hirani
could
take
a
bow
only
that
being
true
to
his
trademark
low-key
demanour,
he
would
rather
wait
till
the
movie
gets
a
thumbs-up
from
the
audiences.