I've Come Closer To Myself This Year: Juhi Chawla

Juhi Chawla is a name synonymous with a warm persona. After playing a million characters in her dynamic career, she’s here to play a teacher in her upcoming film Chalk N Duster. She reminisces the year gone by with Vanessa Viegas .

- Vanessa Viegas

What is Chalk N Duster all about?

Chalk N Duster is about very normal, regular people…Their little struggles and little joys. Incidentally these little people happen to be teachers. So it’s a heartwarming, family kind of a film. It’s not just about school, but really about what role a teacher plays in your life, which we don’t realise then. We go through life, we go through school, through college and we just don’t stop to think about the people that shape us. And it doesn’t only have to be your teachers; it could be anybody who has made a difference in your life.

It’s also said that when you like the teacher, you are bound to like the subject...

You’re so right! This has actually happened with my daughter. Apparently her teacher in school taught History in such an interesting manner, that my Jhanvi has become a fan of History. The teacher would bring it alive and tell them stories from that time and not just speak of dates and factual theories from the textbook. History can be very boring and, if you remember, memorising it was a bigger pain. But if a teacher can change the way that you looked at your textbook, it’s inadvertently going to become your favorite subject and the learning experience can be a whole lot of fun!

So how was little Juhi in school?