From strict disciplinarians to system reformers; How teachers have evolved in Indian Cinema

Teachers, in real life, are just normal human beings who come in different colours of humanity. Some has opted to get into this noble profession. Some have stepped in because they have sort of “inherited” the profession from their parent, father and mother or an older brother. A few get into teaching because they could not either qualify or been found unfit in other professions.

The image of the onscreen teacher in Bollywood and South Indian cinema has evolved from a rigid, strict disciplinarian into a revolutionary mentor, savior, and systemic reformer. Across both regions of cinema, screen educators have shifted from standard classroom instructors into deeply empathetic figures who fight against institutional decay, social disparity, and outdated educational models. But the celluloid portrayal of teachers run into two extremes and are almost never linked to reality. Either they are ideal human beings like Abhi Bhattacharya as a very positive guide in Jagriti(1955) directed by Satyen Bose. The film bagged the top award at the Filmfare Awards the following year. Or, they might be cartoon characters and strict to the power infinity like Virus in 3 Idiots (2009). Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Shankar in the multi-starrer Mohabbatein (2000) was such an over-strict disciplinarian that because he went against his daughter (Aishwarya Rai)’s love for a young and new teacher, long ago when he was a student in the same institution, (Shahrukh Khan), she committed suicide. Strangely, the total unpredictability of the audience pulse was proved when all three films turned out to be box office hits while Jagriti today has acquired archival value also because of its songs.

Raatchasi, a Tamil film starring Jyotika, released in 1919 began as an unusual take on the teaching community. Jyothika plays Geetha Rani, who switches jobs suddenly out of a favour of trying to rectify the wrongs of the education system. She was Lieutenant Colonel Geeta Rani, an officer in the Indian Army. But she decided to take voluntary retirement to join a struggling government school in Puthur as the new headmistress. She is determined to transform the poorly functioning school and bring a positive change to the educational system. Raatchasi marked the directorial debut of Syed Gowthamraj. She gets to hear very negative remarks about the school over holding back promotions, bribing the students, and other forms of corruption in the school such as hawkers outside the school trying to sell addictive things to the students of the school. However, her attempts to rescue the school and its students from collapse, she is arrested on trumped-up charges but the students rally around her demanding her immediate release. By the time the film closes, the school has resurrected itself as a model school thanks to the efforts of Geetha Rani and her loyal brand of students and the film ends on that positive note. Most critics said that the best part of the film was the stupendous performance of Jyothika who, in every frame of the film, not only enriched it with her fine performance but also saved the film from being reduced to exaggerated melodrama.

In Aparna Sen’s 36, Chowringhee Lane (1981) in English, the time-frame coincides with the 1980s, more than three decades after Independence, when, under a reverse anti-colonial and pro-Indian wave, Anglo-Indian teachers and secretaries were being markedly replaced by Indian substitutes, never mind the effect of this substitution on the quality of English teaching. Miss Violet Stoneham, the protagonist, is a helpless victim of this pro-Indianisation of teaching staff in missionary schools.

Stoneham being an Anglo-Indian per se, as much as it has to do with her sense of marginalisation in a soil she has grown up to love as her own. It also has to do with her school-teaching vocation, where she finds herself isolated and alienated from the mainstream teaching staff, where Anglo-Indian teachers are being replaced by Indian substitutes. The subject that she taught to higher classes – literature – that included Shakespeare – is taken away from her and she is relegated to teaching Grammar to lower classes. The film is much more about Violet Stoneham as a single woman living alone in Calcutta made to feel like an “outsider” in a city she has lived all her life and less about her work as a teacher per se.

The three most idealist teacher images that are powerful and very positive in Indian cinema are Amir Khan’s Tare Zameen Par, Rani Mukherjee’s Hichki and Dhanush’s Vaathi. The three films might appear a bit over-the-top as all three are mainstream films but nevertheless, they all had an agenda not only for teachers and students but also for education in general. While in Tare Zameen Par, most of us heard the word dyslexia perhaps for the first time and Amir Khan gave a wake-up call to parents of children who were genetically dyslexic but did not know about this at all. Hichki (2018) is about a teacher suffering from a rare affliction called Tourette’s syndrome who cannot control hiccupping almost all the time. How she tries to become an ideal teacher of a batch of uncontrollable children who keep mocking her for her handicap and finally retires as the principal of the same school is a very well-made film enriched by the sparkling performance of Rani Mukherjee as Naina Mathur.

Vaathi (2023) in Tamil and Telugu, starring Dhanush and directed by Venki Atluri who also wrote the story. The Telugu version was called Sir and though it dealt with the social agenda of school teacher who takes on the pressure and the corruption indulged in by coaching classes, it was filled with action considering that Dhanush was the hero of the film. But though it was commercially successful, critics were not very happy with the final product and rued its focus on Roshan who had to put on dark make-up to look less handsome than he already is.

Another wonderful film based on a true story dealing with once again, the financial and entirely profit-centric work by coaching classes in Ritwik Roshan starring film Super 80 (2019) and the film was inspired by the wonderful work of Anand Kumar, the mathematician who cut out the profit-oriented, exploitative business of coaching classes by beginning his own without fees and with students producing brilliant results. It does have its mandatory dosage of melodrama and commercial prospects but brought Hrithik Roshan a Best Actor Award from Zee Cine Awards. Critics did not like the footage of 140 minutes of running time though it turned out to be among Roshan’s most outstanding performances.

Nammavar (One of Us)(1994) is Tamil film is a Tamil film produced, written and acted in by Kamal Hasan which is reportedly one of the most outstanding films based on the life and experiences of an ideal teacher. The film, directed by Sethumadhavan, unfolds the story of one V.P. Selvan, a history professor who is appointed as the vice principal of Shakthivet Arts College in Chennai, riddled with student unrest and conflicts. Selvan gets into constant conflict with a student named Ramesh, who is the son of a major donor of the college and gets away not only with every kind of wrong-doing but also spoils the entire teaching ambience of the institution. It is only through a sudden urgency of a student who needs blood, while everyone thinks Selvan will come forward, he does not. Vasanthi, a teacher in the college who is in love with Selvan does not like this attitude till she learns that Selvan is suffering from cancer. The film is reportedly inspired by English language films on teachers such as To Sir With Love (1967), Class of 84 (1982) and The Principal (1987.) The film won three Nationala Film Awards as Best Film in Tamil, Best Supporting Actor and Special Mention.

The worst celluloid image of teachers and the principal in the entire history of Indian cinema comes across in the film Main Hoon Na in which every “teacher” is an insult to the entire teaching community in the world. Satish Shah as the Principal is reduced to a cheap joker. Teacher in Indian cinema need a big shake-up to renew our faith and our confidence in the teaching community and in education too, to be specific.