SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIROMENT

NAME: Yeow Jinn Sheng

STUDENT ID NO: 0318797

FILMS SELECTED: Drama-comedy films (“Three idiots” & “Hangover 3”)

WORD COUNT: 920

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH

SEPTEMBER 2014

CONTRAST ESSAY OF TWO DRAMA-COMEDY FILMS

Dramedy films. What comes to your mind when you read these words? Well, it’s

actually a term that used to describe a film that combines element of comedy and

drama. It aims to amuse the public by using hilarious moments and plots that might

spark audiences’ interest. The drama- comedy films that I would like to compare and

contrast are “Three idiots”, directed by Rajkumar Hirani and “Hangover 3”, directed by

Todd Phillips. The trio in the first movie is not idiots but a bunch of clever boys, who

chasing their dreams in a reality. “Hangover 3” opens on an elegant slow-motion of

some guard running urgently, to the strains of classical music, through the corridors of

Thai prison. In terms of storyline, cultural background, setting, and moral value, these

two films are totally different since their own synopsis was unique with the others.

First and foremost, the most obvious dissimilarity of these movies is the story

lines. “Three idiots” starts with Farhan and Raju requested to find their long lost friend,

Rancho with the help of a college nerd Chatur (The Silencer). While on the way to find

Rancho, the film takes us to their life in college where Rancho was an extremely

talented student filled with out of the mill philosophies. This drove the college principal

Viru Sahastrabudhhe (ViruS). The film portrays that Rancho has the capability to do the

impossible possible. He convinced his best friend Farhan to convince his father to take

wildlife photography as well as nursing his suicide-attempted friend Raju. He even

befriends their principal’s daughter Piya and helps her to realize that the guy whom she

plans to marry is an absolute jerk. With plots and subplots it was proved that Rancho

can outsmart any student and won their principal’s affection. On the contrary, “Hangover

3” has their way to bring out funny elements by bringing their very own scenario. Doug

was kidnapped by a crime lord, Marshall who seeking for 21 million dollars. “The

Wolfpack” consists of three main characters Alan, Phil and Stu sets out in search of Mr.

Chow, who has escaped from prison to recover the money from the diminutive hustler

as the decadent Hangover trilogy winds to an outrageous close. These two particular

films are different from their plots and how they make their twist and climax.

Secondly, “Three idiots” varies with “Hangover 3” by the cultural background. The

movies are made from two different countries, which is India and United States. The

most noticeable contrast between the films is their speaking language. The dominant

dialect in the first movie is Hindi but English in “Hangover 3”. At the same time, their

religion is different, where one is Hindi and another is Christian. From the scene of

“Three idiots”, we can see some students praying for God in their traditional way for

blessing on their studies. Stu requested for Jesus’s help and this shows that he believed

in existence of Jesus Christ. Saree is worn by ladies in the Indian movie but you can’t

see any traditional clothing in “Hangover 3”. They wore nice apparel with suit and tie,

even in bullet-flying situation. Undoubtedly, there are always dancing and singing part in

Hindi movie but in the English film... well, who wants shake their body when they are in

a close call? No way.

Nevertheless, setting in these two movies shows the difference between of it.

“Three idiots” takes place in Delhi, India around year 2010. After 3 years later, Todd

directs his movie at California, United States and Bangkok, Thailand. Setting of society

of these films was dissimilar with each other. For instance, the society in “Three idiots”

is more highlighting on education. Raju’s family wasn’t rich, but they still insisted on

giving him the best study chance in Indian Engineering College. At the same time, Joy,

one of their friends, was committed suicide after his work had been rejected by the

college principal. This showed how important the achievement in education is for a

student in India. However, society of “Hangover 3” is about the love between friends

and family. “The Wolfpack” is willing to sacrifice their life to rescue Doug because they

think he’s important in Alan’s family. Mr. Chow risked himself to kill Marshall so “The

Wolfpack” stay alive and also repay Alan on saving his life.

Last but not least, the moral value that we can learn from these two stories is not

equal. The first lesson that we get from “Three idiots” is we should face every obstacles

with optimistic so we don’t get stressed at anything. Workloads will always get in our

way, but we can take it lightly by not thinking them as a burden but a responsibility.

Even though most of the events in “Hangover 3” are no that way logically, like we can

get money by many legal ways, not to be a murder, but it eventually brings out some

moral value. For example, the main characters fight so hard in order to bring Doug back

from the gangster…and this teaches us that we should love our friends and family.

In conclusion, storyline, cultural background, setting and moral values of the

movies drew a border line of difference between “Three Idiots” and “Hangover 3”. It

clearly demonstrates the unlikeness of Bollywood and Hollywood movies. I am glad to

have an opportunity to watch these two movies and I learnt many lessons from it. In the

future, I wish to have more dramedy films to inspire and educate the public.

Reference:

1. Rebecca, B. [SixMinuteScholar]. (2013, Feb 17). How to write a comparison

essay of two films. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSFhBCMDPqg

2. [anandpparab79]. (2010, March 23). Synopsis for Three Idiots. Retrieved from

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/synopsis

3. Todd. P. (Producer) & Todd. P. (Director). (2013). The Hangover Part lll

[Legendary Pictures]. United States: Warner Bros. Picture. Retrieved from

http://itvmovie.eu/watch-movie-online/the-hangover-part-iii-5465-1-1.html