Dayalan, played by Samudirakani, is a high school physics teacher who gets transferred to a Government school which is on the verge of closure. The school's strength has declined considerably in the recent few years and results have hit an all-time low. A sense of apathy prevails among the teachers, who haven’t the slightest intention to set things right. Dayalan identifies the fundamental problems lie in the way the school is being run and offers to help. His good intentions are looked upon with pessimism by all the other teachers, with the Asst. Head Master going to the extent of calling him his sworn enemy for disturbing the status-quo.
There’s no denying the film has good intentions; it tries to point out all the issues which plague a small town government school in India. But it fails at doing it with subtlety and comes across as tediously preachy. It very quickly overwhelms with its barrage of advises on how to understand students better. It turns Dayalan into a messiah of change by showing every other teacher in a very poor light. I hated how easily the film brings Dayalan out of the only morally-heavy sticky situation he was put in, by simply making some random teacher the culprit.
We are fairly familiar with much of all the concerns the film raises. If the intention was to create awareness and bring some actual change, then I am afraid the film has no impact whatsoever. It is just another story of a teacher with lofty ambitions who ultimately wins the hearts of students and then some. Ultimately, the solutions it offers are either all too well known or highly romanticised.
The only portions of the film I was personally able to relate to were the little mannerisms displayed by kids. For example, no matter how friendly a teacher is, kids never fail to pass comments about them. They don't mean any harm; it's just that they cannot help it. Another one was how kids convince themselves by calculating 'FLAMES' on the back of a note that the girl they fancy also has feelings for them. Unfortunately, such observations were few and far between. And certain scenes were too far-fetched even for a government school like this. There was too much crassness every time Tambi Ramiah showed up on screen. The way his character spits on students’ faces, bullies and beats up his own colleagues was inconceivable. For a film which tries to fake realism, elements like these unfortunately do the exact opposite.
Watch this film if you suck as a parent/teacher and have no idea what to do with your kid/student. Watch it if you are easily amused. Watch it if you like to be yelled at.