Lunana A Yak In The Classroom follows the story of an aspiring musician seeking to go to Australia, who is given teaching duties in the world’s most remote school in Lunana. The story is quite simple yet layered in many ways. The template might remind you of the Hindi film Swades, but when you look closely the film takes a different route in terms of its storytelling technique. While the screenplay set the tone initially with the introduction of the protagonist and his aspirations, the drama seemed quite real and grounded without any melodrama. Cut to the journey of the protagonist, and it is here that we get a glimpse of a world which is far cut off from the hustle of the city. It is soothing, meditative and quite a breath of fresh air. Along the journey(which is a good chunk of the first half), the audience too is on a self discovery path like the protagonist, as the writing tackles certain issues as well.

The issues related to how people live up in the altitude to how global warming affects them is all nicely packaged in the journey. Once the destination is reached, the warmth of the place is shown which is just so infectious. Soon, the mood of the drama changes. There are cultural references mentioned which I quite enjoyed. The drama is filled with warmth yet it is philosophical in nature(watch out for the reference of the yak) which just melts your heart. The hardship of the students is shown well too. And the dynamics between the kids and the protagonist(as well as another woman) is so delicate and irganically shown that it is hard to dettach yourself from it. By the end of it, you are left with a bittersweet taste much like the protagonist but with a lump in your throat. The nostalgia of the final scene is quite moving and is enough to make grown up boys cry. What a beautiful screenplay, perhaps one of the best this year!