The Real Idiot !

'Shut Up !!'

This is what Mr Vidhu Vinod Chopra told one of the journalists at a press conference. For those who don't know the details, Mr Chopra, the producer of much-hyped and successful film '3 Idiots'. And the press conference was held to clariffy the producer's stand on the controversy regarding the credit due to Chetan Bhagat, on whose novel 'Five Point Someone' the film is based.

I have seen the film AND I have read the novel. So as per Chetan, I can comment on the issue. To start with, I was shocked to find the mention of Chetan Bhagat and FPS missing in the credit line. Having seen the whole movie, I can say that 3I is largely (and not loosely, as claimed by the producers) based on FPS - roughly 65-70 per cent. And as Chetan says since the producers were contractually bound to give credit to him, they put the name in the closing credits and that too in such a way that most of the people miss it. (I myself missed it and so did Chetan's mother).

So, the controversy is not over credit, its over the 'placement' of credit. In my view, the way the producers gave credit to Chetan is almost the same as not giving the credit at all. 'Coz most of the viewers missed it. For those who have read FPS, its not difficult to guess that 3I storyline is an adapted version of FPS. But what about those who haven't read FPS? They will obviously think that the story and screenplay belong to Raju Hirani and some Abhijat Joshi. And that's what Chetan was fighting for. And he was fighting this battle on 'twitter', on his blog, and at a later stage on TV news channels.

You might have noticed that I have used the word 'was' in the last two lines of the last paragraph. It is actually 'was', 'coz at this point of time, Chetan Bhagat is considering of compromise with the producers.

It is clear and evident that the 3I story is an adapted version of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller novel FPS. And creating a furore over 'moral rights of the author', the story being adapted from FPS or not, Vidhu Vinod Chopra lambasting a journo, Aamir Khan almost abusing Chetan Bhagat, more importantly Chetan Bhagat discussing the issue publicly and not going to the court, and then all of a sudden all of them getting back to compromise. Now, something seems fishy ! Was it an attempt to generate publicity? I had no idea that if this is true, people like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani, Aamir Khan and even Chetan Bhagat can stoop this low just for the sake of publicity of an already hit film !

I can not make a comment on what's true and what's not. I am not taking either side. I'm just expressing my views over the issue.

In the end, I feel that none of the three - Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani, Chetan Bhagat - is an idiot. The real idiot is us - the Indian janta... the audience !

So will you still say 'Better be an Idiot than a stupid?'