Movie ‘Rough Book’ acclaimed by TIS

A thought provoking movie titled, Rough Book, a movie about the Indian Educational System, produced by the film production arm of Aakash Educational Services, Aerika Cineworks, has been earning praise and laurels across the globe on a national and international level . It was adjudged the Best Feature at the Houston Indian Film Festival and was chosen to be screened at the closing night of the DFW South Asian Film Festival. The Anant Mahadevan film, features Tannishtha Chatterjee, Amaan F Khan, Kaizaad Kotwal and Ram Kapoor as principle cast.

The film is a hard look at the prevailing education system. It focuses on the examination, study stress and coaching classes that are created purely for profit and the whole range of other current issues which are vital to parents, teachers and students.

The movie brings out the missing link between knowledge and learning in the current educational system. It highlights the importance of strengthening the basics of knowledge and practice thereafter to make learning more effective. It conveys a message for students to be thinkers and to try and excel without worrying about the outcomes.

Through the movie, various innovative methods to make the teaching effective and interesting was shown in a very persuasive and subtle manner. Emphasis was laid on the fact that instead of laying emphasis only on scoring good marks, teachers should make student understand the concepts and extract the best out of them. Right kind of education can make every child successful.

The story is told through the eyes of divorced teacher Santoshi Kumari. She is a physics teacher in the D division, referred to as the losers of the school. Yet she does not give up and fights against the system and for her students, whom she can eventually motivate to take responsibility for themselves. Together they learn, practice and fight, so that they can participate in the Indian Institute of Technology’s admission test.

How Santoshi Ma’am rebels against the system to fight for her students, so that they can pass the Entrance Examinations to the Indian Institute of Technology and the Joint Entrance Examinations forms the bulk of the small, simply told, yet completely thought provoking film. Devoid of any melodrama, almost gentle in its telling, the rebellion of the teacher and her students are internalised to make their point.

The visual screening of the movie truly encapsulated the adage that ‘education is not merely learning and scoring of grades, but it is more about application.’ The movie has beautifully portrayed the mentor mentee relationship; it definitely emphasises that the teacher is the guru who is the true giver and learner.

The education system today is like the rough book we are given to scribble in it before the teacher actually tells us to make it fair. Now the system needs to be faired too.

‘You use a glass mirror to see your face, You use works of art to see your soul’. These words by Sir George Bernard Shaw aptly sum up ‘Rough Book’ by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, a movie which questions our Indian Educational System. The students of classes IX-XII from our school were indeed lucky enough to come across this artistic effort last week. Good morning everyone, I am Aastha Malhotra and I am here to give my reviews on the movie ‘Rough Book’, which was showcased in our school.

The lack of good education or a misrepresented form of it, is the bane of India. One can modify this to say that the real curse is the absence of ‘real’ education – education that is beyond what is offered in textbooks. The Houston Indian Fest’s best feature film, ‘Rough Book’ is precisely about this issue. The movie is an emotional journey of a teacher who thinks-out of the box and challenges the system to move towards a global education pattern in which aptitude scores over marks.

In a nation which fancies cramming and grades, Rough Book narrates the story of a schoolteacher who runs into one obstacle after another because she believes in teaching her subject through application and not merely through books and lectures.

Obviously, a society driven by consumerist ideals where marks count and help one to land a plum position, has no time or inclination for a concept called real education.

Something more significant about Rough Book is the way it highlights the importance of accepting failure. The teacher’s mother in the movie says that one must celebrate defeat as one must a win. This, though, is easier said than done in a community where the young are either devouring their school or college texts or playing with their mobile phones, indulging in faceless conversations with peers or friends. Where then is the time or energy for outdoor games or pleasure reading? By instigating this inquiring spirit, ’Rough Book’ indeed creates strong ripples. It can be concluded by saying that the movie may seem a bit too idealistic and ambitious in today’s India, but it does make its point with a flourish.