History Film / ThreeIdiots

* ExpospeakGag: {{Invoked|Trope}} as an indirect form of IronicEcho. During [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MlkASchodc the "What is a machine?" scene]], Chantur recites the textbook definition of a machine in response to the professor telling Rancho to define a machine (which he does, but in layman's terms), and Rancho is told to GetOut for questioning ICE's teaching methods. Cue this interaction:

''(The class, Chantur excluded, laughs even harder)''

** Virus, very much so. [[TookALevelInKindness Fortunately, he got better as shown in the ending of the chronological timeline in which he bonds with his students and acknowledges Rancho as a worthy student.]]

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Virus' son, who failed to enter the Imperial College four times, is mentioned during the opening ceremony as a quick joke to establish Virus' SadistTeacher persona. Then he's mentioned midway during [[spoiler:Virus' KickTheDog moment against Joy that leads to the latter's suicide]]. Finally, in the climax, [[spoiler:Pia brings up her brother's death--actually suicide by pressure because he wanted to become a writer, not an engineer -- as part of her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her father, leading her to storm out of the house and making her unable to help Mona give birth. Had the trio already left ICE before they saw Mona in labor inside the car, Virus' actions against Raju to have him expelled out of petty revenge due to losing the bet with Rancho might've been one hell of a LaserGuidedKarma.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: [[WorldOfSnark Almost everyone.]]

'''Suhas:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext MY 1.5 LAKH SHERWANI!]] ''My $3000 suit!''

* GroinAttack: Rancho delivers an [[IncrediblyLamePun electrifying]] one to a senior in college. [[spoiler:A decade later, Rancho's students do the same to Chatur.]]

* IAteWhat: While Farhan and Rancho are eating the roti made by Raju's mother, Raju's paralyzed father suddenly starts making sounds asking to be scratched. Raju's mother uses ''the same rolling pin she was making roti with'' to scratch her husband's chest, and the audience is treated to [[{{Squick}} a shot of chest hair still on the rolling pin]] as she starts flattening another roti. Farhan and Rancho are gagging at the sight and when their friend's mother asks if they want more roti, they are quick to turn it down.
* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:The imposter known as Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad is referred to as Chhote by his employers, the Chanchad family, while his real name is the famous scientist Phunsukh Wangdu.]]
* IHaveYourWife: That's how Farhan and Raju subdue [[spoiler:the real Ranchoddas Chanchad]]--by grabbing the urn containing his deceased father's ashes.
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler:Pia's nephew was thought dead, but Rancho's {{Catchphrase}} revives him!]]
* InSeriesNickname: "Silencer" for Chatur, "Virus" for Prof. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, [[spoiler:"Chhote" for the fake Rancho aka Phunsukh Wangdu]].

** In the narrative timeline, [[spoiler:while Virus is understandably pissed that Raju gatecrashed his daughter's wedding like what he did back when he was a student, it's quite benevolent that he didn't blow up and instead let his eldest daughter Mona restrain him. He also seems to let Pia go after she decides to call off the wedding, if not a bit done dealing with the madness that the eponymous trio casted upon him.]]

* RoadTripPlot: Most of the present day scenes.

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Invoked when one of the teachers seems more impressed by Chatur giving an overly complicated definition of the word 'machine' memorized from a textbook instead of Rancho's simplified one, so in response, Rancho gives one himself when wanting to go collect his books.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Joy Lobo, a senior engineering student during the trio's early years at ICE and heavily implied to be admired by Rancho due to their shared passion for machines, to the point that Rancho feels depressed by Joy's suicide. Virus' unfair treatment of Joy that lead to his death prompts the mostly one-sided enmity between Rancho and Virus over their clashing philosophies about education in ICE, which Rancho deems to be inhumane and nonconductive for teaching and learning. While Rancho shoots the message and not the messenger himself, [[ItsPersonal it becomes a personal vendetta for Virus, who does everything in his power to bring the trio down by all means necessary.]]

** During their confrontation against [[spoiler:the real Ranchodas, Farhan and Raju are clearly scared out of their wits of being held at gunpoint, but their desire to uncover the truth in regards to their BestFriend outweighs that fear enough to steal the urn that contains the ashes of Ranchodas' father as a hostage. They are also shown to be accepting to the revelation that their best friend's an imposter.]]
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: [[spoiler:The imposter known as "Ranchodas Chanchad" (the servant of the Chanchad family and Farhan and Raju's long-lost best friend) and Phunsukh Wangdu (the scientist that Chatur wants to sign an important deal for his business) are the same person. Phunsukh Wangdu is actually his true name.]]

* WalkingSpoiler: Two walking spoilers, in fact. It is impossible to further discuss Rancho, the long-lost college friend of Farhan and Raju, without spoiling the fact that [[spoiler:he is an imposter of the original Ranchodas Chanchad]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:the one who claims himself as Ranchodas Chanchad at Shimla is ''actually'' the real deal. This impersonation pretty much explains why the imposter cuts off all contact with his two closest friends and Pia.]]

