A film-review activity of the short Hindi drama/film ‘Exchange Offer’ by M.K.Raina and Taher Shabbir was conducted by Dr Geeta Goyal for the students of M.A.(P)Eng and M.A.(F)Eng year students via Google Classroom. Sonia and Aman from MA(P) and Paramjeet from MA(F) were the student coordinators of the event. This short Hindi drama covers a time duration of 29 minutes in the life of a retired school Principal Shiv Kumar Pant who is living a lonely life in Delhi and consequently confines himself to an unsocial,frustrated and unappreciative life. However as the story moves on, his hard and boring life gets allegorically exchanged with a changed and technologically modern life with the love,affection and care of his students.
Film reviews are a great way to get your students involved in reading,writing and responding to different kinds of texts. And almost all the students responded quite well. A total of 19 reviews from both the classes were received. Some of the relevant entries received were from Manish(MA P 3186220007),Santosh Rani(MA P 3186220004),Sahil(MA P 3186220002),Kush Chaudhary(MA F 321981002),Anju Sharma and Usha Rani(MA P).Dr Rajbir Parashar,Head,dept of English,judged the entries and declared the review by Santosh as ‘the best’,review by Manish as the second and Sahil and Anju also made ‘good attempts’.
It is altogether important to share the learning experiences of the winners from their own reviews-
1. Santosh who was adjudicated as the first winner has this to say on the role and perception of a student Amit for his Principal from the film- “I learn from him that we shouldn’t forget those persons who build our character and play an important role in our life.”
2.Manish from MA P says,”Atlast the movie leaves us with a message of how a single step forward can change our entire life.”
3. Sahil from MA P points out that, “The most beautiful thing was the bonding of a teacher and a student and the bonding of a son and a father.”
4. Anju Sharma very beautifully sums up and says,”This film also makes us learn that change is the rule of the world.”
“When a student becomes a son,
The teacher is reborn.”
Contemporary cultural studies, gender, popular culture, the internet and new media technologies help students to develop an interest in the understanding of how cultures communicate and express ideas through film and media which in turn help students to have a wider perspective of culture and community beyond classroom teaching learning. Digital culture teaches students to examine networked communication from a cultural perspective. Students learn about the place of social media in society, its uses, and its challenges. Principal Dr Sanjay Goyal appreciated the efforts of Dr Geeta Goyal and the Dept of English for consistent reach out to Students during COVID -19 phase. He also emphasized that activities like Film Appreciation/Review were particularly useful for the involved Students.
