New Delhi, Dec 21 - Aamir Khan is returning to the big screen exactly after a year with "3 Idiots" and the film has created the right buzz thanks to the innovative ways he has been promoting it. Revolving around three friends and their college days, the movie releases Friday.

Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller "Five Point Someone", the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has invested around Rs. 35 crore in it.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, it also stars Sharman Joshi, R. Madhavan, Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani. It is being distributed by Reliance Big Pictures and is releasing with nearly 1,000 prints worldwide.

To market the film, Aamir has been travelling across the country in different get-ups. His travels have so far taken him to Varanasi, Madhya Pradesh's Chanderi district, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly's home in Kolkata, Jaipur and Punjab's Faridkot district.

The story revolves around three engineering students -- Rancho (Aamir), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman) -- and their journey. The film covers every aspect of their lives including Rancho's romance with Pia (Kareena) and his conflicts with their teacher Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Boman).

"3 Idiots" is about how Rancho influences his two friends and teaches them to live life on their own terms. But one day he just vanishes. Then begins Farhan and Raju's search for Rancho and finally learning the secret behind his disappearance.

The music of the film is already topping the charts with songs like "Aal izz well", "Zoobi doobi", "Jaane nahin denge tujhe" and "Give me some sunshine" becoming chartbusters.

This is the third year in succession when Aamir's movie will release in December after "Taare Zameen Par" and "Ghajini".

No big budget Bollywood movie is preceding "3 Idiots" from the previous week and it has created just the right amount of curiosity among audiences... will this Chopra-Hirani-Aamir collaboration strike gold at the box office and close 2009 on a happy note? (IANS)