The Jugraafiya Of A Tutoring Wizard

He could not go to Cambridge, but helped 450 students get into IIT. Meet Anand Kumar, a tutor now celebrated in the film Super 30.

- Giridhar Jha

A feature film on education is rare in India and one on an educationist even rarer. Movies such as Taare Zameen Par (2007), 3 Idiots (2009) or Stanley Ka Dabba (2011) burst forth every once in a while but a mainstream film devoted entirely to the life and times of a contemporary educationist remains rather uncommon in Bollywood. This is what makes Super 30, a biopic of Anand Kumar, special in the annals of Hindi cinema. The movie opened to a rousing reception on July 12 and minted Rs 115 crore by its third weekend.

Starring Hrithik Roshan, it has proved sceptics wrong who had wondered whether a commer­cial cinema superstar, otherwise known as the

‘Greek God of Bolly wood’ for his good looks, would be able to pull off the character of a tea­cher from an underprivileged Bihari family with conviction. Anand shot to global renown for setting up a pioneering coaching institute in Patna to help poor students crack the highly competitive entrance examination of the cov­eted Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). However, he never had an iota of doubt about the selection or talent of Hrithik. “My entire family was astonished to see the way Hrithik lived my character onscreen,” he tells Outlook.

“My mother had tears in her eyes and so accurate was the portrayal that my two­year­old daugh­ter could not help exclaiming ‘papa’ after seeing him in the trailer on TV.”

Anand says that after Hrithik gave his nod for the role, they had prolonged sessions together. “Apart from observing me from close quarters in person, he also saw 150­hour­long videos of mine to get into the skin of my character,” he declares. “Some of my students who have settled abroad are amazed to see the transformation of Hrithik. Doubtless, he immersed himself in this character for a year. His hard work has paid off and it’s showing onscreen.”