A society that does business on education is doomed to perish. Another film about an Indian school, only this time the view from the other side - from the teachers. The business in the field of education feels more acute.
The film follows two private school teachers in India and their opposition to the oppressive and incompetent policies of the new headmistress. The owner of this school is a businessman to the bone, and wants to make his school the most elite and prestigious school in the country, for the rich. Judging by the project that they were watching on the screen, they are not a school, but a five-star hotel want to do, with several gyms, swimming pools, cafes and other attributes. No one thinks about the education of children except the teachers. Everyone does not care what knowledge children will receive, the main thing is that parents pay more expensively for the child’s stay in school.
The owner of this school competes with another elite school, which is attended by the children of ministers, rich people of all levels and movie stars. And despite this, its owner (Jackie Shroff) does not seek to make his school a five-star hotel, he cares about what knowledge the children of celebrities in his school. He has the best teachers in the country. The difference between these two schools is that in the school, Jackie Shroff respects not only teachers, but also employees at all levels, from the tea carrier and the guard to the headmaster, and treats everyone with respect. And not only adults, but also children.
And in the school where the heroines of the film work, only money is respected, teachers are considered worthless, not even worthy to wipe the dust from the shoes of its owner and headmistress. And they are trying to replace them with younger and graduated from the most prestigious universities in the world, Oxford and Cambridge. It does not matter that these so-called teachers of the new generation cannot explain the elementary to children. The main prestige of the school, and more money from parents to cut.
However, I was pleased to learn that Indian laws protect teachers from dismissal, even from private schools. If a teacher has worked for more than 25 years in the same school, he can not be fired, according to the law. No amount of money and connections will help. There's no problem with the law. Therefore, the headmistress of the school together with its owner go to any tricks and tricks, turning the life of teachers into a real hell, so that they could not stand it, quit themselves.
The heroine Shabana Azmi, Vidia-ji, a mathematics teacher, worked in this school for 28 years, and is not going to leave work. But the headmistress is not satisfied that “some obstinate old woman” tries to prevent her dismissal, and then she finds a loophole in the law, and dismisses her for “unfitness”. The reason for this is that teaching methods are outdated and do not fit into the new program. And it just gives the kids information, especially trigonometric formulas, in an easy and accessible form, a simple and simple song, two lines. Well, like we had in our time in school, remember: "Pythagorean pants are equal in all directions" (in mathematics), or "Every Hunter wants to know where the Pheasant sits" (for memorizing the colors of the rainbow), or "Everyone knows Mom Yuli in the morning Set on the Pill" (in astronomy, to remember the correct location of the planets), etc. And here she teaches children to memorize complex trigonometric formulas, using a light song that she invented herself, based on the characters of these epics. It is enough for a child to remember these two lines - and voila, he mastered these formulas, and passed the mathematics. And in the evenings after work, Vidya-jihhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh It is important for her that the children learn her subject and pass the exams well. And when, after being fired, she goes to the hospital, all the good she's done for people, comes back to her a hundredfold. People unite in defense of their favorite teacher.
The heroine Juhi Chavla, Joti-ji, a chemistry teacher, she is younger than Vidyi, and worked at school for only 14 years, so she easily fell under dismissal, for the same "unfitness". Chemistry is a complex subject, not everyone understands, but, like her older colleague, Joti tries to explain the material to children in the form of images, jokes and even games. And after being fired, how can he try to support his older girlfriend? Their confrontation with the leadership of the school, keeps in suspense until the end. What means they use to fight for their rights, see for yourself, a very interesting way they chose.
The headmistress bitch, performed by Divya Dutta, is simply chic. Oh, what a viper (I can’t even find words to describe this bastard, except mats, but I won’t use them). I mean, there's a bunch of motherfuckers she hates. But she was a regular secretary, the former headmaster of this school. And when, after she left, she was made director herself, this is where her roof went off. She revelled in her power, humiliating and in every way insulting teachers. So I wanted with all my might, to crack her "face about the tag", as my husband puts it. Indeed, it is necessary for a person to jump abruptly "from dirt to princes", to become at least a small, but a boss, as a fountain begins to pour d***mo from him, spoiling everything around.
I really liked the movie. Everything in Indian is dramatic and Indian is touching and straightforward. But serious issues were raised - low salaries and poor social protection of teachers, especially in private schools.
I watched this film based on the filmography of Juhi Chawla and she was very pleased with me. Not very young, but still charming and cute. Also in the film starred such star "old men" as "Jackie Shroff" (chic as before) and "Rishi Kapoor" (very happy to see him again, albeit in a small role, himself).
There are no dances in the film, there are only a few songs, with a line translation, very beautiful and touching. All the actors brilliantly embodied their images on the screen, of which there is no doubt. The topic is very relevant for India, to this day they have such a leapfrog with education. If education is turned into a business, it will not bring any results to society, and such a society is doomed to failure. I highly recommend watching this film to everyone, especially parents of students, to take a different look at their teachers.
10 out of 10