Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad

Ranchoddas Chanchad (also known as Phunsukh Wangdu and Chhote) was the third member of the '3 Idiots' gang, the other two being Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi. He went missing after graduation and cut off all contacts with his friends from college for the next ten years. This continued until his two friends traveled across India looking for him, while recalling the times the three of them spent together in college.

Appearance
Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad, nicknamed Rancho, is the shortest member among the '3 idiots' gang. He has trimmed black hair and is often found wearing casual T-shirts, even in his graduation photograph. He is shown to use glasses 10 years after his college graduation.

Personality
During his college years, Rancho was shown to have a brilliant personal philosophy, especially in terms of education. Unlike both Chatur and Dr Sahastrabuddhe's philosophy, he believes that someone should not chase success but rather excellence, because when someone chases for excellence, success will end up chasing a person too. His philosophy along with his outspoken attitude made him one of Dr Viru Sahastrabuddhe's least favorite students. On many occasions, Rancho got out of difficult situations and displayed his discontent with the school's methods and traditions in a variety of smart and hilarious ways which often caused confusion and panic among related students or teachers. However, his smart and 'out of the box' thinking was also often used to help others around him too, such as when he suggested to take Raju's father to the hospital using Pia's scooter due to the ambulance arriving late. He often consoles and 'rescues' his friends in dire situations, such as finding varieties of ways to wake Raju up from paralysis after an attempted suicide. He is kind and he cares for the well-being of his friends and others around him, including Dr. Sahastrabuddhe's daughters Mona and Pia, the latter of whom was stuck in an engagement with a materialistic banker named Suhas.

Besides his brilliant philosophy, Rancho is also an optimistic and passionate student. His quote 'all is well' is one of the driving forces of the movie, which can be seen in a lot of occasions where there seems to be no good outcome. Rancho also has a huge passion for machines, even going as far as to say that studying at ICE had been his childhood dream. He is also incredibly smart as he was able to do a 10th grade problem back when he was still in the 6th grade.

Despite his smartness and passion, Rancho was quite innocent in terms of love. Throughout the movie, he thought that noses might 'get in the way' when two people kissed. He also got confused in handling a drunken Pia who was trying to give him her father's office key, but ended up attempting a kiss on him. Even at the last scene, where Pia gave him his first kiss, he still remained confused on what to do and instead froze in an awkward and stiff position. Only after the kiss did he realize that noses did not 'get in the way' of kissing.

Past
Rancho first met his two friends Raju and Farhan at the first day of school. At that time, the seniors held a 'ceremony' in which all freshmen should strip down all of their clothing with the exception of their underwear as a sign of respect towards the seniors. At this time, Rancho arrived late at the hall, still fully clothed and carrying a heavy backpack, only to find a huge number of students doing odd gestures while clothed with only their underwear. To his dissatisfaction, the seniors asked him to undress too. At first, he didn't reply, so the seniors and Chatur Ramalingman, a fellow freshman, asked Rancho to undress. This was Rancho's first meeting with Chatur. Rancho, still rejecting this 'tradition', ran to his room to hide, while the senior, unhappy with this, asked Rancho to get out of his room unless he wants him to urinate on his room door each day. Upon hearing this, Rancho connects a spoon to an electric source and slips it out from the gap under the room door, causing his senior to get electrified when he finally urinated on the door. From the crowds, Farhan and Raju witnessed the event, impressed towards Rancho's ability to implement basic junior high knowledge about electricity in real life.

The scene continued with Dr Sahastrabuddhe visiting the dormitories for the first time to deliver an annual speech about the competitions in life. He showed everyone an astronaut's pen, a pen which can still function even in outer space, and urged everyone to work hard in order to get the best scores in ICE while mentioning that he will give the best student his unique pen. Upon this, Rancho raised his hand, asking why a pen needs to be used in outer space when a pencil can function with ease even in places with no gravity. Dr. Sahastrabuddhe, who at that time didn't knew the answer to Rancho's question ran out of the dormitory, enraged. This was the beginning of Dr Sahastrabuddhe's hatred for Rancho.

