Tamil Cinema Teachers

Teachers are usually not treated with much respect in Tamil cinema. They are, more often than not, present as comedy elements in movies that are set in school/college campuses. Usually played by comedians like ‘Venniraadai’ Moorthy and ‘Typist’ Gopu , they are little more than caricatures, becoming the target of pranks and being scared of the students. The lady teachers don’t fare much better. They are usually harassed by the ‘bad’ students and in the movies that really sink low, they are treated as sex objects and become victims of vulgar comments from the students.

Thankfully, our heroes and heroines have come to the rescue of the profession a few times. When they play teachers, they are honest, upright teachers who are trusted by the students, are friends with them and are ready to lead them to a better tomorrow. And they reflect the real world since those are the kinds of teachers I’ve had in school and college. On the occasion of Teacher’s Day, my thoughts went to characters in the teaching profession portrayed by our leading men and women.

If the professor Rajni played in Dharmathin Thalaivan had appeared in a better movie, he might have become a much more popular character. Aimed squarely at the children, the good-hearted, absent-minded professor was a sweet and very likeable character. But he was stuck in a boring movie with a ridiculous plot. On the other hand, the professor in Naan Sigappu Manidhan was serious and had only revenge on his mind. Kamal is on record saying that Nammavar is one of the movies he wished he had not done. But it did allow him to take on the role of a teacher who brought some errant students in line. Ramanaa, where our Captain played a professor, was the only movie in recent times where he played a down-to-earth character. That character was probably the most action-oriented among the teachers we’ve had so far on the big screen. Bagyaraj played the teacher twice – in Mundhaanai Mudichu and Sundarakaandam – and in both cases, he added his own brand of self-deprecating humor, allowing the students to go one up on him. That resulted in a lot of laughs.

I don’t recall many of our actresses playing teachers. Rekha played a teacher in her debut film Kadalora Kavidhaigal. It was a good film but I remember my biology teacher in school saying that she didn’t like the movie since it would give every guy the idea that he could say “I Love You” to a teacher! Nadhiya in M.Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi was a feisty teacher who put the rowdy students in their places. And Simran exited Tamil cinema after playing a headmistress in Kicha Vayasu 16.

More than the people in any other profession, its our teachers who are responsible for shaping tomorrow's world. Wish our movies would treat them with a little more respect...