Bengali movies which portrayed the teacher-student relationship beautifully

While romantic films boost our faith in love and romance, movies focused on social issues explore the dark face of the society. Then there are movies which inspire us to achieve big in life teaching the fundamental lessons. Over the years, Bengali cinema has witnessed a number of films reflecting the amazing bond between students and teachers. Here is a list of 5 Tollywood movies which captured the teacher-student relationship with ease.

‘Haami’ centers on the burning issues that plague the younger generation today exploring a modern retelling of the student-teacher relationship in metro city schools these days. Directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee, it shows how minor issues are often blown up by overly concerned parents and suspicious school authorities. An innocent kiss between two cute kids fuels a whirlwind of controversies which reflect recent disturbing incidents in schools. Gargi Roychoudhury here plays the cute little Bhutu’s mother, a woman who seems to be a live wire, and aggressively protective of her family. She is even fearless in proving her rights. It’s a brilliantly written character, and the actress just excelled for the part. Her diluted expressions, witty dialogues, funny antics; all of these portrays the ultimate middle-class motherhood in a simple way.

One of the finest works of director Tapan Sinha, ‘Atanka’ is a gripping story of a teacher who was a witness to a murder. Based on a real-life incident, Soumitra Chattopadhyay played the aged teacher who witnessed a murder orchestrated by his own former students. The culprits later warn their once respected teacher of dire consequences that may destroy his family and he was threatened his life will be in danger if he reports the events. The film became a reality check as the story of this helpless teacher fighting hard to balance his conscience and truth set the tone of the gripping thriller. Finally, against all odds, he rediscovers his courage to get these goons to justice. The film also portrayed how the teacher-student relationship in our society is gradually deteriorating.

Just like the several-layered psyche of an adolescent boy, which becomes curious about everything he witnesses around, be it the footages of the unknown nature's domain in cable channels or a woman’s attractive nature, ‘Phoring’ explores many issues. A lonely child's failure to communicate with his real world and his fondness for a young lady teacher who finds out an uncanny spark in him: that’s what forms the crux of the film. While teacher-student relationship remains the main plot, the sub-plots also make the Indranil Roychowdhury directorial worth a watch.

Based on the novel by Moti Nandi, 'Kony' is a National Award winning Bengali classic which tells the story of an underprivileged young swimmer Kony, who stands tall against all odds challenging poverty, politics, social stigmas, and other barriers. 'Koni' also revolves around the struggle of Khidda (Soumitra Chatterjee), the swimming coach, who scouts the talented girl in a slum and guides her to win the National Swimming Championship. The movie is still considered as a perfect example of a coach and player relationship. It also delves deep into the foundations of a teacher-student relationship.

The common people’s fight against corrupt political leaders has been a great source of cinematic material for Bengali cinema but with Barun Biswas (played by Parambrata Chatterjee) in 'Proloy', Raj brings in a real-life protagonist whose courage and heroism struck the right chord among the masses. Saswata Chatterjee appears as Animesh Dutta, a realistic cop fighting against the crime-prone suburb area. He gets to know a name Barun Biswas, who was brutally killed for protesting the corrupt politicians in the small town. While Animesh plans to control the entire situation but suddenly the serial killing of the criminals gives him a new challenge. Paran Bandopadhyay plays the aged teacher of Barun who comes to his village to carry out his once favourite student’s fight against evil after his murder.