History YMMV / ThreeIdiots

* ValuesResonance: More than a decade later, the movie's themes of mental health hold up very well. It's specifically in the context of the (Indian) educational system breaking students' spirits to the point of high suicide rates, but it still resonates with all kinds of viewers, especially those from other Asian countries. Even more notable given its release date, as topics of mental health and suicide were nowhere near as heavily discussed in mainstream cinema as they became in the 2010s.

** The actors who played Farhan's father and Raju's mother went on to play a married couple in Rajkumar Hirani's next film ''PK'', where PK, a HumanAlien is played by Creator/AamirKhan (Rancho) himself. Cue [[MemeticMutation memes]] about Rancho leaving the Earth because he just witnessed Farhan's dad and Raju's mom hook up.

** The actors who played Farhan's father and Raju's mother went on to play a married couple in Creator/RajkumarHirani's next film Film/{{PK}}, where PK, a HumanAlien is played by Creator/AamirKhan (Rancho) himself. Cue [[MemeticMutation memes]] about Rancho leaving the Earth because he just witnessed Farhan's dad and Raju's mom hook up.
** The ragging scene is very different in the book, where the literary counterparts of Raju and Farhan are very out of shape and that of Rancho is very [[MrFanservice well]] [[HeroicBuild built]], they are forced to strip naked and do poses, and the scene ends with Rancho intimidating the seniors away. The director of the movie, Creator/RajkumarHirani, had actually included a somewhat similar scene in his directorial debut ''[[Film/MunnaBhaiMBBS Munnabhai M.B.B.S]]'' (the setting is a medical college instead of an engineering college and Munnabhai, played by Creator/SanjayDutt, is a well-built goon who poses, showing off his muscles scaring the very out of shape seniors).
* MagnificentBastard: Ranchodas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad, [[spoiler:later known as Phunsukh Wangdu]], is a student at the Imperial College of Engineering whose philosophy of learning for interest and fun puts him at odds with the principal Viru Sahastrabuddhe, who believes that students should focus exclusively on scoring well in exams. His methods at rebelling against the college's doctrine include having his classmates find definitions for two made up words to call them out for their SkewedPriorities, and publicly humiliating Chatur by altering words in his Teachers Day speech to show him the dangers of memorization without understanding. He also displays a knack for creativity, re-constructing a senior's final project after Viru rejects it and later using an invention of his design to help Viru's daughter give birth during a power outage. [[spoiler:While he is later revealed to have been an impostor, he is still able to make a name for himself in the present day, as a genius inventor and scientist who teaches in his free time and is highly sought after by many companies, including the one Chatur works at.]]
* RetroactiveRecognition: Joy Lobo is played by Ali Fazal, who later appeared on ''Film/Furious7'' and famously played Guddu on the Amazon Prime web series ''WebSeries/{{Mirzapur}}''. And of course, there's Zafar from ''Fukrey''.

* CoolLoser: Farhan and Raju, as they don't have commendable grades to write home about and thus are nominally treated as the butt of jokes in the campus. However, they get to share the popularity of the college's smartest student and very own ClassClown due to being his best friends.

* CatharsisFactor: Despite Virus having a change of heart after witnessing the birth of his grandson, he never got any commeupance for humiliating and causing the suicides of students. It was satisfying to see Raju, the one who nearly killed himself because of Virus, be the one to run away with Pia on her wedding day.

* CatharsisFactor: Despite Viru having a change of heart after witnessing the birth of his grandson, he never got any redemption for humiliating and causing the suicides of students. It was satisfying to see Raju, the one who nearly killed himself because of Viru, be the one to run away with Pia on her wedding day.

