Chiranjeevi to Dhanush; South actors who portrayed teachers onscreen and conveyed the importance of education
The story of a simple man who becomes the saviour of students or society was always a hit formula in Indian movies, especially in southern films. ‘SIR/Vaathi’ released today is based on the above template that tells the story of an assistant Maths teacher who goes all the way to educate underprivileged students of a village against the corporate exploitation and politics around and make them score the best ranks in their 12th grade. In this regard, let us have a look at the list of South actors who impressed the audience as teachers.
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Sr.NTR in ‘Badi Panthulu’ (1972)
This 1972 Telugu-language drama film by P. Perraju is a remake of the superhit Kannada film ‘School Master’ which in turn is an adaptation of the Marathi novel ‘Vaishnavi‘. The film starred N. T. Rama Rao, and Anjali Devi played the lead roles while Baby Sridevi played the granddaughter to NTR. The film is said to be a huge commercial success for its performances, and NTR has also won the Best Actor Filmfare Award for his performance in the film.
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Chiranjeevi in ‘Master’(1997)
1997 action film ‘Master’ directed by Suresh Krissna, Roshini and Sakshi Sivanand in the lead roles is also a box-office success in which Chiranjeevi plays the role of a Master Rajkumar who disciplines the students by mingling with them. The movie songs penned by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry and the performance by Chiranjeevi have mesmerized everyone.
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Balakrishna in ‘Simha’(2010)
This 2010 action drama film by Boyapati Srinu written by Koratala Siva featured Nandamuri Balakrishna in a dual role as Srimannarayana, a university professor a scared and esteemed personality and Dr. Narasimha a hot-blooded head of Bobbili. Nayantara, Sneha Ullal and Namitha played the female leads in this film, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.
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Venkatesh in ‘Sundarakanda (1992)’
This 1992 Telugu romantic comedy film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao is a Telugu remake of the Tamil film 'Sundara Kandam' that starred Venkatesh, Meena and Aparna playing the lead roles. while its soundtrack is composed by MM.Keeravani. The film showcased Venkatesh as a Telugu lecturer in Jr.College where he completed his education and he is taken for a ride by his juniors and a mischievous student Roja.
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Sumanth in 'Golconda High School'(2011)
Golconda High School is a 2011 Telugu sports drama by Mohan Krishna Indraganti based on 'The Men Within'. The film tells the story of converting a cricket playground into an IIT coaching center but the students were asked to show positive results in at least one sport to retain their playground. The college head appoints Sampath (a former student as their coach), and they get back their ground after much struggle.
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Mammootty in several films
Malayalam actor Mammootty has played the role of a teacher/college professor in several films such as ‘Anubandham’ (1985), ‘Mazhayethum Munpe’ (1995) and ‘Thaniyavarthanam’ (1997). His 2017 action mystery thriller film ‘MasterPiece’ is said to be one of the best Professor roles (fake) played by any actor so far.
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Mohan Lal in a few films
Yet another Top Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal has impressed the audience in the role of a professor in a couple of his films such as the 2000 film, ‘Life is beautiful’ in which he played plus two lecturers and the 2017 film ‘Velipadinte Pushtakam’ went on to lead the top charts of the year in which he played the role of a Prof. Michael Idicula, a new college vice principal and how he makes his students understand the importance of discipline and education.
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Kamal Haasan in ‘Nammavar’(1994)
None of us would have missed this film in our childhood as it used to be one of the regular films that used to broadcast frequently on satellite Television. The film was written by Kamal Haasan himself and directed by KS Sethumadhavan and featured Kamal as the history professor Dr. Selvan and later the vice president of the college who tries to reform the downtrodden college with his initiatives. The film also won a National Award for best feature film in Tamil that year.
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Dhanush in ‘SIR/Vaathi’ (2023)
The title translates to 'Master', a bilingual period action drama film by Venky Atluri that featured Tamil actor Dhanush as a Junior college Maths lecturer who stands against the corporate college MDs exploiting the poor students by taking Govt colleges under their control.
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Ambareesh in 'Professor' (1995)
Professor (1995) is a Classic Kannada language drama film by H Renuka Sharma starring Ambareesh, Srishanthi and Thara playing the lead roles. The film is one of the super successes at the box office for the Professor role played by Kannada star Ambareesh. The film is even played today on satellite channels regularly for its storyline.
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Shivaraj Kumar in ‘Drona’
'Drona' is a 2020 Kannada language action drama film written by Ram Krish and directed by Promod Chakravarthy starring Shiva Rajkumar in the title role of a Government school teacher who fights for the survival of the school. The movie is said to be a remake of the 2012 Tamil film 'Saattai'. However, the movie ended up as an average fare at the box office.
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