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Virus' son, who failed to enter the Imperial College four times, is mentioned during the opening ceremony as a quick joke to establish Virus' SadistTeacher persona. Then he's mentioned midway during [[spoiler:Virus' KickTheDog moment against Joy that leads to the latter's suicide]]. Finally, in the climax, [[spoiler:Pia brings up her brother's death--actually suicide by pressure because he wanted to become a writer, not an engineer--as part of her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her father, leading her to storm out of the house and making her unable to help Mona give birth. Had the trio already left ICE before they saw Mona in labor inside the car, Virus' actions against Raju to have him expelled out of petty revenge due to losing the bet with Rancho might've been one hell of a LaserGuidedKarma.]]

* 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.

** The song ''Give Me Some Sunshine'' is this.

** Many puns in the film rely on a knowledge of both Hindi and English. As an example, while describing Raju's move to Chatur's room, Farhan makes a pun between the Hindi/Urdu word "safar" (meaning travel) and the English word "suffer", since both words sound similar.
** Another example is when an inebriated Farhan defaces Virus's nameplate and turns it into "Viru S buddhe". "Buddhe" is a semi-impolite way of referring to an elderly person.

'''Senior:''' (He) calls pissing, "urine expulsion"! [[SarcasmMode A true linguist in the land of engineers!]]
* BornDuringAStorm: [[spoiler: Mona goes into labor during a stormy night. Pia is unable to directly assist her sister's birth due to leaving the house after a fight with her father and Virus is unable to bring Mona to the hospital because of the streets being flooded. The storm also presents complications due to power outage, forcing the trio and their fellow students to grab lots of car batteries to power the common room, the computer to communicate with Pia via video conference for her to relay instructions, and most importantly the improvised ventouse. After Mona successfully gives birth, the weather turns sunny again.]]

** In the narrative timeline, [[spoiler: while Virus is understandably pissed that Raju gatecrashed his daughter's wedding like what he did back when he was a student, it's quite benevolent that he didn't blow up and instead let his eldest daughter Mona restrain him. He also seems to let Pia go after she decides to call off the wedding, if not a bit done dealing with the madness that the eponymous trio casted upon him.]]

-->'''Millimeter:''' Don't worry, [[{{Pun}} none of them bite.]]

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Virus' son, who failed to enter the Imperial College four times, is mentioned during the opening ceremony as a quick joke to establish Virus' SadistTeacher persona. Then he's mentioned midway during [[spoiler:Virus' KickTheDog moment against Joy that leads to the latter's suicide]]. Finally, in the climax, [[spoiler:Pia brings up her brother's death--actually suicide by pressure because he wanted to become a writer, not an engineer--as part of her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her father, leading her to storm out of the house and making her unable to help Mona give birth. Had the trio already left ICE before they saw Mona having her labor inside the car, Virus actions against Raju to have him expelled out of petty revenge due to losing the bet with Rancho might've been one hell of a LaserGuidedKarma.]]

* DeliveryGuy: Rancho, [[spoiler:when he not only delivers Mona's baby, but builds a vacuum extractor out of a vacuum cleaner and spare parts, to help the birth. All the men in the dorm help build it and get the electricity going. So arguably, they all have the role of delivery guy.]]

** Joy, a senior of the trio during their freshmen year after being told he won't graduate due to missing a project deadline despite having a justifiable reason (his father needed help).

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Joy Lobo, a senior engineering student during the trio's early years at ICE and heavily implied to be admired by Rancho due to their shared passion towards machines, to the point that Rancho feels depressed by Joy's suicide. Virus' unfair treatment of Joy that lead to his suicide prompts the mostly one-sided enmity between Rancho and Virus over their clashing philosophies about education in ICE, which Rancho deems to be inhumane and nonconductive for teaching and learning. While Rancho shoots the message and not the messenger himself, [[ItsPersonal it becomes a personal vendetta for Virus, who does everything in his power to bring the trio down by all means necessary.]]

* AnchoredShip: Rancho and Pia during the college days. [[spoiler:Although Rancho has feelings for Pia, his use of a fake identity prevents him from returning Pia's affections. Fortunately, they are reunited at the end.]]
* AngerBornOfWorry: [[spoiler:Pia, Farhan, and Raju understandably go all violent after reuniting with Rancho. [[SlapSlapKiss Pia slaps him before kissing him after Rancho reaffirming his feelings for her]]. Meanwhile, Farhan and Raju get physically confrontational at their long-lost friend to release their pent-up frustrations until those feelings are finally replaced with happiness and share a [[GroupHug big hug together.]]]]

** "All is well". This serves as somehow a SurvivalMantra for the trio, especially if they're facing pressuring situations. In the climax of the movie, saying them even helps [[spoiler:awaken an apparently stillborn baby!]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Raju's (thankfully failed) suicide attempt]] is foreshadowed multiple times. One of them is [[spoiler:Rancho and Farhan jokingly giving him a little nudge off the edge of a building in brief scene for ''All Is Well'' number]], then later on a scene where the camera lingering on [[spoiler:Raju as he drunkenly jumps out of Pia and Mona's bedroom window. His later suicide attempt is by jumping out of a window.]]

** Rancho is Id. He is a headstrong, brave, and emotional individual who wants others to follow their heart rather than what others and the society expects of them. Sometimes he bites more than he chew by his rebellious actions [[spoiler:that can possibly blow up his real identity and failing to know the flaw of his logic of using a pencil instead of space pen in a zero-gravity environment can be dangerous]], but overall a well-intentioned individual.
** Farhan is Ego. He balances Rancho's tendency to break the rules but at the same time knowing its risks like Raju and usually play it safe, and is the first one who put Rancho's ideas by heart. Fitting for being the narrator and telling the film on his POV.
** Raju is Superego. He likes organization, stability and more down-to-earth compared to Rancho which the two have the usual conflict between their types during their PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure moment while Farhan mediates between the two. His tendency to stick to the rules is what negates him to jump outside his comfort zone due of his fear of failure and future until his CharacterDevelopment.
* {{Gasshole}}: Chatur, oh so much. Becomes a RunningGag. This earns him the EmbarrassingNickname "Silencer".

* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:The imposter known as Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad is referred to as Chhote by the employers of the Chanchad family, but most especially his real name, the famous scientist Phunsukh Wangdu.]]

* InSeriesNickname: "Silencer" for Chatur, "Virus" for Prof. Viru Sahastrabuddhe. [[spoiler:"Chhote" to fake Rancho/Phunsukh Wangdu]].

* TheNicknamer: The trio nicknames Suhas, a RichBastard, as Price Tag. Meanwhile, Farhan and Rancho calls Raju's mother as Mother Teresa. To get back at them, especially at Farhan, Raju calls Farhan's father as Hitler Qureshi.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Viru Sahastrabuddhe is always called Virus. TheHero's [[spoiler:fake]] OverlyLongName is shortened to Rancho. Also. there's the TagalongKid Man Mohan who is always called Millimeter.

** "Life is a race. If you don't run fast or you'll be trampled."

* WardrobeWound: Rancho inflicts this on Pia's fiancé, Suhas, to show her how vain he is. Later used a second time by pretending Pia lost the watch Suhas bought her. [[spoiler:In the future, Raju continues the tradition by ruining his wedding robe. Knowing that Farhan failed in convincing Pia to elope due to her being kept in the dark about Rancho and his sudden disappearance leaving her wondering whether their relationship was just a dalliance to him, Raju uses the stained wedding robes and poses himself as the groom to convince Pia himself.]]

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Millimeter seems to be close to the trio [[spoiler:enough to accompany them during the trio's expulsion after Rancho and Farhan were caught by Virus for stealing the exam paper in behalf of Raju. And he seems to know Rancho's true identity in the present scenes since he works for him as his assistant.]]
* [[BestFriend Best Friends]]: It's clear that the eponymous trio are this, both in narrative and chronological timeline.

* BornDuringAStorm: [[spoiler: Mona's labor happened during a stormy night. Without Pia to assist her sister's birth due to leaving the house after her fight with her father, Virus was unable to bring Mona to the hospital because of the streets being flooded. The storm also presents complications due to power outage, forcing the trio and their fellow colleagues to grab lots of car batteries to power the common room, the computer to communicate with Pia via video conference for her to relay instructions, and most importantly the improvised ventouse. After the successful birth, the weather turns sunny again.]]

* TheCakeIsALie: Virus challenges Rancho to teach his engineering class. He has the students define a fictitious term to make a point about the proper method of teaching, by emphasizing how the students are just mindlessly memorizing the topic without understanding it at all.

** Two pranks within one. Chatur gets the librarian to write a speech for him to recite on Teacher's Day. Rancho and Farhan divert both Chatur (with a prank phone call) and the librarian (by telling him Virus was "remembering" him, which he understood as Virus calling him over), then changed some of the words in the speech. Chatur didn't even ask for the speech's translation and blindly memorized it, not knowing that it's full of vulgarity. HilarityEnsues.

** Rancho made an inverter that could draw out power from car batteries named after Virus in an attempt get out of Pia's wedding. [[spoiler:It ended up being helpful after the power outage, the inverter is used alongside the car batteries to power the common room and the improvised ventouse, for Mona's birth.]]

** The Fischer Space Pen, which Virus promised to give to a deserving student and which prompted Rancho to ask why a pencil wasn't used instead, which Virus can't answer. [[spoiler:Months before the graduation, Virus finally answers the question (broken pencil lead can cause all sorts of problems in a zero-gravity environment) as he gives the pen to Rancho, acknowledging him as a worthy student.]]

* ComebackTomorrow: In a much-delayed answer to Rancho's question about the Fischer Space Pen (why didn't they use a pencil), [[spoiler:four years later, after Rancho saves the stillborn child of Virus' elder daughter, Virus replies that when a pencil lead breaks in zero gravity on board spaceships, the graphite fragments can get into astronauts' eyes, and cause short circuits in the instruments. This symbolizes how both Virus and Rancho are similar in so many ways in regards of upholding their philosophies, that the former can't be wrong all the time ''just'' as the latter can't be right all the time.]]

* CreateYourOwnVillain: If Rancho didn't humiliate Chatur, the latter would have just left him alone. However, if Rancho didn't do that, the plot of finding him wouldn't happen because Chatur wanted to find Rancho to settle their rivalry. Farhan and Raju didn't manage to find Rancho for many years so they tag along with Chatur, [[spoiler:and along their way, find clues about their friend's true identity]].

