The Fourth Idiot!

For those who are unfamiliar with one of the greatest Bollywood productions which broke all Bollywood records by grossing $43 million in the first three weeks of its release (bbc.co.uk), the title refers to the "Three Idiots" movie which is undoubtedly one of my favorites of all time. Furthermore, the title also plays on the presence of "Three Idiots" in the musical performance with the Fourth Idiot being American which is ironically a shared identity of three different people with divergent lives.

Last night, I got to see another Idiot but this time the setting was not a movie cinema in Lahore but a theater in New York with the musical titled as the "American Idiot". I assure you that neither I nor Green Day have anything against America or the American people. In fact, the musical revolves around three friends who go their different ways in life and experience different aspects of life in the United States of America. Strictly speaking, its hard to pin down such turnarounds in life to any particular city or country for that matter. But, it can be reasonably argued that the issues raised in the musical are more relevant to life in America than any other country in the world.

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Spending my J-term in New York and doing a course on New York and Modernity, I am inclined to associate the theme of the musical I saw yesterday to life in New York. On the other hand, I am also quite certain that somebody is "walking down a lonely road" or is "on the boulevard of broken dreams" in almost every nook and corner of this modern world. While somebody "is in ruins", someone else is "having the time of his life" oblivious to the pain and difficulties of others. I do not know if I am stretching the point too much but I feel that the music of Green Day is not only directed at the topsy- turvy  lives of young people but some of it is also a bleak commentary on the selfishness of society in general.

Green Day is cool because its a punk band with an inherent modern outlook to its music and performances. These are some of the reasons I like Green Day and despite a 'not-so-strong' storyline according to some of my classmates, I highly recommend taking a trip to the Broadway musical "American Idiot" especially to those who like the kind of music produced by Green Day. It was definitely worth the $27 that my school paid for me and I would certainly buy one out of my own pocket as well.