3 Idiots is on its way to break all box office records and the sale of Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone (buy on Flipkart or Amazon) has also increased since the controversy. Well, as they say it, no publicity is bad publicity. And a controversy always helps both sides. Having read the book as well as having watched the movie, I am sharing my views about how much of the movie is based on the book.

For any movie which is adapted from a book / novel, there has to be some changes. Writing a book and creating a book are two different things altogether. Converting a book to a movie scene by scene will never work, and the same is true for converting a movie to a book. A book will always have more details of scenarios compared to movies as a movie need to finish in 2-3 hours. So in comparing the two, one should not consider changes like this. You cannot say a movie is different from the book because the book did not have the songs :O

So here goes my take, I would say the movie is 50-60% taken from the movie. And if you take the crux of the movie, the characters, the twists and turns, it is 80% from the book. To justify these numbers, I am going to list all the similarities and differences I found. I would like to state that I am not related / contracted / hired by either Chetan Bhagat or the 3 Idiots team. Just giving my own personal opinion below.

The similarities are below-
• The characters of Farhan and Raju and their middle class and lower middle class family details are from the book.
• Raju’s sister character, the groom asking for a Maruti 800, his father’s paralysis, his mother’s constant cribbings is from the book.
• The main theme of the film, the problems with the education system is from the book.
• Chatur’s character is also from the book
• Ryan / Rancho being good at engineering and making innovative devices is from the book.
• Three friends meeting at ragging, where Ryan / Rancho takes the fight back to the seniors is from the book.
• Raju leaving for go with Chatur and then coming back is from the book
• Professor “Virus” as the director (HOD in book) is from the book
• Narration of the movie is done by Farhan, same as in the book where it is done by Hari
• Drinking rum of the college roof is from the book
• Raju jumps from Virus’s room in the movie while he jumps from the roof in the book
• Virus’s son dies from falling off the train, which is a suicide, is taken from the book too.
• All 3 go to Neha / Pia’s house in the middle of the night is taken from the book
• Stealing the paper from Virus’s office, the phone call getting them cought is also from the book

The differences are listed below too
• The beginning of the movie, 2 friends in search of the 3 friend is original
• Farhan’s faking illness to stop the flight is original
• The Sept 5 bet to come back after 10 years is original
• The Chamatkar / Balatkaar speech is original
• Rancho making a device to electrocute the urinating senior is different from the book where he breaks a beer bottle to fight back.
• Rancho / Ryan falls in love in Pia / Neha in the movie while Hari / Farhan falls in the book (demand of bollywood cinema)
• Hari / Farhan steals the keys from Pia / Neha in the book while she hands it to Rancho in the movie
• The character of Suhaas is only in the movie
• In the book, Ryan / Rancho gets bad grades like his friends while he is a topper in the movie
• There was no sister of Pia / Neha in the book
• “All izz Well” concept is original
• The delivery of Pia’s sister is original and the story around her
• The events associated to the wrapper of the story – 2 friends going to find the 3rd, Pia running from the marriage, Rancho becoming a scientist is original

Considering both the lists above, you can decide for yourself the extent the movie is based on the book. I would call it more than 50%. There are many differences too, but the main crux of the story, the characters, the theme, the twists and turns are all from the movie… You can leave your comments below, but remember, only leave your comments if you have read the book and watched the movie….

Whatever my opinions might be, I am not taking any credit from the cast of 3 Idiots (specially Aamir Khan) and its director Rajkumar Hirani who have done a wonderful job and produced a great piece of entertainment.