Chai wallas and chocolates

I've been thinking about Forrest Gump, for various reasons, over the past few weeks. One reason has been because of his approach of simply sitting next to strangers and starting conversations about himself and life (and boxes of chocolate, of course). I've been struck at how odd that really is, and as charming as Forrest Gump is in the movie, in reality, nobody would tolerate that. There are not many people that would be open to having a movie-length conversation with a complete stranger who sat beside them in a park. The issue at hand is that I was talking with one guy I know who uses this strategy to evangelize people, which, I argue, is of lower stakes and in many ways easier than going through the triumph and heartbreak of befriending and loving people instead. Not that I think that it's an either-or issue, just that there is no real harm done; nobody wants to listen to you? OK, they just get up and leave. No implications on your life. Hence, why I ended up thinking of Forrest as a tangible example of this.
That being said, in a completely different track, I also realized that Forrest Gump and Slumdog Millionaire are actually the SAME movie! I am wondering if the idiot savant being the wisest one of all is actually one of the core seven storylines of humanity. Since they are the same movie, it probably explains why people loved both movies so much (myself included). By extremes of coincidence and chance, the protagonist ends up with deep knowledge and experience, much more than everyone else can possibly believe. Through this, the naif gains wealth, romance and adventure.
I wonder if we are swept up with this particular storyline, as, deep down, most of us are all underdogs, and we cheer them on, marveling at how they outwit and outsmart adversaries many times more superficially talented, beautiful and intelligent. Perhaps we all hope that we could end up with that kind of fairy tale endings with our lives... admittedly, Dostoevsky's The Idiot doesn't quite fit that same pattern, but I digress...