The only lesson you learn is how the Indian film industry neglects veteran actresses such as Azmi and Chawla, and forces them to accept mediocre roles just to appear on the big screen again.

…inspite of its obvious flaws, it’s still worth a watch. The quiz round towards the end is quite entertaining with his suspense. The scenes where Vidya teaches with care and concern in school and her neighbourhood are enlightening. Juhi Chawla as her solid friend is endearing. And although the scenes where the ex-students and students in general come to the help of Vidya when she is in hospital appear over-the-top, it still manages to strike a chord in you.

Yes, ‘Chalk N Duster’ isn’t magical or earnest like Aamir’s works, or delightful like ‘Rockford’, or ‘Stanley Ke Dabba’. It slips into the category that has Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Paathshaala’.

Chalk ‘N’ Duster is not great cinema by any stretch of the imagination. It is often crude and unapologetic in its melodramatic pitch. But its heart is in the right place. It is a decent conscientious attempt to depict the bond between teachers and the taught. Shabana’s Vidya and Juhi’s Jyoti (vidya and jyoti, get it?) are more aspirational than real. There is irony there. Because the treatment of the subject is more street-play blunt than aspirational.

…picks a topic rarely explored by the film industry and shows the Indian education system in its current form. Watch it to get on a nostalgia trip remembering your teachers as well be presented with the reality of the education system today. 

Folded into the mess is a heartfelt message reminding viewers that teachers should not be taken for granted and should be accorded the respect and dignity they deserve. But the movie is too overwritten, shoddily produced and amateurishly performed to make its point convincingly. Of the cast, all of whom have been directed to act as broadly as possible, only Azmi makes a mark. The film’s report card: an A for effort, but with marks cut for general incompetence.