* ExpospeakGag: {{Invoked|Trope}} as an indirect form of IronicEcho. During [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MlkASchodc the "What is a machine?" scene]], Chantur recites the textbook definition of a machine in response to Virus telling Rancho to define a machine (which he does, but in layman's terms), and Rancho is told to GetOut for questioning ICE's teaching methods. Cue this interaction:

'''Rancho:''' Instruments that record, analyse, summarize, organize, debate, and explain information which are illustrative, non-illustrative, hardbound, paperback, jacketed, non-jacketed, with forward introduction, table of contents, index that are indented for the enlightenment, understanding, enrichment, enhancement, and education of the human brain through sensory root of vision… sometimes touch.\\

* ForegoneConclusion: The titular trio are known to have graduated and are living comfortable lives in the present day. So when [[spoiler:Raju attempts suicide or Virus expels the trio for trying to get the answers to his rigged exam, the viewers will know that they will make it out fine.]]

** [[spoiler:Another moment is when the trio is eating at Raju's house. His mother is constantly complaining about prices because of the family's low income. When Raju has enough and tells her to quiet down, she voices her frustration about working and now having to "take the vow of silence", Raju storms out in frustration and his mother breaks into tears. Farhan narrates that he and Rancho were in a dilemma, do they console their friend or his family? They decide not to do anything about it. This foreshadows the SadisticChoice Virus sets upon Raju, sell out his friend Rancho on that night or accept his punishment and break his family's heart and hopes. Raju cannot chose and thus throws himself out of a window to escape his dilemma.]]

* FreudianExcuse: {{Subverted|Trope}} with Virus. At first it seems like the reason he's so angry all the time is that his son was DrivenToSuicide after failing to pass in ICE, but then at the end it's revealed that [[spoiler:Virus was ''always'' like this and his son died from suicide because Virus crushed his dreams of becoming a writer, in an effort to evade the truth that even his life philosophy is flawed, especially when Rancho bested him at the final year in his college days. Realizing this is a major part of his later HeelRealization.]]

* IAteWhat: While Farhan and Rancho are eating the roti made by Raju's mother, Raju's paralyzed father suddenly starts making sounds asking to be scratched. Raju's mother uses ''the same rolling pin she was making roti with'' to scratch her husband's chest, and the audience is treated to [[{{Squick}} a shot of chest hair still on the rolling pin]] as Raju's mother starts flattening another roti. Farhan and Rancho are gagging at the sight and when their friend's mother asks if they want more roti they are quick to turn it down.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler:Pia's nephew was thought dead, but Rancho's CatchPhrase revives him!]]

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: When Pia decides to [[spoiler:call off her wedding and run off with Raju and Farhan to reunite with Rancho]], music starts playing as Farhan, Raju, Pia, and a bound Chatur take off in their car while the guests and Pia's family look on, only for Virus to stop the music in annoyance by covering the horn that one of the [[spoiler:wedding's]] musician was playing with.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Heavily implied when Rancho first encounters Pia when he and his friends crash her sister's (and Virus' eldest daughter's) wedding.

* PerpetualPoverty: Raju. He seems to have grown out of this in the future, given how he starts in the present timeline as someone who lives in a well-furnished house befitting for a wealthy executive.
* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: Raju briefly has this when Virus threatens to expel him if the he continues to be friends with Rancho. He moves to Chatur's dorm room for several weeks and avoids Farhan and Rancho, even when he finds their sabotage of Chatur's speech ActuallyPrettyFunny. Then Rancho risks breaking the law to take Raju's sick father to the hospital on board a motorcycle. Cue a tearful ManHug and Raju decides to stick it to the man in favor for sticking up with Rancho.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Alongside CallingTheOldManOut, Pia gives her father a ''well-deserved'' one after he expels the trio, confessing that she had a hand in their expulsion by giving them the key to his office at ICE and wishes she did the same with her elder brother. Pia points out every single flaw of her father's philosophy that led two men to die, including his own son, because Virus didn't care about their feelings, other than their desire for validation and adherence to his philosophy, no matter how flawed it is. To top it off, Pia calls her their deaths ''murder'', not suicide, implying that [[YouKilledMyFather she does see her father as her brother's killer]], leaving Virus deeply shaken as Pia storms out.]]
* TheReveal: Several ones, but the biggest one is that [[spoiler:the Rancho that Farhan and Raju know throughout their years at Imperial College of Engineering isn't really the real Rancho. He is just a servant named Phunsukh Wangdu/Chhote who was being ordered by his employer to pose himself as his son (the real Rancho) in order to pocket the degree in his name, which he agreed to due to his strong desire to study. This act of impersonation explains why he disappears from his best friends' lives shortly after his graduation. His fate in the present timeline is being a schoolteacher in Ladakh, alongside being a famous scientist and a business magnate.]]

* SavedByCanon: [[spoiler:Viewers will know that Raju will survive his suicide and recovers physically and psychologically since he's alive and well in the present day scenes.]]
* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler:The trio and the volunteer engineering students help deliver Mona Sahastrabuddhe, Virus' eldest daughter, in the university storeroom, using [[NoodleImplements an inverter, a vacuum cleaner and a car battery]] to provide power and construct a vacuum pump after she's too tired to push anymore.]]

** An idea of Virus's "life is a race" philosophy that he teaches to his students. One speech he gives to the students is asking who was the first man to go on the moon, to which the students easily answer Neil Armstrong. He then asks who was the second man, which nobody knows. Virus says that he is not important and "nobody remembers who is second."

