Producer: Akash Chaudhary
Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
Star Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Amaan F. Khan, Kaizad Kotwal, Joy Sengupta, Jayati Bhatia, Vinay Jain, Farrid Currim & Deepika Amin
The plotted scenario of Rough Book opens with Santoshi Kumari (Tanishtha Chatterjee) a physics teacher taking up a new job after going through a failed marriage with her corrupt husband, an income tax officer (Vinay Jain). In her new job she is assigned to teach physics to “D” division which is sarcastically referred to as Duffers by students as well as teachers. Santoshi then takes upon herself to improve the grades of the students of “D” division which in the end rises up to 61%. In short Rough Book is totally based on true incidents, which in turn is based on the actual experiences of parents, teachers and students told through the eyes of a teacher namely Santoshi Kumari.
Honestly speaking the directorial skills of Ananth Narayan Mahadevan is extraordinaire. He treats the sensitive subject of the education system, notwithstanding its varied loopholes, very tactfully thereby driving home the point in a very interesting and entertaining way. Besides he has successfully extracted sterling performances from its stellar cast comprising of seasoned actors like Tannishtha Chatterjee, Kaizad Kotwal, Joy Sengupta, Jayati Bhatia, Vinay Jain, Farrid Currim and Deepika Amin. A special noteworthy mention must be made of debutant actor Aman Khan who turns out to be a very promising actor barring his slight hangover of Shahrukh Khan. Last but not the least is the eye pleasing locales specifically of Malshej Ghats which has been beautifully captured by its cinematographer.
The only minus point of Rough Book happens to be the title itself which is misleading.
Rough Book is a very timely and thought provoking film about our current education system which drastically needs redefining. The film has garnered a lot of rave reviews in the global film festival circuit. But at the Indian Box Office turnstiles its prospects are weak. A good worth of mouth may turn the tide in its favour.