** The ragging scene is very different in the book, where the literary counterparts of Raju and Farhan are very out of shape and that of Rancho is very [[MrFanservice well]] [[HeroicBuild built]], they are forced to strip naked and do poses, and the scene ends with Rancho intimidating the seniors away. This is hilarious because, the director of the movie, Creator/RajkumarHirani had actually included a somewhat similar scene in his directorial debut [[Film/MunnaBhaiMBBS Munnabhai M.B.B.S]] (the setting is a medical college, instead of an engineering college and Munnabhai, played by Creator/SanjayDutt is a well built goon who poses, showing off his muscles scaring the very out of shape sceniors.)
* MagnificentBastard: Ranchodas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad, [[spoiler:later known as Phunsukh Wangdu]], is a student at the Imperial College of Engineering whose philosophy of learning for interest and fun puts him at odds with the principal Viru Sahastrabuddhe, who believes that students should focus exclusively on scoring well in exams. His methods at rebelling against this philosophy include having his classmates find definitions for two made up words to call them out for their SkewedPriorities, and publicly humiliating Chatur by altering words in his Teachers Day speech to show him the dangers of memorization without understanding. He also displays a knack for creativity, re-constructing a senior's final project after Viru rejects it and later uses an invention of his design to help Viru's daughter give birth during a power outage. [[spoiler:While he is later revealed to have been an impostor, he is still able to make a name for himself in the present day, as a genius inventor and scientist who teaches in his free time and is highly sought after by many companies, including the one Chatur works at.]]
* RetroactiveRecognition: Joy Lobo is played by Ali Fazal, who later appeared on Film/Furious7 and famously played Guddu on the Amazon Prime web series WebSeries/{{Mirzapur}}. And of course, there's Zafar from ''Fukrey''.

* ValuesResonance: More than a decade later, the movie's themes of mental health hold up very well. It's specifically in the context of the (Indian) educational system breaking students' spirits to the point of high suicide rates, but it still resonates with all kinds of viewers, especially those from other Asian countries. Even more notable given its release date, as topics of mental health and suicide were nowhere near as heavily discussed in mainstream cinema as they became in the 2010s.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: As mentioned in ValuesResonance below, ''Three Idiots'' is very popular in other Asian countries apart from its homeland India, such as the Philippines and South Korea. This includes countries where it was never officially released and so it initially spread through unofficial channels and sheer word of mouth. (Years later, it's since been put on legit channels like Netflix.) This is due to the prevalence across the continent of the cutthroat academic culture depicted in the film. Asian communities are also notorious for being tight-lipped about mental illness and suicide, with younger generations campaigning for more discussion of mental health within Asia.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: As mentioned in ValuesResonance below, ''Three Idiots'' is very popular in other Asian countries apart from its homeland India, such as the Philippines and South Korea. This is due to the prevalence across the continent of the cutthroat academic culture depicted in the film. Asian communities are also notorious for being tight-lipped about mental illness and suicide, with younger generations campaigning for more discussion of mental health within Asia.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The infamous Teacher's Day Speech by Chatur. This one contains a whole bag of tropes (EngineeredPublicConfession, CandidCameraPrank, NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent being the notable ones). However, it's a very important plot point as the speech is why Farhan and Raju are even looking for Rancho again in the first place. Angered by the humiliation and knowing Farhan and Rancho's hand in it, Chatur bets with Rancho to see who is more successful after ten years. Come to the movie's present day ten years later, Chatur calls Farhan and Raju to show off for the bet and thus takes them on their long-winded journey to find Rancho, so that particular act really serves some purpose for an BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

