Fourth Dimension

Biswaroop Roy Chowdhry,a Guinness world record holder for strong memory,is clearly smitten by the film 3 Idiots. He’s made a short animation film,The 4th Idiot which was screened in schools,colleges and hospitals (not in theatres) in May,inviting a legal notice for copyright violations from Vidhu Vinod Chopra,the producer of 3 Idiots. Undeterred,Chowdhury last week launched a work book called The 4th Idiot. “3 Idiots asks people to strive for excellence; we equip people with skills to attain that excellence,” he says,adding that both his film and the book take off from where the blockbuster ends. When contacted,Chopra’s office said that they are not planning to take the case to court at present,and would not comment further on the issue.

While Chowdhury’s film has characters from 3 Idiots like Phunsuk Wangdu and is narrated by Omi Vaidya of Chatur fame,the book (Diamond Books,Rs 150) just makes use of the title without any connection to the movie. It has 69 mind techniques and is available in six languages. An online learning forum called “The Fourth Idiot School” has also been started by Chowdhury. About the legal notice,he adds,“Our movie takes inspiration from the ideas that are propagated in 3 Idiots,there’s no violation of copyrights.” Chowdhury is also planning to release an advanced 3D version of his film in theatres this Diwali.