The onscreen teachers of 2011

They are firm, funny, far-sighted and in some cases, downright foul-mouthed. That’s the onscreen teacher for you. And this year, the big screen has seen all sorts of teachers — from the idealistic to the irreverent.
Lillete Dubey:
She has played the role of mothers to perfection. But this year, Lillete played the part of a feisty English teacher in Always Kabhi Kabhi, who spouts Hamlet to a bunch of rambunctious teenagers.
Amole Gupte:
Can teachers be greedy? Writer-director Amole Gupte proved it in Stanley Ka Dabba, in which he plays a boorish Hindi teacher named Babubhai Verma, a man more interested in the kids’ lunchboxes than teaching — especially Stanley’s.Though his character in his directorial debut was far from lovable, the grumpy, mean-spirited Babubhai left quite an impression on audiences.
Bradley Cooper:
Bradley’s teacher character Phil in Hangover 2 was more involved in bar brawls, drinking games and getting shot in the arm than enlightening children.
Cameron Diaz:
Cameron’s loud, drunken and surly Elizabeth Halsey elicited quite a few laughs and raised eyebrows in her last film, Bad Teacher. She takes regular swigs of alcohol from behind a desk and shows the students movies while she sleeps during class. Her wardrobe — which on one occasion included shorts and a knotted shirt — hardly befitted a student, let alone a teacher.
Julia Roberts:
Julia has played an inspirational teacher in Mona Lisa Smile, but her professor character in Larry Crowne is far less passionate about enriching her students’ lives. In fact, she has something in common with Cameron’s character in Bad Teacher — she loves to hit the bottle.
Amitabh Bachchan:
The Big B has played a teacher several times in various avatars — from the comical Sukumar Sinha in Chupke Chupke, to the idealistic Narayan Shankar in Mohabbatein. This year, Amitabh played the idealistic Prabhakar Anand in Aarakshan, who doesn’t take things lying down when the issue of commercialization of education looms large over the institution.
Compiled by Richa Bhatia