* SecretlyWealthy: Rancho, whose father's monthly income is apparently ''two and a half crore rupees''.[[note]]25 million rupees, or approximately US$500,000 at the time the movie was released[[/note]] [[spoiler:It's not actually his family's, but Rancho still ends up rich by his own means ten years later.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Joy Lobo, a senior engineering student during the trio's early years at ICE and heavily implied to be admired by Rancho due to their shared passion towards machines, to the point that Rancho feels depressed by Joy's suicide. Virus' unfair treatment of him that lead to the said student suicide prompts the mostly one-sided enmity between Rancho and Virus in regards of their clashing philosophies about education in ICE, which Rancho deems to be inhumane and nonconductive for teaching and learning. While Rancho shoots the message and not the messenger himself, [[ItsPersonal it becomes a personal vendetta for Virus who does everything in his power to bring the trio down, by all means necessary.]]

* SupportingProtagonist: Farhan is the narrator, but the film is all about Rancho, even if Farhan does play a big part. He tells the story in order to explain why they're more than willing to throw everything just to find their other friend who disappeared without a trace after their graduation.

* TeenGenius: Rancho and Chatur, especially the former. The latter admitted that he didn't study to enjoy Science (or Engineering in particular).

* TokenEvilTeammate: More like token jerkass. Chatur serves as one during the present day scenes.
* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: The present timeline started around eight in the morning from Delhi to Shimla, which will take almost eight hours. When they arrive, it looks like it is still morning and they don't even take time to take a rest. Then after TheReveal, they set forth for Ladakh (from Shimla, it will take eighteen hours) but went to Manali first before going to Ladakh. It really take almost twenty-four hours, but it seems that it is still daylight during the present scenes or the viewers didn't see Farhan, Raju, or Chatur taking a break so this trope is still there.
* TrueCompanions: The eponymous trio. So much that Farhan and Raju travel from Delhi to Shimla (a whole state away) only to realize that [[spoiler:a RedHerring led them there and Rancho is really in Ladakh (which is a cold and barren desert, another couple of states away). They don't stop until they find him. And they quickly turn the car around and drive to Manali, 255km away and a six-hour drive in the other direction after hearing that Pia is getting married on that day to stop the wedding and steal the bride before going to Ladakh.]]
** The opening scene already shows how close-knit two of the trio are, even if Rancho, the very person that binds them together is gone for a decade: Farhan is on a flight about to take off when he receives news that Rancho has been found. He fakes a heart attack to force the plane to land. After bolting out of the airport, he hijacks a taxi to fetch Raju, who jumps on without wearing pants and also shows the same excitement as Farhan upon the opportunity of seeing Rancho again.

** During their confrontation against [[spoiler:the real Ranchodas, Farhan and Raju are clearly scared out of their wits of being on gunpoint, but their desire to uncover the truth in regards of their BestFriend outweighs that fear enough to steal the urn that contains the ashes of Ranchodas' father as a hostage. They are also shown to be accepting to the revelation that their best friend's an imposter.]]
* TwoAliasesOneCharacter: [[spoiler:The imposter known as "Ranchodas Chanchad" (the servant of the Chanchad family and Farhan and Raju's long-lost best friend) and Phunsukh Wangdu (the person that Chatur wants to sign an important deal for his business) are the same person. Phunsukh Wangdu is actually his true name.]]

* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Mentioned by Rancho when flirting with Pia, saying that her mother must've been so beautiful, because Pia is and... well, her Dad isn't what you'd call handsome.
* UnknownRival: Chatur has always been hell bent in defeating Rancho, but always fails. Rancho doesn't seems to care about Chatur either. He's attending ICE to learn, not to compete.
* WalkingSpoiler: Two walking spoilers, in fact. It is impossible to further discuss Rancho, the long-lost college friend of Farhan and Raju, without spoiling the fact that [[spoiler:he is an imposter of the original Ranchodas Chanchad]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:the one who claims himself as Ranchodas Chanchad at Shimla is ''actually'' the real deal. This impersonation pretty much explains why the imposter cuts off his contacts with his two closest friends and Pia.]]
* WardrobeWound: Rancho inflicts this on Pia's fiancé, Suhas, to show her how vain he is. Later used a second time by pretending Pia lost the watch Suhas bought her. [[spoiler:In the future, Raju continues the tradition by ruining his wedding robe. Knowing that Farhan failed in convincing Pia to elope due to being kept in the dark in regards to Rancho and his sudden disappearance leaving her wondering whether their relationship was just a dalliance to him, Raju uses the stained wedding robes and poses himself as the groom to convince Pia himself.]]

** Mr. Qureshi, who is the sole reason why Farhan even bothers to enter the Imperial College. Heck, ''since birth'' he has made his goal to see his son become an engineer. [[spoiler:Eventually, he relents and allows him to quit the school.]]
** [[spoiler:Virus was and is also revealed to be one. Him pressuring his son to become an engineer instead of a writer directly caused the latter's suicide. Later, when Mona becomes pregnant with a boy, he consults an astrologist and determines that he will become an engineer. Again, he eventually softens up and decides that his grandson would become anything the latter wants.]]

** Joy, a senior of the trio during their freshmen years after being told he won't graduate.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Joy Lobo, the senior engineering student during the trio's early years at ICE and heavily implied to be admired by Rancho due of their shared passion towards machines enough to feel depressed during his senior's funeral. Virus' unfair treatment of him that lead to the said student suicide prompts the mostly one-sided enmity between Rancho and Virus in regards of their clashing philosophies about education in ICE, which Rancho deems to be inhumane and nonconductive for teaching and learning. While Rancho shoots the message and not the messenger himself, [[ItsPersonal it's becomes a personal vendetta for Virus and does everything in his power to bring the trio down, by all means necessary.]]

