Comedy cracks the Bollywood barrier

The Indian Film Festival coincides with a resurgence in cinema from the subcontinent, writes Jake Wilson.

BOLLYWOOD films have been big business in Australia for a while but Rajkumar Hirani's college comedy 3 Idiots (pictured) is something else - a phenomenon that has broken box-office records at home and abroad.

Since its release last Christmas, the film has earned more than $1 million in this country alone, keeping pace with high-profile titles such as Precious and A Serious Man.

Over the phone, the director still sounds taken aback. ''It's been really shocking,'' he says. ''Every person I meet has seen the film three times.''

The affable Hirani may attract some new fans this week when he heads to Melbourne for our annual Indian Film Festival. (Also attending is the actress Rani Mukherjee, who's the subject of a retrospective.)

Hirani's 3 Idiots follows the adventures of three aspiring engineers who meet at college and become inseparable. Their leader is Rancho (Aamir Khan), a wealthy maverick who turns his scientific genius to all kinds of unorthodox purposes, from playing pranks on fellow students to delivering a baby with the aid of a vacuum cleaner.

Hirani believes that ''cinema is primarily there for entertainment'' and 3 Idiots offers the usual Bollywood blend of song, dance, slapstick and melodrama.

Still, he suspects the film has struck a chord partly due to its criticisms of the Indian higher education system and of parents who force their children to chase highly paid careers. The script is loosely based on a best-selling novel but Hirani says he diverged sharply from his source and ''many, many things'' are drawn from his own university days.

One character was inspired by a highly competitive friend who made a habit of slipping porn magazines under the doors of college bedrooms the night before exams. ''He always felt that if he did that he would distract other students from their study,'' Hirani says.

For the moment, Hirani's films are marketed mainly to Hindi-speaking communities. Asked if he hopes to reach a broader global public, he says this ought to be possible but it would take an innovative distributor. ''It's something which is out of my control,'' he says.

Even in tough financial times, Hirani says the vast Bollywood film industry continues to thrive and evolve. ''There will be films where you don't have a leading lady, which was completely unheard of,'' he says. ''People are experimenting with different kinds of stories.

''Also, because of the emergence of multiplexes in India, people know that they can make films that are only for a particular audience … so I think it's a very good time for filmmakers.''

The Indian Film Festival runs until Wednesday at Cinema Nova. Rajkumar Hirani will introduce 3 Idiots tomorrow at 8.30pm.