VIRU SHASATRABUDDHE

(3 IDIOTS) – PERSONALITY
TYPE
Annette Deena Mathew
20LS2A1005
 INTRODCTION
Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe, aka Virus Buddhe is a character from the 2009 movie, 3 Idiots. Portrayed
by Boman Irani, Virus Buddhe is the main antagonist of the movie, who consistently shows most
characteristics of the Type A personality.
He is a highly competitive person, who cannot tolerate anyone surpassing him in anything from
someone overtaking him on a road to a student challenging him with a question that he cannot
immediately answer. He also shows an aggressive nature, and organizes his daily schedule in such
a way that all “unproductive” jobs can be done during his naptime.
In the following compilation of clips, we can further see the manifestations of this character type.
This introductory clip of Virus gives us a pretty good idea of his personality. It shows his
competitive side and how he stresses on the importance of competition. We also understand that he
firmly believes that if you’re not first, it doesn’t count. In his very first interaction with the
freshmen, he impresses these ideas on to them
In this scene, Virus challenges his archenemy, Rancho to take a class on engineering after Rancho
tells him that his way of teaching was not the best. When Rancho gives the class 30 seconds to find
the meaning of the two words he made up on the spot, Virus rushes to be the first to find it, even
snatching books from the student next to him. This again highlights his competitiveness. At the
end, when he realizes that those words do not exist, he is furious, probably because this student
made him waste his time
These two scenes show how Virus is not ready to accept anything less than perfect from his pupils,
making him somewhat of a perfectionist. He also makes a public challenge that if either Farhan or
Raju, two students who were consistently on the lower half of the spectrum throughout their time at
ICE, managed to get a job through the campus recruitment, he would shave off his moustache. But
after Raju secures a job and his moustache is shaved off, Virus is very aggressive, and he vows to
set the paper for the final exam with the sole intention to make Raju fail. This shows he is stressed
by being proved wrong about his conviction about a student, and his aggressive side is revealed,
showing that he is willing to do anything it takes to win.
This is one of the last scenes of the movie. This shows Virus’ confrontation with Rancho, telling he
can’t always be right about everything. He answers Rancho’s question when he entered the college
about why astronauts did not use pencil in space instead of spending thousands of dollars on
inventing a pen that would defy gravity. When Virus finally answers him after four years, it is
evident that he’d been stressing out about tis question all along. His reluctance to admit that any
student was as bright as him shows his obsession with being the best at everything. The pen, for
him symbolizes an extremely important discovery, and being in possession of it gave him a sense
of superiority which he was not willing to let go by passing it down to any student.
 OTHER CHARACTERS

SILENCER
Silencer is another character from the movie 3 Idiots, who shows many characteristics of a Type A
personality and is a mini version of Virus. His competitiveness and workaholic nature are
comedically portrayed in the movie.
RANCHHODDAS CHANCHAD, aka RANCHO
This character is a complete contrast to Virus and Silencer. HE is very laid back, and learns for the
love of learning. He encourages his friends Farhan and Raju to understand and learn rather than
mugging up. With his innovative ideas on practically applying bookish knowledge, he is a good
example of a Type B personality.