The last time I watched documentaries was during my BMM days when we were asked to make a documentary. Before and after that phase of life, documentaries never really interested me until I came across Mrs. Nambiar on Cinemapreneur.
What interested me? It’s description. Here is goes:
“An educator for over 70 years of her life, this documentary is an intimate portrayal of Meenakshi Nambiar, a National Award winning teacher, born in the pre-independence era.”
“A national-award winning teacher born in the independence era” stunned me. I am so glad that I chose this documentary. The best part about it is that it is well-directed, well-written, and very well-made. Unlike other documentaries, it doesn’t bore you. Throughout, it makes you feel good, feel good for and about a life that is so well-lived. Mrs Nambiar’s life story made me wonder if fiction should at least for sometime be entirely scrapped so that the filmmakers tell us more stories of such real life heroes.
A teacher who taught well might not sound heroic to many people, but it is. It is heroic when a woman not just studies but also decides to educate others in an era where girls were kept away from education. It is heroic when the passing on of knowledge isn’t just looked at as a job or duty but is considered a moral responsibility. I remember her son telling in the documentary that after she joined the government school she was teaching in, how the number of students who cleared the examinations substantially increased. Earlier, it used to be one digit number or below 20. Considering the fact that these students came from a very low strata of society, this truly is an achievement!
Apart from her contributions in the education industry, what I loved the most about her is the way people spoke about her – with lots of love, utmost dignity, and equal amount of awe. That shows the kind of woman she is. But I must say, these women from the pre-independence era were something else. They were cut from a completely different cloth. The number of obstacles and difficulties they had to face and overcome in life to become the woman they dream to become, made them all “iron ladies.”
In the Mrs Nambiar documentary, at one place, they have mentioned that though she was an avid follower of Gandhiji, she did not stop teaching even after he asked people to boycott schools and colleges. How one should have his/her own opinions about things and not get easily influenced by, even the influencers, is something our generation needs to learn from Mrs Nambiar.
There is much more to the documentary than I have mentioned here. I truly feel that our generation needs to get influenced by real-life stories of courage and strength than by social media influencers. Hence, I strongly recommend you to watch Mrs Nambiar, so that, for a change, we all know what kind of people we should follow in life.
Where to Watch? Cinemapreneur
P.S: It’s available for just Rs. 49.
The Digital Popcorn 