Teaching fosters better learning

Few weeks ago I came across a Gujarati movie Dhh whose short description seemed interesting – three students of fifth grade trying to solicit help of magic to pass the exams!

Many times I prefer watching a movie in small pieces because committing two hours at a stretch is difficult, and as a software engineer I’m always on the screen. More screen time becomes a big no.

Finally finished the movie today – it’s streaming on Netflix.

There are these three students who are poor at studies so they fare poorly in the exams. Then they spot a poster of a magic show and bunk their way to the magic show.

Their thought process behind this was only magic can help them pass the exams. One of the students tells about magic to his grandpa, to which he explains it’s nothing but tricks.

He also shows the boy a trick, and asks him to demonstrate it in his school to see what is the reaction of his friends. The smartest guy in the class quickly figures out the trick and this leads to a fight 😂.

These boys decide to write a letter to the magician whose show they’d seen and seek help from him. Few days later they receive a doll named Birbal from the magician and in the accompanying letter, magicians says:

Do just one thing, explain whatever is going to be asked in the exam to Birbal, it helped me a lot and it will also help you. He also says don’t look for any more magic tricks otherwise this doll will not work.

These students take turn to explain the stuff to Birbal and eventually excel in quiz competition and pass the annual exams as well.

At the end the it gets revealed who’s the magician who sent the doll to them, but I won’t mention it here. Go watch the movie if interested 😜.

The director and others who created the movie have so beautifully driven the point that teaching someone else is the best way to sharpen your own knowledge – in this case, the students trying to teach the doll!

It’s no wonder that this movie has won the 65th National Feature Film in Gujarati award.