School days are the best time of one’s life. Though a common phrase, it encompasses a lot of meaning in terms of how a student’s outlook towards his/her life moulds his/her character for the rest of the life. In many cases, it is the friendship that a girl or boy makes during his/her school days that grows on to become some of the closest and sincere relationships of their lifetime. The same is applicable to love as well. It is towards the end of school life -- in the 11th and 12th standards -- that one steps into the teenage and starts to develop romantic feelings. All these aspects are linked with school days, so much so that even when filmmakers plan a cinema with school as a premise, friendship and romance would be the inevitable aspects of the story. Time and again such films are made, presenting old wine in a new bottle. We can probably link the success of such films with their reliability. However, a conscious gap of few years was ensured between the movies. Of late, our movie industry, too, has been swept away by the ‘change’ wind and the process of approaching cinema with regards to the treatment given to the storyline and sometimes narrating it in a different perspective can be considered as a positive shift. In recent times, more such movies like School Bus, June and Nonsense hit the screens either in the same year or with a difference of two years, but stood apart from each other for the subjects they dealt with.
The latest one to join the clan is XII-C, directed by Unni K.R. Most of these movies have proved that nowadays, movies with school as the backdrop are not all about friendship and romance.
We ask new-generation directors, scriptwriters and actors who have worked in films set in school regarding the changes these movies have incorporated in order to provide a unique viewing experience to the audience.
Debutant Ahmed Kabeer, director of the movie June starring Rajisha Vijayan in the lead, was passionate and adamant about making a movie. However, as he puts it, he couldn’t have opted for making a movie like Kumbalangi Nights or Lucifer in his first attempt because according to him, a director who comes up with such subjects will definitely have immense precision while working.
“I wanted to begin with a relatively light subject and I am personally obliged to my school days and the experiences that I had during those days because they have contributed immensely towards shaping my character. So, I thought why not relive that emotion through my first cinema. I believe that one can honestly showcase something that one has experienced. But uniqueness was always my priority. Though romance and friendship were an important part of my story, June is a movie with a different perspective. It is a coming-of-age story of a girl and how her school days have an impact on her life. I would say that the treatment given to the story makes it different from the rest,” he opines.
He further adds that most of the time, actors who don’t look appropriate for the character are cast in the movie because casting young faces is a tough task and producers might not be willing to take the risk. “Characterisation, I feel, is very important in a movie that is set with school as the backdrop. And I feel that nowadays, the competition is so high that directors are working day and night to render their best and come out with something that has fewer flaws as audiences these days have a critical approach towards movies. Therefore, irrespective of the fact that this subject is a relatively lighter one, I think in the present scenario no one will attempt to make a movie that says just about the friend and love life of the school students. It has to have a unique element that will take care of the box-office collection,” Kabeer chuckles and says that the presence of this unique factor might be the reason why his movie June became a super hit. The director expressed his happiness as team June was celebrating 100thday of the movie.
Another movie that released this year was M.C.Jithin directorial Nonsense. Though the movie was not a box-office hit, it was appreciated by many for the not-so-discussed topic that it dealt with. Nonsense according to its director, was above the normal clichés. But since he had to make a commercial film he had to include elements like friendship and romance as well. Elaborating on the concept of the movie and why he opted to set it in the backdrop of a school and not a college, Jithin says, “Selecting school as the backdrop where the story progresses was a conscious decision. This is because I, during my school days I had certain issues with the educational system of our country, which if I could share would only be considered as nonsense. There are many thoughts a school boy or girl goes through that can become the turning point in his/her life. It is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to understand that. Most of the time, they just take it for granted thinking that he/she is just a school boy/girl and that they don’t have decision-making capacity. This is actually wrong. It is the time when children actually decide what they want to become in their life and that is what my movie talks about. It also deals with the politics that exists in schools, which in turn influences the person deeply. BMX was a tool to narrate the varied passions that a school-going boy can have. However, the audiences got an impression that the movie was all about performing stunts on the bike and the box-office fate of Nonsense can be attributed to this.”
Jithin adds that movies set in school have a lot of scope of improvisation and that if wisely worked on they can be used as a tool to portray some of the best and worst problems in our society as well.
Film critic Hishikesh Bhaskaran opines that when a director places a story in the backdrop of a school, there is one emotion that audiences depend upon — nostalgia. “It will connect to a large number of audience and it can easily work out. Movies revolving around just love and friendship are done with their rounds for now. School is the place where life starts for most of the people, to the extent that schools shape the people into who they are. I’m not completely avoiding later stages in education and life. But the life in school holds a key position in moulding a person. So, there are a lot of stories you can find there, which are not just love and friendship. Movies like Tare Zameen Par are examples,” he says adding that if it is done well, chances of movies set in the backdrop of a school to be welcomed by the audiences are high due to this nostalgia element. There are a lot of unexplored stories in our schools And more and more filmmakers and picking them up. Vishudha Ambrose, a short film, is an example.