* HilariousInHindsight: The actors who played Farhan's father and Raju's mother went on to play a married couple in Creator/RajkumarHirani's next film Film/{{PK}}, where PK, a HumanAlien is played by Creator/AamirKhan (Rancho) himself. Cue [[MemeticMutation memes]] about Rancho leaving the Earth because he just witnessed Farhan's dad and Raju's mom hook up.
** The ragging scene is very different in the book, where the literary counterparts of Raju and Farhan are very out of shape and that of Rancho is very [[MrFanservice well]] [[HeroicBuild built]], they are forced to strip naked and do poses, and the scene ends with Rancho intimidating the sceniors away. This is hilarious because, the director of the movie, Creator/RajkumarHirani had actually included a somewhat similar scene in his directorial debut [[Film/MunnaBhaiMBBS Munnabhai M.B.B.S]] (the setting is a medical college, instead of an engineering college and Munnabhai, played by Creator/SanjayDutt is a well built goon who poses, showing off his muscles scaring the very out of shape sceniors.)
* MagnificentBastard: Ranchodas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad, [[spoiler:later known as Phunsukh Wangdu]], is a student at the Imperial College of Engineering whose philosophy of learning for interest and fun puts him at odds with the principal Viru Sahastrabuddhe, who believes that students should focus exclusively on scoring well in exams. His methods at rebelling against this philosophy include having his classmates find definitions for two made up words to call them out for their SkewedPriorities, and publicly humiliating Chatur by altering words in his Teachers Day speech to show him the dangers of memorization without understanding. He also displays a knack for creativity, re-constructing a senior's final project after Viru rejects it and later uses an invention of his design to help Viru's daughter give birth during a power outage. While he is later revealed to have been an impostor, he is still able to make a name for himself in the present day, as a genius inventor and scientist who teaches in his free time and is highly sought after by many companies, including the one Chatur works at.

** The ragging scene is very different in the book, where the literary counterparts of Raju and Farhan are very out of shape and that of Rancho is very [[MrFanservice well]] [[HeroicBuild built]], they are forced to strip naked and do poses, and the scene ends with Rancho intimidating the sceniors away. This is hilarious because, the director of the movie, Creator/RajkumarHirani had actually included a somewhat similar scene in his directorial debut [[Bollywood/MunnabhaiMBBS Munnabhai M.B.B.S]] (the setting is a medical college, instead of an engineering college and Munnabhai, played by Creator/SanjayDutt is a well built goon who poses, showing off his muscles scaring the very out of shape sceniors.)

* RetroactiveRecognition: Joy Lobo is played by Ali Fazal, who later appeared on Film/Furious7 and famously played Guddu on the Amazon Prime web series WebSeries/{{Mirzapur}}.

* ValuesResonance: More than a decade later, the movie's themes of mental health hold up very well. It's specifically in the context of the (Indian) educational system breaking students' spirits to the point of high suicide rates, but it still resonates with a lot of other viewers, especially those from other Asian countries. Even more notable, as the film was released before the topic of mental health and suicide became popular in mainstream cinema.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The infamous Teacher's Day Speech by Chatur. This one contains a whole bag of tropes (EngineeredPublicConfession, CandidCameraPrank NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent being the notable ones).
** Actually it's a very important plot point as the speech is why Farhan and Raju are even looking for Rancho again in the first place. Angered by the humiliation and knowing Farhan and Rancho's hand in it, Chatur bets with Rancho to see who is more successful after ten years. Come to the movie's present day ten years later, Chatur calls Farhan and Raju to show off for the bet and thus takes them on their long-winded journey to find Rancho, so that particular act really serves some purpose for an BigLippedAlligatorMoment.

** Actually it's a very important plot point as the speech is why Farhan and Raju are even looking for Rancho again in the first place. Angered by the humiliation and knowing Farhan and Rancho's hand in it, Chatur bets with Rancho to see who is more successful after ten years. Come to the movie's present day ten years later, Chatur calls Farhan and Raju to show off for the bet and thus takes them on their long-winded journey to find Rancho
%%* RetroactiveRecognition: Ali Fazal as Joy Lobbo.

* {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}: The infamous Teacher's Day Speech by Chatur. This one contains a whole bag of tropes (EngineeredPublicConfession, CandidCameraPrank NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent being the notable ones).
* RetroactiveRecognition: Ali Fazal as Joy Lobbo.

* {{Big Lipped Alligator Moment}}: The infamous Teacher's Day Speech by Chatur. This one contains a whole bag of tropes (EngineeredPublicConfession, CandidCameraPrank NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent being the notable ones).