Today it’s the teachers’ day. So, at first, Happy Teachers’ Day to all of the teachers around the globe. Now, in this occasion I’ve got some Hindi films, which capture the essence of student-teacher relationship and took it to another level. Here we go:

Black (2005)

This inspirational film, inspired by the story of Helen Keller, starred Rani Mujherjee as Micelle, a blind, deaf and mute person since birth, and Amitabh Bacchan as her teacher and mentor. Michelle is differently-able and every teacher who has ever come to mentor her has fled.

The film showed how a mentor can help you lead a meaningful life. Rarely do we see a teacher who so sensitively takes onus of a student and refuses to give up. Her teacher taught her how to read at a very mature age, in spite of her disabilities and become a graduate. He himself developed Alzheimer’s disease later.

Iqbal (2005)

Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor the film says the story of Iqbal, a deaf and mute boy played by Shreyas Talpade. Despite being a farmer’s son, with the help of his mentor and coach Mohit, a former cricketer-turned alcoholic, played by Naseeruddin Shahhe, overcomes his hardships and made it to the Indian Cricket Team.

Taare Zameen Par (2007)

The film co-directed by Aamir Khan and Amol Gupta, explores the life and imagination of an 8 year old dyslexic child, Ishaan played by Darsheel Safary. The teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh played by Aamir Khan.

The film beautifully showed how a teacher can double up as the parent and look after a student like their own child. Not giving up and honing a child’s unique talent without underestimating them, it touched upon the issue of dealing with dyslexic kids in the most sensitive way.

Chak de India (2007)

The film brilliantly showed how a teacher’s undying efforts can unite a team and make them achieve the impossible. The film portrays the tale of Kabir Khan, the former Indian National Men’s Hockey team who had to quite the sport due to graft charges but who, in reality, is passionate about the sport and patriotic to the core.

Paathshala  (2010)

The film directed by Milind Ukey, revolves around children on a school campus. It comments on the Indian education system and its shortcomings. Shahid Kapoor plays an English and music teacher, Rahul Udyavar. Though the film didn’t do well at the box office, it managed to highlight the important subject of commercialization of education.

Aarakshan (2011)

A serious and a vital film in the student-teacher genre, directed by Prakash Jha, Aarakshan dealt with the crucial subject of reservation. Amitabh Bachchan plays a college principal, who turns into a social activist. He plays Prabhakar Anand, who fights injustice to bring positive change in the education system without compromising on his principles and morals. The socio-political drama sent out a strong message for schools and colleges across the country.

Stanley Ka Dabba (2011)

The film directed, wrote and starred by Amol Gupte as a gluttonous teacher who forces his students to share their food with him and chastises them who doesn’t bring tiffin to school. He mainly picks a grouse with one student, Stanley played by his son, Partho Gupte.

The film shows how a rude teacher finally comes to his senses and highlights the relationship and solidarity shares by the students in supporting their classmate.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

The Farhan Akhtar-starrer Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra direction portrayed two teacher-student relationships. The first is Milkha’s relationship with his army coach played by Pavan Malhotra, who first spots his talent and brings the best out of him and guided him through the initial phase of his career.

The second is Milkha’s relationship with national coach Ranveer Singh played by Yograj Singh. This has all the traditional attributes of a classroom teacher-student relationship;­ respect, deference, allegiance, and even obedience.

They both inspire excellence in our protagonist; the way a teacher does for his pupil.

Mary Kom (2014)

In this biopic of the five time world champion boxer, Mary Kom, played by Priyanka Chopra, directed by Omung Kumar, the relationship between Mary and her coach Narjit Singh played by Sunil Thapa, is arguably the most important aspect of the story, if not the most prominent.

Here is a coach who does not cajole his protégé; one who believes in tough love and manages to turn a young, enthusiastic boxer into the best in the business. When he first encounters Mary, the coach makes it clear that he will only train her if she is ‘worthy’ of the training. He is frank and blunt enough to openly express his disapproval when his ward decides to marry. But despite that, it is clear that Mary Kom trusts the coach’s judgment and his ability to bring out the best in her. This is exemplified by the fact that when Mary returns to boxing, she turns back to Singh for guidance, ignoring the bad blood between them.

Saala Khadoos (2016)

The story of a former boxer, Adi Tomar played by R. Madhavan who quits boxing following a fallout with the authorities over the underlying politics but goes on to coach a fisher woman, Madhi, played by Ritika Singh, to fulfill his dream through her.

Saala Khadoos constructs a case-study for a lingering ‘guru-shishya’ kinship through scenes and dialogues that are unnerving in their capacity to accommodate all the ingredients associated with the mentor -pupil genre of cinema.