FALTU is the Hindi version of American movie "Accepted" which released in 2006. Generally, both movies are handling the same subject of contemporary society issues concerning on education. While the two movies are about a group of friends who are all rejected from university and therefore come out with the idea of forming the university of their own, there are also some similarities and differences between the two films that are worth mentioning:
SIMILARITIES
1. Themes
Both movies are emphasizing on following one's dreams by criticizing on the educational system nowadays that works only for turning people into robots and get them into the labor market. Both movies are based on the same idea that children nowadays have become a victim of cruel education system, and so they have to study very hard even though they are still not sure about what they really wants in life. As the world has approached more on the liberal ways, freedom of choice has become more interesting. Therefore, these two films has worked as a loudspeaker speaking out contemporary global students' minds.
DIFFERENCES
1. Cultural aspect shown in the films
F.A.L.T.U - In the scene where the main characters got flashback to their possible future if they were not going to college (00:29:05 to 00:29:30), Ritesh saw himself becoming a servant/cleaner; Puja saw herself got into an arranged marriage; and Nanj saw himself being spanked by his father.
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| Puja being terrified just by imagining herself being part of an arrange marriage |
From this it is interesting because those visions are based on Indian culture and therefore we were not seeing these in an American version. Puja is a symbol of a contemporary Indian women who would rather go to college than getting married in such young age with a man whom she barely knows. This is the issue in which Indian society has been facing for centuries. Meanwhile, Nanj portrays Eastern culture where parents still punish their children with the old ways of spanking or physical harm, something that is rarely be seen anymore in the western world. In case of Ritesh, it signifies the caste system in Indian society where uneducated person will become as low as the cleaner. The same value cannot be portrayed in the western version due to the concept of equality among people and thus none of the occupations should be looked down on.
2. Commercialization
Accepted - The film is more commercialized compare to F.A.L.T.U; to begin with, there is a romantic relationship happens between main characters. While F.A.L.T.U are pursuing more on the friendship aspects among the 3 friends, Accepted has added romantic elements between Bartleby and Monica in order to get broader scope of audience.
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While Puja in FALTU worrying about arrange marriage, Accepted is
romanticizing the atmosphere by pairing up Bartleby and Monica |
Next is the addition of a villain or a "bad guy" to stir up the mood in the show. Abernathy has symbolized the children whi has turned themselves into the "system" or the flow of labor force. in other words, Abernathy is the symbol of "perfection", or the ideal student that will become an efficient personnel of the society in the future. This has contrasted to the main characters who symbolized "failure", "loser" or "unconventional". Nevertheless, the film has then showed that in the end everyone should has an option to do what s/he loves. In the world nowadays, creativity and motivation are important and therefore the film has reflected the needs of the society to understand more on the youth.
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| confrontation between Bartleby and Abernathy |
3. Curriculum
F.A.L.T.U - the curriculum in this film is based majorly on vocational path such as barber, chef, fashion designer, and so on. The students here seemed to be still attached to the reality that although they can do what they want, they still need to be professional for a secure future. In the scene from 1:25:00 onward we can see all the students in the hall that separated into sections: tattoo art, cooking, hairdressing, fashion designing and so on. In this we can see that the curriculum does has its limit to not going outside the box as much as in Accepted.
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| Tattooing department |
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| Cooking department with hairdressing department in the back |
Accepted - the curriculum is more liberal and absurd. It is based entirely on the needs of the students who does not want to go to college but the value of the society forces them too. In here we will see many unconventional subjects such as Foreign Affairs: Hooking up overseas, doinf nothing 405, wingman-ing 101 and so on. The curriculum showing here is rather satirical to the current education system globally. The students in S.H.I.T look entirely gave up on education to pursue what they really wants. In this sense it seems that students here ahs been taught to understand the living philosophy rather than academic proficiency for the future.
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| The curriculum is freely based on student's need, but should this has limit? |
To conclude this part, in both films show ideal universities in which students can learn what they really wants. However, I believe it is the culture that made the two films turning out different. While Accepted has showed the mock-up curriculum that satirically based on the normal curriculum in almost every universities, F.A.L.T.U has showed the curriculum that are partly similar to those in the normal universities, only that it based on students' preferences.
