Chalk n Duster

 A very well told ethics and greed story, and the downfall of the education system, where it has turned into a business. Wondering how and why this was missed out before. 

A beautiful movie on how education has turned into business, and to what extend the business men can go to make it profitable, how very few remember their teacher and stand up for their justice, and how when one person stand up, other follow. 

A school was functioning smoothly under the able hands of Principal Indu Shastry (Zarina Wahab), and then there is a change in the managment and so the Principle. Teachers' chairs are removed from the classrooms, the tea is no longer free and subjects are juggled so that, for example, the overweight Hindi teacher is now assigned physical training spoiling the whole dynamics of the school. All of this is too much for the good-hearted Vidya, who suffers a heart attack after a sudden and unfair dismissal. Jyoti (Juhi Chawla), a teacher who is passionate about teaching, stands up for the fellow teacher, Vidya (Shabana Azmi) , and fights against her unjustified dismissal by the school's new principal, Kamini  Gupta (Divya Dutta).  This entails using a TV channel as a platform for reminding viewers that teachers need support, recognition and more pay.

The drama ends with a recovered Vidya and Jyoti taking on a Who Wants to Be A Millionaire-style quiz Conducted by Rishi Kapoor,  to win 5 crore rupees. The trade-off is that if they lose, they will have to accept their termination and leave their profession respectively. Vidya and Jyoti use their talents and win the quiz battle. Unwillingly, the trustee Anmol signs the bank cheque of 5 crore rupees. The principal Kamini apologizes to Vidya and Jyoti publicly on the TV show. At the end, Vidya reveals that she will be handing over the money to former principal Indu to build a school where no teacher will be discriminated against and students will have a good education for less cost.