During Engineering class, Rancho was asked to define 'machine'. He went on and defined it in the simplest terms, giving out many examples including the fan and his pant zipper. His explanation, however, was rejected by the teacher, who proceeded to ask Chatur the same question and was given a 'wonderful' and 'fully from the book' response. Rancho, who felt that his teacher was being unfair, said that he was 'explaining the same thing, but with simpler terms', thinking that it's pointless to blindly cram a bookish definition. The teacher denied this, saying that 'if you're going to describe it in simple terms then go and take arts or language'. Rancho tried to gave out an argument, which resulted with him being 'kicked out' of class, but it didn't took him long to walk back into class as he claimed that he forgot something. His teacher asked him about the thing he forgot and Rancho replied by giving a full and complete definition of a single item - a book. When the teacher asked 'Why don't you say it simply?' Rancho mentioned that he 'tried so earlier, but it didn't work.'

The story switches to Joy Lobo, who at that time begs for Dr Sahastrabuddhe for more time to make his project since he spent his first 2 months worrying about his father, who was suffering from a stroke. The extension was denied, and instead, Dr Sahastrabuddhe directly told Joy's father that his son wouldn't be graduating that year. Devastated, Joy threw away his project and Rancho, upon viewing the scene, took the unfinished project and fixed it with Raju and Farhan while preparing for tests, doing homework, and finishing schoolwork at the same time. In the busiest of times, Rancho encouraged his friends by saying that "all is well". Their hard work continued until Joy's machine could function properly as a flying hidden camera. Rancho wanted to surprise Joy with his finished project by flying it into Joy's room window, only to find Joy's corpse hanging in front of the bedroom window.

During Joy's funeral, Rancho approached Dr Sahastrabuddhe and told him that this is not a case of suicide but murder. The next day, he was called to Dr Sahastrabuddhe's office as the Dr asked if he was accusing him of murder. Rancho replied, saying that he was not accusing the Dr of murder, but was instead implying that the system has just 'murdered' Joy. Dr Sahastrabuddhe asked if Rancho was saying that there is a better teaching method than the 'system', and dragged him to an engineering class, asking him to teach as a teacher in front of his fellow students. For a few minutes, Rancho remained silent, and finally wrote two words on the board. He gave all students 30 seconds to figure out the meaning of the two words, and when nobody could find it, he asked if anyone among the students were feeling intrigued or curious instead of pressured by the competition. Rancho then revealed that the two words written on the board are not words, but are based on his two roommates' names, Farhan and Raju. This enraged Dr Sahastrabuddhe even more, causing him to say that Rancho was supposed to teach engineering class, not philosophy. Rancho replied by saying that he was not teaching engineering either, he was simply teaching the Dr how to teach.

The next day, Dr Sahastrabuddhe wrote a letter for Farhan and Raju's parents. The letter implied that both Farhan and Raju have taken a wrong path in college. Both of them were called home, and Rancho, mentioned as the main cause for this wrongness, follows along. His presence caused him and his two friends to be kicked out of Farhan's house, while both he and Farhan voluntarily denied eating some bread in Raju's house after finding out that the pin Raju's mom used to make the bread was also used to scratch Raju's paralysed dad.

Since the three friends couldn't seem to get any food from any of their parents' houses, the three of them wandered the streets aimlessly. At that moment, the three of them found out that a wedding was taking place not too far from them, so they walked into the wedding to eat some food while pretending to be guests. At this wedding, Rancho met Pia, who was arguing with her fiancée Suhas about her watch. Rancho, having an interest in Pia, wanted to prove to her that Suhas didn't love her. This took a turn for the worst, when the three 'idiots' found out that the wedding is actually Dr Sahastrabuddhe's daughter's wedding, and that Pia is the bride's younger sister. Rancho tried to convice the Dr that he was in the wedding to take care in case something goes wrong with the electricity, up to the point that he would make an inverter using the Dr's name. When all of Rancho's lies were not accepted, the three friends scampered away. This is the first time Rancho met Pia, and he fell in love with her.

Before graduating from ICE, Rancho made a bet with Chatur, claiming that in ten years' time, he would be more successful. Rancho went on to graduate first in his class.

Current
10 years later, Farhan, Raju, and Chatur went to Shimla to find Rancho, but as they reached Rancho's 'home', they found out that they were talking to someone else named Rancho. It was revealed that the Rancho they knew was known as Chhote, the son of the Chanchad family's gardener. With his father being a gardener, Chhote's family couldn't have enough income to give him a proper education. So he often snuck into school in order to learn. This was taken advantage of by the real Rancho, who asked for Chhote to do his tests and homework each day, but the situation changed when a teacher found Chhote doing a 10th grader's math when he was just at the age of a 6th grader. In order to keep the pride of the Chanchad family, Chhote was instead told to pretend to be Rancho and finish his education, so that Rancho could get his diploma without having to enter college. This offer is taken well by Chhote, who used the name Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad to pursue the education he had longed for. After Chhote graduated from ICE, he kept his promise and gave back his diploma to the Chanchad family and cut all contact with his friends from ICE, but he also mentions that 'one day, there will be two idiots looking for him'. The real Rancho also mentioned that Chhote missed his friends a lot, and that he was now a schoolteacher in Ladakh.