* DisposableFiancee: Suhas, because he's a materialistic {{Jerkass}}. [[spoiler:Pia apparently reconciles with him ten years later after the graduation, though she leaves him at the altar.]]
* DopeSlap: Given to Chatur by Virus after the former recites the Teacher's Day speech edited by Rancho filled with words that made it offensive. Particularly the Sanskrit Verse at the end of the speech which is dedicated to Chatur's recurring farts thanks to his memorization pills.

** Joy, a senior of the trio during their freshmen years. [[spoiler:Later, Raju did it as well due of unwilling to choose between betraying his friends or letting his family down. Fortunately he was saved.]]

** Virus, very much so. [[TookALevelInKindness Fortunately, he got better as shown in the ending of the chronological timeline in which he bonds with his students and acknowledges Rancho as a worthy student.]] In the narrative timeline, [[spoiler: while he's understandably pissed that Raju gatecrashed his daughter's wedding like what he did back when he was a student, it's quite benevolent that he didn't blow up and instead let his eldest daughter Mona restrain him. He also seems to let Pia go after she decides to call off the wedding, if not a bit done dealing with the madness that the eponymous trio casted upon him.]]

** Pia's DisposableFiancee openly berates her every time he has a chance.
** [[spoiler:The real Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad. He even points a gun at Farhan and Raju when they discover that he pocketed the degree that their friend studied for under his name. However, it turns out that he [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold isn't entirely this trope]], since he truly regrets his behavior that forced his father to use the impostor in order to protect their family from shame and spare his son from society's insults he himself received. Knowing that Farhan and Raju are the friends that his servant's been speaking of fondly, he gives them his impostor's address as a way to thank his former employee for his efforts.]]

* WardrobeWound: Rancho inflicts this on Pia's fiance, Suhas, to show her how vain he is. Later uses it a second time by pretending Pia lost the watch he bought her. [[spoiler:In the future, Raju continues the tradition by ruining his wedding robe. Knowing that Farhan does fail on convincing Pia to elope due of being kept in the dark in regards to Rancho and his sudden disappearance left her wondering whether their relationship is a dalliance to him, Raju uses the stained wedding robes and poses himself as the groom to convince Pia himself.]]

** The Minister invited for the Teacher's Day function at the college, when Chatur is talking about Virus in the Teacher's Day speech in which he's laughing his ass off at Virus being called as a screwer/rapist. Until he starts talking about the Minister himself...

* TheAntagonist: Downplayed with Chatur. While he dislikes the trio due of their opposing philosophies, he ''didn't do'' anything to impede their progress, and to be fair the trio did fire the first shot that invokes Chatur's hatred towards them in the first place (e.g. the Teachers' Day incident). Played straight with Virus, who ''does'' everything to bring the trio down at opportunity.

* ArrangedMarriage: Not stated outright, but Pia's relationship with Suhas doesn't seem to be entirely voluntary. Even before she gets fed up by his materialistic nature and dumps him, she doesn't particularly enjoy his company when the two are attending Mona's wedding. She does break up with him with minimal furor, so... (though her family might never know about the breakup and assume the two only have a fight).[[spoiler:In the future, she has few regrets leaving him and their almost-wedding to find Rancho.]]

** After Rancho embarrasses him on Teacher's Day by editing the speech and made it offensive with Chatur mindlessly memorizing it, Chatur makes a bet with him on who will be more successful in the future in order to recover his wounded ego. It's not taken seriously by Rancho at the time, but it instigates the search for him in the present day. [[spoiler:Rancho wins, by virtue of being the famous scientist Chatur's company is seeking a contract with, much to Chatur's horror.]]
** Back in the college days during the class taking a class picture with Virus, Rancho declares that the his friends will get a job. Virus scoffs at that declaration, knowing that Farhan and Raju are dead lasts in the class ranking. Furthermore, he calls Govind, his assistant, to shave his mustache if anyone of the two gets a job. Which Govind does when Raju successfully lands a job in his interview despite his low grades.

** Many puns in the film rely on a knowledge of both Hindi and English. As an example, while describing Raju's move to Chatur's room, Farhan makes a pun between the Hindi/Urdu word ''safar'' (meaning travel) and the English word "suffer," since both words sound similar.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: InUniverse. Due to Chatur's poor Hindi due of being born and raised in Uganda, his translation makes his warning regarding the senior's intent of pissing on Rancho sound really silly. An English equivalent:

'''Senior:''' (He) calls pissing, ''urine expulsion''! [[SarcasmMode A true linguist in the land of engineers!]]
* BornDuringAStorm: [[spoiler: Mona's labor happened during a stormy night. Without Pia to assist her sister's birth due of leaving the house after her fight with her father, Virus wasn't unable to bring his daughter to the hospital due of the streets being flooded. The storm also presents complications due to power outage, forcing the trio and their fellow colleagues to grab lots of car batteries to power the common room, the computer to communicate with Pia via video conference for her to relay instructions, and most importantly the improvised ventouse. After the successful birth, the weather turns sunny again.]]

