Thank you, Rajkumar Hirani. While you might not have done a director’s commentary on the 3 Idiots DVD that was released today here in the US from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, nor did you include a full-on “making of” documentary type feature that was an hour or two in length, what you did do was include four featurettes that serve as a wonderful little amuse bouches for what either of those might have been.  You left me wanting more, which is, I suppose, better than the contrary.

The most engaging of the four extra features directed by Karan Narvekar, for me, is Idiots in Ladakh.  This may be partially due to the fact that I’ve had an obsession with Ladakh since 1998 when I first caught a glimpse of it in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.  To my delight, several films since have also made the trek there (Bose-The Forgotten Hero, LOC Kargil, Lakshya, The Fakir of Venice, Tashan).  How can you not be mesmerized by this place? 

But ok, my obsession aside, the short film is a little drama in itself, as it tells of the episode the cast and crew had when they all went to Ladakh to shoot.  They had established themselves in a tent village of their own, with trucks and trucks of equipment, etc.  Just as they were about to start shooting, clouds rolled in and they had to stop.  One member of the team, a costume assistant, fell ill due to the altitude while the cast were trying to keep warm and distract themselves with card games and the like.  They got a doctor and took care of her, but no sooner had they done that, then it started to snow, lightly at first, and then it really came down.  I won’t spoil the rest of the story for you, but this featurette gave a facinating glimpse into the behind-the-scenes aspect of the making of 3 Idiots.

The subsequent three – All Izz Well, 100% Idiots and Making of Miss Idiot – contain similarly interesting episodes, about the choreography & shooting of the song, of a drunk scene in the film, and about getting the right look for Kareena Kapoor, and the sum total of them plus the Ladakh short are so enjoyable they’ll leave you wishing Raju Hirani had done a longer “making of” feature and/or a director’s commentary.  Maybe next time…yes, Raju?