The dramatic structure in a movie
The dramatic structure in a movie assists the director to connect with the audience for a more comfortable understanding. In the beginning, the exposition offers the audience a background of the film for a more straightforward understanding. The explanation ensures the theme is clear to the viewers to understand the climax. In the movie, 3 idiots, the exposition is clear using flashbacks that supply the readers with information on the characters as well as the theme presented in the film. Without the commentary, it would be hard for the audience to relate to the events in the movie conclusively. After the expository stage, the director presents the rising and falling actions, which indicate the climax of the movie. The peak represents the demonstration of the theme in the movie, which bears the whole message intended by the author.
3 Idiot: The rivalry between two classmates
3 Idiot is a movie that demonstrates massive rivalry between two classmates. Rancho and Chatur study in the same class and expect to be the best engineers. However, both have different ways of achieving their dreams. Rancho performs well in class from understanding the concepts while Chatur relies on cramming. Rancho does not study to compete; rather, he seeks to achieve his childhood goal of being an engineer. However, Chatur studies to be better than everyone in the class and brags about it. In the end, Chatur realizes that his perception on Rancho as a primary school teacher is wrong. On the contrary, Rancho is a renowned scientist whom Chatur has been seeking an audience with for a long time without success. The film is a clear demonstration of dramatic structure in a movie with strategic subplots that aim at clear message delivery for the viewers.
Dramatic Structure
Dramatic structure is the sequence of events in the movie that indicate the exposition, the rising action, the falling action and finally the denouncement. The exposition offers the audience background information about the movie raising the curiosity of the audience in the theme. As the action rises, the movie attracts the attention of the viewers towards the main subject of the movie, which indicates the climax. Lastly, the action falls as the movie reaches the denouncement level where the protagonist emerges as the winner in the conflict with the antagonist. 3 Idiots is a movie that outlines the dramatic structure through the sequence of events that mark the success of Rancho over Chatur in academic and professional success.
Expository Dialogue and Inciting Incident
At the beginning of the movie, the author uses expository dialogue between Farhan, Raju, and Chatur to offer the audience background information about the movie. In the dialogue, Chatur brags about his academic success and professional growth. He reminds them of how they humiliated and mocked his methods of study in college. Next, the film capitalizes on flashbacks to explain to the audience the source of hostility between Chatur and the two comrades. In this exposition, the audience gets a chance to understand the character of the actors. In the scene, Chatur who is the main antagonist appears to be proud and demeaning the success of the other people. The information prepares the viewers for a better understanding of the movie based on the hostility of the team as well as the source of the pride.
An inciting incident is a platform that introduces the protagonist in the movie and sets up the scene for a conflict with the antagonist. In the subsequent scenes, the principal by the name Viru promises to give the best student a pen he received from his former teacher. Viru explains that the pen is a symbol of excellence, which every student should fight to own. The pen sets off competition between Chatur and Rancho. Rancho becomes a student who leads a simple life and works hard for his gain. However, Chatur becomes a student that crams the topics in class to lead. His primary target is topping the class to brag to his peers. The scene depicts the traits of the two individuals.
Rising Action and Conflict
Chatur considers the failure of other people as the easiest step towards his success. From his thinking, he finds Rancho as a hindrance to his progress. Later in the movie, Rancho edits a script performed by Chatur to demonstrate to Raju the effects of mindless cramming. The edited document embarrasses Chatur in front of the director of the institution. The two incidents describe the source of conflict between Chatur and Rancho. Therefore, Chatur vows to continue cramming and ensure that he gets better grades than Rancho, settle in the United States and return five years down the line to compare his success with that of Rancho. The inciting incidents create conflicts giving Chatur the desire to revenge on Rancho due to the humiliation created back in college.
The Climax and Suspense
The rising action occurs in the form of class discussions and exams at the end of the semester. When answering questions in class, Chatur crams the definition from the books to appear smarter than the other students do. On the other hand, Rancho studies to achieve excellence and fulfill his childhood dreams of being an engineer. During the exams period, Chatur supplies pornographic magazines to other students as a form of distraction to ensure they fail in exams for him to top. Rancho, on his part, motivates his closest friends to study without fear for them to succeed. The two characters portray two people with the same ambitions and goals but with very diverse methods of achieving their desires. One believes in helping people to rise while the other believes in pulling others down to remain on top.
After the exams, Chatur wails in disbelief for becoming number two in their class. His biggest critic and rival, Rancho, is number one. Chatur terms the assessment as unfair and cries bitterly. However, Chatur does not give up. His desire for revenge is stronger than his determination for success. Here, the audience generates more interest in finding out the outcome of the enmity. The use of flashbacks equips the audience with enough information to understand the current desire by Chatur to meet Racho and brag to him about his ongoing success. Therefore, Raju, Chatur, and Farhan team up to look for Rancho. Vengeance is the primary goal for Chatur.
The Resolution and Subplots
During the film, Chatur keeps referring to a renowned scientist by the name Phungsu Wangdu. The whole world desires to have this scientist due to his unique patents. Therefore, he seeks to sign a contract with the scientist to seal his ultimate success. The search for Racho leads them to a school where he teaches science to children. Chatur laughs at Racho and asks him to ask for donations from his organization. Chatur goes ahead to take the pen given to Rancho by Viru telling him the pen is for winners, not losers. However, things turn around when Chatur realizes that Rancho is Phungsu Wangdu. He changes from the bragging character to a humble one asking for forgiveness and maintenance of the business deal between his company and Phungsu Wangdu.
The suspense towards the end is so intense for the audience due to development of curiosity in understanding the identity of Phunsu Wangdu as well as the success and achievements of Rancho. The two details keep the spectator entertained. The film uses many subplots that prepare the author for the climax. For example, the movie explains the relationship between Rancho and Pia. The subplot seeks to illustrate the balance created by Rancho in all aspects of his life. The secondary lines capture the mind of the audience and appeal to his/her emotional side in understanding the movie. The movie integrates the academic and romantic life of Rancho to expound on his real character for the audience.