** The hazing ritual, where freshmen strip to their underwear and offer their butts to seniors for submission. [[spoiler:In a heartwarming spin, Farhan and Raju did this when they successfully did their part of the bet with Rancho by convincing his father to let him pursue photography (Farhan) and landing a job simply by [[BeYourself being himself]] (Raju). In a hilarious spin, when Rancho's real name is revealed as Phunsukh Wangdu and his dawning realization that Chatur just insulted the very guy he wanted to sign a pivotal deal for his company and that said guy is about to call off the deal, [[AintTooProudToBeg he performs the ritual to appease him.]]]]

* TheCakeIsALie: Virus challenges Rancho to teach his engineering class. He has the students define a fictitious term to make a point about the proper method of teaching, by emphasizing how the students just mindlessly memorizing the topic without understanding it at all.
* CallForward: At the beginning of the film, Chatur offers rum to Farhan and Raju. A scene in the college years shows the trio drinking to it.

** Two pranks within one. Chatur gets the librarian to write a speech for him to recite on Teacher's Day. Rancho and Farhan divert both Chatur (with a prank phone call) and the librarian (by telling him Virus was ''remembering'' him, which he understood as Virus ''calling'' him over), and then changed some of the words of the speech. Chatur didn't even ask what it means, but blindly memorized it, not knowing that the speech is full of vulgarity. HilarityEnsues.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Virus' son, who failed to enter the Imperial College four times, is mentioned during the opening ceremony as a quick joke to establish Virus' SadistTeacher persona. Then he's mentioned midway during [[spoiler:Virus' KickTheDog moment against Joy that leads to the latter's suicide]]. Finally, in the climax, [[spoiler:Pia brings up her brother's death--actually suicide by pressure--as part of her TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against her father, leading her to storm out of the house and making her unable to help Mona give birth. Had the trio already went out to the ICE sooner before they saw Mona having her labor inside the car, Virus actions against Raju to have him expelled out of petty revenge due of losing the bet with Rancho might be one hell of a LaserGuidedKarma.]]

** The mint sauce. It was first used by Rancho on Suhas' shoes to show his shallow and gaudy personality to Pia. [[spoiler:It's later used by Raju for the same purpose (to show Pia that Suhas' personality hasn't changed) and also to distract Suhas long enough for Farhan and Raju to steal away with Pia.]]

** In his first day, Rancho was being threatened by a senior to get his door pissed on. He pulls a [=McGyver=] and conducts a current to a spoon which conducted to the senior's piss. [[spoiler:His future students do the same thing when Chatur tries to pee on their building's wall.]]

* CoolTeacher: [[spoiler:Rancho ultimately becomes one. He teaches kids whenever he takes rest from his research.]]
* CreateYourOwnVillain: If Rancho didn't humiliate Chatur, he would have just left him alone. However, if he didn't do that, the plot of finding Rancho will not happen because Chatur managed to find him to settle their rivalry [[spoiler:and along their way, finding clues about Rancho's true identity]]. Farhan and Raju didn't manage to find Rancho for many years so they tag along with Chatur.

* DeliveryGuy: Rancho,[[spoiler:when he not only delivers Mona's baby, but builds a vacuum extractor out of a vaccume cleaner and spare parts, to help the birth. All the men in the dorm help build it and get the electricity going. So arguably, they all have the role of delivery guy.]]

* DopeSlap: Given to Chatur by Virus after the former recites the teacher's day speech edited by Rancho filled with words that made the speech offensive. Particularly the Sanskrit Verse at the end of the speech which is dedicated to Chatur's recurring farts thanks to his memorization pills.

* {{Gasshole}}: Chatur, oh so much. Becomes a RunningGag. This earns him the nickname Silencer.

* IHaveManyNames: [[spoiler:The imposter known as Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad is known as Chhote by the employers of the Chanchad family, but most especially his real name, the famous scientist Phunsukh Wangdu.]]
* IHaveYourWife: That's how Farhan and Raju subdue [[spoiler:the real Ranchoddas Chanchad]]- by grabbing the urn containing his deceased father's ashes.

* IronicEcho: "Hey... TakeThat" [[spoiler:Few minutes after Chatur insulted the reunited trio, it immediately bite him in the ass in the ending when he learned ''who'' is Phunsukh Wangdu. Farhan and Raju waste no time throwing all Chatur's insults against them back on his face.]]

** Virus, very much so. [[TookALevelInKindness Fortunately, he got better as shown in the ending of the chronological timeline in which he bonds with his students and acknowledging Rancho as a worthy student.]] In the narrative timeline, [[spoiler:in which while he's understandably pissed that the Raju crashed at his daughter's wedding like what he did back when he was a student, it's quite benevolent that he didn't blow up and let his eldest daughter Mona restrain him. He also seems to let Pia go after she made her decision to call off the wedding, if not a bit done dealing with the madness that the eponymous trio casted upon him.]]

** [[spoiler:The real Ranchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad. He even points a gun at Farhan and Raju when they find that he pocketed the degree that their friend studied for under his name. Turns out that he isn't entirely this trope in the first place, since he truly regrets it (that forced his father to use the impostor in order to protect their family from shame and spare his son from insults he himself received). Knowing that Farhan and Raju are the friends that his servant's been speaking of fondly, he gives his impostor's address to Farhan and Raju as a way to thank his former employee for his efforts.]]

