Rough Book (2016) Reviews

• Fizzles after a great start

  tanujpoddar2018-08-19

  A passionate and idealistic high school teacher, Santoshi, is leading a settled life married to an IT officer. Things change all of a sudden, when he is caught in a bribery case and she too is implicated because the cash was hidden in her house. Not able to digest this, she decides to divorce, leave her present job and heads back to her hometown. There she meets her guardian, who gives her renewed strength to rebuild her life. This makes her come back and seek another job. She gets one as a physics teacher for a section D, which consists of only those students who score less marks in the exam. She realizes that these students are smart but dont have much interest in studies, thus takes this up as a challenge. Also, helping her in this battle is her band of like minded teachers who are also her very close friends. In a parallel track, the movie also explores the managerial side of education institutes and how their decisions impact the students. While the script is not very tightly bound, it serves its purpose and keeps the story moving. Towards the end, the movie does feel a little stretched out. Tanishtha as Santoshi and Joy Sen Gupta as Khursheed really deliver an impactful performance. The students also play out their parts well, though they don't leave any major impact. The editing and background score leaves it to look more like a telefilm rather than a fast moving feature film.

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