After hearing the story about their friend, Farhan and Raju decided to go to Ladakh in search of Chhote. Beforehand, they stopped by at a heartbroken Pia's wedding in order to stop her from marrying Suhas. Together, Farhan, Raju, Chatur, and Pia went to the school in Ladakh in order to find Chhote.

Farhan, Raju, Chatur, and Pia found the school written on the address given to them by Rancho and found many clues of Chhote's presence in the school, including many unique inventions which they believed only Chhote could create.

The end of the movie shows Chhote playing with a few kids besides a lake. Upon seeing Pia on a scooter, he asked the kids who were playing with him to leave the both of them for a while. Chhote was elated to see Pia, reciting the same thing he said when he confessed to her in the middle of the night 10 years ago. However, he received a slap instead followed by a kiss from Pia. After the kiss ended, both Raju and Farhan appeared on the scene, surprising Chhote even more. They playfully chased him and beat him down, saying that he could've left a phone number or something else. Then, Chatur appeared, happy to see that Chhote was simply a teacher while he was a successful business executive. He asked Chhote to sign a declaration of defeat and took his astronaut's pen given to him by Dr Sahastrabudde. Chatur trotted back to his car in arrogance until he got a call from Mr Phunsukh Wangdu, a famous scientist who offered to work with Chatur. Apparently, Mr Wangdu rejected Chatur's offer to work with his company, saying that he couldn't sign the agreement contract without his pen, namely Dr Sahastrabudde's pen. When Chatur looked back, he found out that Mr. Phunsukh Wangdu had been Chhote's real name all along. With this, the movie ended with Chatur begging Rancho (Phusukh Wangdu/Chhote) to accept his agreement contract, hoping that their personal problems wouldn't get in the way.