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: When Pia decides to [[spoiler:call off the her wedding and run off with Raju and Farhan to reunite with Rancho]], music starts playing as the Farhan, Raju, Pia, and a bounded Chatur take off in their car while the guests and Pia's family looks on, only for Virus to stop the music in annoyance by covering the horn that one of the [[spoiler:wedding's]] musician was playing with.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Heavily implied when Rancho first encounters Pia when he and his friends crashed her sister (and Virus' eldest daughter)'s wedding.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: PlayedForLaughs. Pia loves Rancho, but she wants to keep her maiden name if they got married since Chanchad is weird (at least in her opinion). [[spoiler:She feels the same upon learning of his true name.]]

* TheNicknamer: The trio nicknames Suhas, a [[RichBitch Rich Bastard]], as Price Tag. Meanwhile, Farhan and Rancho calls Raju's mother as Mother Teresa. To get back at them, especially at Farhan, Raju calls Farhan's father as Hitler Qureshi.

* OhCrap: Chatur, in the end, has this reaction [[spoiler:when he realizes that Phunsukh Wangdu, the scientist he was looking to secure a lucrative business deal with in the present day scenes, is none other than his old college nemesis, Rancho, who he had earlier mocked to his face about being a school teacher.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:Alongside CallingTheOldManOut, Pia gives her father a ''well-deserved'' one after he expels the trio and confesses that she had a hand over their expulsion by giving them the key to his office at ICE. She points out every single flaw of her father's philosophy that lead two men to die, including his own son (Pia's older brother), because he didn't care about their feelings other than their desire for validation, and their adherence to her father's philosophy, no matter how flawed it is. To top it off, she calls their deaths as ''murder'', not suicide, implying that [[YouKilledMyFather she does see her father as her brother's killer]], leaving Virus deeply shaken as Pia storms out.]]
* TheReveal: Several ones, but the biggest one is that [[spoiler:the Rancho that Farhan and Raju know throughout their years at Imperial College of Engineering isn't really the real Rancho. He is just a servant named Phunsukh Wangdu/Chhote who was being ordered by his employer to pose himself as his son (the real Rancho) in order to pocket the degree in his name, in which he accepted due of his strong desire to study. This act of impersonation explains why he disappears from his best friends' lives shortly after his graduation. His fate in the present timeline is being a school teacher in Ladakh, alongside being a famous scientist and a business magnate.]]

** An idea of Virus's "life is a race" philosophy that he teaches to his students. One speech he gives to the students is asking who was the first man to go on the moon, to which the students easily answer Neil Armstrong. He then asks who was the second man which nobody knows and Virus says that he is not important and that "nobody remembers who is second."

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Invoked when one of the teachers seems more impressed by Chatur giving an overly complicated definition of the word 'machine' memorized from a textbook instead of Rancho's simplified one, so in response Rancho gives one himself when wanting to go collect his books.

* SkewedPriorities: [[spoiler:Farhan and Raju are both shocked to learn that Rancho/Chhote's real name is Phunsukh Wangdu and asking confirmation whether he happens to be the same great scientist that Chatur was talking about with over 400 patents, ''while'' Pia is in panic stating she doesn't like having her name changed to Pia '''Wangdu''' after marrying him.]]

* {{Ubermensch}}: Rancho openly defies all the systems of his university from ''day one'' starting from standing up against an abusive senior up to clashing with the director himself. And he's a brilliant enough student to pull it off.

* UnknownRival: Chatur has always been hell bent in defeating Rancho, but always fail. Rancho doesn't seems to care about Chatur either. He's attending ICE to learn, not to compete.

* OldMaid: Raju's elder sister is [[ChristmasCake twenty-eight and unmarried]], a major cause of worry for their mother.

'''Rancho:''' Instruments that record analyses summarize organize debate and explain information which are illustrative non-illustrative, hardbound paperback jacketed non-jacketed with forward introduction, table of contents, index that are indented for the englightnment, understanding enrichment enhancement and education of the human brain through sensory root of vision… sometimes touch.\\

* FreudianExcuse: {{Subverted|Trope}} with Virus. At first it seems like the reason he's so angry all the time is that his son was DrivenToSuicide after failing to pass in ICE, but then at the end it's revealed that [[spoiler:Virus was ''always'' like this and his son committed suicide because Virus crushed his dreams of becoming a writer, in an effort to evade the truth that even his life philosophy is flawed, especially when Rancho bested him at the final year in his college days. Realizing this is a major part of his later HeelRealization.]]

* GrayRainOfDepression: It is raining during Joy Lobo's funeral, the senior who committed suicide and another victim of Virus' harsh and unfair doctrine.

** The trio are leading the college in [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic "Aal Izz Well"]] and trying to rebuild the helicopter design of a friend, Joy. At the end of the song, they finally build it, stick a camera on it and fly it up to his room window only to see... [[spoiler:Joy hanging from the ceiling, having committed suicide and the words "I QUIT" written on the wall in spray-paint.]]

* SadistTeacher: Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe. The pressure he placed on his students was so reprehensible, it pushed three men commit suicide, [[spoiler:one of them being his own son and later Raju.]]

** The trio discovering that [[spoiler:their senior Joy committed suicide.]]

'''Rancho:''' Instruments that record analyses summarize organize debate and explain information which are illustrative non-illustrative, hardbound paperback jacketed non-jacketed with forward introduction, table of contents, index that are indented for the englightnment, understanding enrichment enhancement and education of the human brain thru sensory root of vision… sometimes touch.\\