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First, the Recap:
Impact and influence. Two very related yet separate notions that can so deftly describe how those specific, often rare, individuals that transform our lives affect our life journeys, do we not tend at times to forget about them or take for granted just how much we get moved and inspired by that which they’ve passed along to us? Do we ever consider how it all might seem to THEM as the one giving so much of themselves only to possibly feel uncredited or underappreciated? From their perspective, what if it seems like it’s time to stop doing what they’ve loved before it’s time, and what could change their mind from taking that action? Tyagi (Raghubir Yadav) is a teacher who now must encounter the realities of providing lessons to students online thanks to the onset of COVID-19. Struggling to fathom the minor yet daunting facets of this new actuality, and so close to the end of his career, it brings about considerations, hard decisions, and the beauty of past lessons that might touch his soul and spark a personal revival.
Next, my Mind:
We’ve all more than grown weary in itself of facing the actualities that COVID-19 has wrought upon our existence since early in 2020 through to present. However, for this critic, I have still found that I DON’T grow tired of the stories presented through the medium of independent film that address the pandemic and its impact on the world, all while also many times having been produced DURING the heart of the blight and, more importantly, IN SPITE of it. Therefore, it was with supreme joy that I was provided the chance to screen and now review the World Premiere of this nine-minute short from director Sameer Sharma, writer/co-director Vishal Sagar, producer Akshay Shah, and executive producer Muskan Singhal through my remote coverage of the 2022 DFW SAFF (where the film took Prolific Pandemic Programming honors) sponsored by Toyota USA and hosted by Jingo Media Founder/Festival Director Jitin Hingorani and Artistic Director Ambica Dev, also featured as the Centerpiece Short at the event Sunday afternoon and part of the Senior Citizens Programming offered.
With poignant, proficient, plausible, and unreservedly relevant intent paired with the solid writing and direction offered here, the narrative that sees a somewhat beleaguered teacher close to retirement having to encounter and then overcome an entire shift in his methods and comfort zones due to the closing down of his school during COVID-19’s official outbreak in March 2020 quickly turns into lessons about and thematic explorations encompassing fear, uncertainty, frustration, sudden unconfidence, questioning the future, and exercising the possibilities of having to take a drastic action to rectify it all. Basically, it is an affirmation of precisely how the entire world felt when the lockdowns began–a severe sense of interruption of the norm, our routines, our habits, our mindsets, and everything else we really took for granted on a daily basis–here now narrowed down to a single man’s experience with it and how it affects all he’s known and been comfortable with.
What struck me in watching how this was depicted is that in certain ways, there’s almost an innocently playful humor with the main character’s plight, only in that at minimum, we’ve ALL had SOME kind of circumstance involving computers and/or being online that has blatantly stupefied/stumped us to the extent of wishing to give up. In the context here, we see an illustration of the struggles to make attempts to not just learn the nuances of operating online but having to then maintain the same magnitude of authority and presence as a teacher when not being physically present in the classroom, hence distracted attention spans and other factors COULD now come into play. Again, when not familiar with that arena of operation, the actualities of radical, unanticipated change truly sticks out through the film’s portrayal of one educator’s dilemma. The film then begins to delve into the potentials for restless decisions as an answer.
Yet, does it not seem to be that when things seem their most hopeless, that’s when something occurs to alter our entire perspective and cause us to at least rethink everything? By the time we reach the film’s finale, it is an exercise in this principal that will inspire and move your heart, granting us what this critic feels should already be an ingrained appreciation for what teachers bring to this world that FAR too often goes utterly unheralded. Yadav remains, even for the few overall films of his highly prolific career I’ve actually had the privilege of viewing, one of the South Asian cinema’s most excellent character actors and he proves it yet again through this role as Tyagi, a veteran teacher whose time in his chosen profession is coming to a close. But, when the specter of COVID-19 becomes the major hinderance to his plans, Tyagi has to choose to adapt to the new situation or be so upended by it that he may choose a more direct but possibly incorrect choice as the solution to his quandary.
Despite his best efforts and assistance from his tech-savvy daughter, all seems lost for him until an unforeseen situation comes along that might transform his entire way of thinking. It’s the beauty of understated, nuanced acting that Yadav brings to this character, so filled with that quietly simmering strength but still very controlled and contained while not sacrificing the raw emotion the character is encountering, a testament to Yadav’s well-honed skills. It’s a beautiful performance and an ode to the many aspects of character and narrative-driven quality that indie film so deftly utilizes to both entertain and share evocative messages. Supporting roles are present here from Anjuman Saxena as Tyagi’s wife, Priya as his daughter and balm for computer issues, Son (according to the film’s credits) as Tyagi’s son, and Zeeshan as Vijay. So, in total, “Master Ji” stands firmly as a wholeheartedly needed shout-out to ALL teachers worldwide for their dedication, knowledge, compassion, desire to educate, and fortitude to withstand so much chaos the world is currently in for the sake of filling minds with what they require to move forward in life. You are still unsung heroes and please don’t stop doing what you’re doing, because your mark IS made on us.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