Quotes

 * "All is well, All is well" (Rancho when he's told to undress)
 * "One question, sir. Sir, if pens didn't work in outer space, why didn't the astronauts use a pencil? They could've saved millions of Rupees." (Rancho commenting about Dr.Sahastrabuddhe's speech)
 * "Sir, to study Engineering was a childhood dream. I'm so happy to finally be here" (Rancho explaining why he's smiling)
 * "A machine is anything that reduces human effort. Anything that simplifies work, or saves time, is a machine. It's a warm day, press a button, get a blast of air. The fan... A machine! Speak to a friend miles away. The telephone... A machine! Compute millions in seconds. The calculator... A machine! We're surrounded by machines from a pen's nib to a pants' zip - all machines. Look! Up and down in a second. Up, down, up, down." (Rancho defining a machine)
 * "Books, sir. I forgot my books. May I?" (Couldn't you ask simply?) "I tried earlier, sir. It simply didn't work." (Rancho asking for permission to take his books)
 * " It won't fly. It will fly! We'll make it fly!" (Rancho commenting about Joy's project)
 * "You scare easily, bro. Take your hand, put it over your heart, and say, 'Aal izz well' - Aal izz well Words of wisdom from His Holiness Guru Ranchhoddas. We had an old watchman in our village. On night patrol, he'd call out, 'Aal izz well' and we slept peacefully. Then there was a theft and we learned that he couldn't see at night! He'd just yell 'Aal izz well', and we felt secure." (Rancho talking about his motto)
 * "Cause of death: Intense pressure on windpipe resulting in choking. Everyone thought the pressure on the jugular killed him. What about the mental pressure for the last four years? That's missing in the report. Engineers are a clever bunch. They haven't made a machine to measure mental pressure. If they had, all would know... this isn't suicide... it's murder." (Rancho noting that the system has murdered Joy)
 * "Now rewind your life by a minute. When I asked this question, were you excited? Curious? Thrilled that you'd learned something new? Anyone? ... Sir?" (Rancho questioning the student when he was told to teach as a Dr)
 * "This is a college, not a pressure cooker." (Rancho reminding the students to not increase their own pressure)
 * "Sir, I wasn't teaching you Engineering. You're an expert at that. I was teaching you... how to teach and I'm sure one day you'll learn, because unlike you, I never abandon my weak students... (runs out of class) Bye, sir!!!" (Rancho saying that he never intends to teach engineering in the first place)
 * "He's not a human, he's a price tag! He'll turn your life into a nightmare of brands and prices, he'll ruin your life. Your future will be finished! Want a demonstration? Shall I find out the price of his shoes?" (Rancho trying to persuade Pia to leave her fiancee)
 * "We'll study with all our heart, but not just for grades. To quote a Wise One - study to be accomplished, not affluent. Follow excellence. And success will chase you, pants down!" (Rancho giving Raju advice)
 * "Right. As you get out of the gate, you'll see a traffic signal. When it turns red, all the cars will halt. Then cross the road with great caution, because son, in rush hour, if a car hits you, you're dead!" "You know that? Excellent. Then you're safe my boy." (Rancho tricking Chatur to edit Chatur's speech)
 * "Who said 'called'? I just said he 'remembered' you." (Rancho replying to the angry librarian)
 * "When you see him, do the winds whisper a melody? Your scarf flies in slow motion? The Moon appears gigantic?" "It happens in life too - if you love a person ... not an ass"
 * "Should I've sent him by courier?" (Rancho arguing with Raju while implying about Raju's dad's job)
 * "Hey, happy Independence Day!" (This is not the 15th of August) "For you it is! Now you're free to wear your mom's watch. No ass can say it's an ancient piece of junk" (Rancho congratulating Pia on her break up with Suhas)
 * "Yes, your mom must've been really beautiful" (Yes. How do you know?) "Seen your dad? 'Life is a race. If you don't run fast you'll be a broken egg ... cuckoo bird.'" (Rancho complementing Pia's mom and noting Dr Sahastrabuddhe's unattractive features)
 * "He doesn't know - Run!" (Rancho after jumbling up the test papers so that the he and his two friends could submit their test paper)
 * "Yes, this grading system is like a caste system. A-graders: Masters. C-graders: Slaves. It's not nice, sir." "Results should not be displayed at all. Why publicise someone's flaws? If your iron count is low, will the doctor prescribe tonic? Or air your report on TV? You see, sir?" (Rancho displaying his dislike to the ranking system)
 * "You think God is a contract killer?" (Rancho commenting to his friends' wish to eradicate Dr Sahastrabuddhe from the face of the earth)
 * "Know why I come first? (Why?) "Because I love machines. Engineering is my passion.Know your passion? This... is your passion." (Rancho telling Farhan on the subjects he has to pursue)
 * "With such fear of tomorrow, how will you live today? How will you focus on studies?" (Rancho reminding Raju about the fears that kept on holding him back)
 * "Those 22 minutes with you on the scooter were the most enchanting. I could spend an eternity with you on the scooter. Wow ... and time stands still every night you ride into my dreams on your scooter, dressed as a bride. Instead of a veil, you lift your helmet and come close to kiss me" (Rancho confessing to Pia after a bet with his friends)
 * "But that kiss doesn't happen. Because the noses collide, and I wake up." (Rancho displaying his beliefs that noses collide when people kiss)
 * "Did you hear about your sis? She's getting married without any dowry. The bridegroom wants nothing at all, he just wants Kammo. You know who the bridegroom is? Guess! You know him very well - Yes, he loves animals. He's going to be a wildlife photographer. Quiet... Shhhh... Didn't get it? It's our Farhan! Farhan will never take any dowry. Farhan will marry your sister for free! Free! Free!" (Rancho lying to Raju to wake him up from a state of paralysis after attempted suicide)
 * "Pia, we can't get married (Why? Is there someone else?)"No...." (Are you gay?) "No..."(Then why don't you propose to me? Are you impotent?) "No..." (Then prove it!) "Pia, no! Stop, stop!" (Rancho having difficulties in handling a drunk Pia)
 * "Mr. Chatur I can't sign the deal with your company" (What sir? Why sir?) "How do I sign, man? You took my pen" (What pen, sir? I didn't get you...) "The one in your hand - Virus's pen" (Rancho revealing that he's Phunsukh Wangdu to Chatur)

Trivia

 * Rancho is said to take a bath wherever there was any water sources. He didn't fight for showers.
 * His favorite food is Dhokla
 * He always wear casual t-shirts for his clothing, including for his school photoshoot
 * Rancho's real name was Phunsukh Wangdu all along. Since he was simply a gardener's son, hardly anyone calls him by his real name, and everyone in the Chanchad household nicknamed him as Chhote
 * According to the real Ranchoddas, Chhote helps in almost everything, including making breakfasts. This implies that Rancho knows how to cook.
 * Farhan and Raju saw him repairing some machines in canteen