Discovery to air docu on Super 30 next month

PATNA: The much-talked about Super 30, a programme under which bright but underprivileged students are given free extensive coaching to enable them crack the entrance examination for the famed IITs, will feature on the Discovery channel next month. The hour-long documentary has captured various aspects of the novel experiment started by mathematician Anand Kumar seven year ago.Super 30 is run by his Ramanujan School of Mathematics in the city.
A large part of the film, shot during 2007-08, shows how the students develop confidence despite their impoverished backgrounds under the guidance of Super 30 founder Kumar and his team to crack the IIT-JEE. Talent, it underlines, is not found in cities and affluent families alone, it is everywhere.
Produced by Veronica Hall and directed by Christopher Mitchell, the documentary would be aired at prime time on March 14 (9 pm, Saturday) and would be repeated thrice. It would be in both Hindi and English.
The film also depicts the journey of Anand, his passion for mathematics since his childhood, early loss of father and the struggle, including the lost opportunity to study at Cambridge University due to poverty.
The documentary has also been shot at villages of Anand and some successful students.
"Super 30 is an amazing initiative and it needs to be taken to the maximum number of people around the globe," said director Mitchell. The film bagged the Audience Choice Award at the Sixth Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles, USA, last year.
Talking to TOI, Anand said: "It is good to get this honour. But, for me, the journey has just begun. I have a long way to go."
Earlier, Yoichi Itoh had made a film on Super 30 for Japan Broadcasting Corporation while Emiko Amagawa did it for another Japanese channel in 2007. Former Miss Japan Norika Fujiwara also made a TV film on this in 2007.