Rough Book - 2016

Story

Rough Book is a hard look at the education system in India. Though one of the finest systems in the world, the lacunae in the system have created issues that are threatening to clog the channels of learning in contemporary India. The story revolves around the division among students on the basis of their grade. It avoids melodrama. A teacher and her students rebel against the system.

Rough Book is based on actual experiences of parents, teachers and students told through the eyes of a teacher, Santoshi Kumari, who rallies through a divorce with a corrupt income tax officer to become a teacher of Physics. Her pupils are in the D division — "D" sarcastically refers to Duffers in the school by students and teachers. How Santoshi tackles a system to set her own terms for her students forms the bulk of a simply told, thought-provoking and urgent film. The rebellion of the teacher and her students are internalised to make a relevant and contemporary movie.