Hichki

Naina Mathur wants to teach and has Tourette syndrome; involuntary sounds break into her speech. Eighteen schools have turned her down. Finally the private school she attended herself hires her, on one condition: she takes the most difficult class. The pupils in it come from a slum area and the school is required by law to admit them; the rest of the school does not want them and the children know it. Siddharth P. Malhotra directs. Rani Mukerji plays Naina. The source is Brad Cohen's book about becoming a teacher with Tourette syndrome, a story previously adapted as an American television film. What the move to India adds is class. The narrative is about the pupils' position as much as the teacher's condition; that both sides are unwanted in the same system is the actual link. Rani Mukerji returned with this film after a long absence and her performance carries it. The template is familiar: a hopeless class, a stubborn teacher, transformation. The film never leaves it. The best passages are in the staff room, where the discrimination inside the school, the arithmetic of the timetable and the attitude of the administration are shown concretely. It did well commercially in India and had an unexpected success in China as well. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian emotional drama and stories built on education. Who it is not for: the narrative is predictable, the emotional pitch is high, and the resolutions come too easily.