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classroom instructors into deeply empathetic figures who fight against institutional decay, social disparity, and outdated educational models.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.

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Raatchasi, a Tamil film starring Jyotika, released in 1919 began as an unusual take on the teaching community. Jyothika plays Geetha Rani, who........

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