Many people have written in this answer that the movie was exaggerated. This is completely true and one should take movies with a pinch of salt. Having said that, there are a number of other things that the movie has portrayed. If you want to judge a movie like 3 idiots which claims to send a social message, we should judge the movie by the message that it sends and how it does so. So here goes:

1. The protagonist of the movie is portrayed as a person who is interested in knowing things. He does not care about a degree, and is shown to be quite successful nonetheless. So the first thing that movie tells us is – your degree does not matter, your knowledge and the ability to apply it in the practical world matters more.
2. We also see a number of students in the film, primarily Chatur Ramalingam, who are studying simply for the exams. These characters memorise whatever is told, without appreciating the true meaning of it. So the movie is trying to say that you should not simply memorise things like a robot, but take the trouble to understand a subject.
3. The movie further goes on to say that we should not be obsessed by symbols – such as clearing an exam, or getting selected in a premier institute, or being the ‘number one’ student in the class (imagine Viru Sahastrabuddhe’s obsession with ranks) . The movie tells us that it doesn’t matter what college you are in or whether you are first in the class, provided you are truly understanding the spirit of something.
4. Several characters in the movie (Raju, primarily) are shown as being afraid of studies and unnecessarily wary about exams. They seem to be losing focus from things that actually matter. Hence, the story is trying to say that we shouldn’t be afraid of studies, which will inevitably happen if we place too much emphasis on exams.
5. Lastly, we see a number of characters who were forced into fields that they did not want to study (Farhan, Viru’s son) and therefore are not working hard enough. This is true indeed. Of course the movie tells us that we should try and get into fields that we really like, and parents should not force their children to get into fields that they don’t like.
6. I didn’t understand what major purpose Kareena Kapoor fulfilled in the film except looking hot and reminding Viru how fucked up he was as a dad, but this isn’t a sexism related answer so we will let it go. Perhaps she was there to remind us that we should not be brand conscious and that we should marry someone only for true love. But whatever.

Now, I personally don’t disagree with any of the messages that the film portrayed. Nobody could possibly disagree with any of these things, it’s a noble thought and one that our country needs to understand carefully.

But my problem was that the movie did not properly send across the messages that it wanted to send across. Many people were misled into believing a number of things after watching the film, and that’s the problem:

1. The movie says that “if you follow your passion”, life gets sorted out automatically. Think of how Farhan just happened to get that offer from the wildlife photographer when he needed to, and then he is quite successful. I am not saying that Farhan could not be successful, but the movie should have taken care to show his struggles as well.
   
   The movie just skipped over the hard part and jumped over to when Farhan was successful. Where were his days of struggle when he regretted his career choice? When he felt bad for letting go of engineering? When he felt bad seeing his friends rich and successful?
   
   Don’t tell me those times don’t come. They always do. And it’s at these times when a person should show intense commitment towards his goal. It’s at these times when his attitude matters. It’s how a person manages his emotions that determines his success or failure. If the movie wanted to convince people to follow their passion, then it should have shown how the lead character gets through his struggle period. That is a dose of motivation.
2. Further, the movie wanted to tell us that you will be successful if you focus only on the knowledge and not the degree. This is fair enough, in fact I have written about it so many times myself. But we didn’t get to see that.
   1. We see Rancho ridiculing almost everything about the institution, including peeing on the teacher’s doorstep. The movie came across as desperate. No, not everything is bad about colleges.
   2. Rancho is a very good, inquisitive engineer, we get that. But we don’t see him struggle at all. Nobody said that “being interested in something” means that you don’t have to struggle one bit. It would have been better if they did not make Rancho the topper, because that would have sent across a stronger message than just, “oh, he’s so great!”
   3. The movie did a total deus-ex-machina with Raju, when he just happened to get the job after all the bullshit he says at the interview. I would have liked it better if Raju fails in the exams, does not get a job, stays back a year, works hard this time, and then manages to succeed. It is more realistic and relatable.

You see, the movie was trying to tell us a good message, but it failed because we did not get the message. People who struggled with studies still struggle. The only message people got from the movie is “Indian education system sucks” and nothing beyond that.

These characters and their problems were relatable at so many levels (a poor guy from a poor family, a person trying to do something else but stuck in engineering etc.), but it manages to do nothing substantial from there on.

Tell me honestly, what actionable motivation does a person get from 3 idiots? Does a person who wanted to start something of his own get an inspiration from Farhan? No, because Farhan just “happened to” succeed and he is a fictional character. Same with Raju who just “happened to” get the job since he has the advantage of being in a movie and not in actual life.

3 idiots tried to bring a revolution in the education industry.

It was a nice try. But unfortunately, it ended up being an excuse for all engineering students to channel their frustration and feel good for a change, and then go back to their miserable lives.

Oh, but it did a great business at the Box Office.