Every year, Mr. Kumar would recruit 30 students from Bihar’s poorest families to help train them for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance exams.Candace Feit/The Globe and Mail
A Globe and Mail story about a teacher running an exam prep course for students in one of India’s poorest areas, aimed at helping them gain entry to a prestigious college network, has helped to inspire a Bollywood film, Super 30, set to be released next month.
Anand Kumar, the mathematician behind the Super 30 school in eastern India, was interviewed in 2011. The Globe’s story caught the attention of B.C. psychiatrist Biju Mathew, who tracked down Mr. Kumar and wrote a book on him, now the basis for the film starring actor Hrithik Roshan.
“When I wrote the book, I wanted this [story] told to the world,” said Dr. Mathew, who lives in Maple Ridge, B.C., but is originally from Kerala, in south India.
Dr. Mathew was in the staff room of Ridge Meadows Hospital when he read a story by The Globe’s then-South Asia correspondent, Stephanie Nolen, about Mr. Kumar’s program, which is called Super 30.
Every year, Mr. Kumar would recruit 30 students from Bihar’s poorest families to help train them for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) entrance exams. The network of colleges, India’s most prestigious, mostly accepts students who have had access to expensive private schools. Most of Mr. Kumar’s students, however, are the first in their families to attend high school and, in some years, they have recorded a near-total success rate in the admission exam.
As founding president of a South Asian cultural society, Dr. Mathew was looking in 2011 for a fundraising speaker from India to give a talk on education. “Kumar was the right fit,” Dr. Mathew said, adding that he had become a popular figure in India by then and Dr. Mathew wasn’t sure he would accept the invitation. But he did, and received a standing ovation after his address.
After they had spent a few days together, Dr. Mathew felt Mr. Kumar’s story was worth sharing. He proposed that he write a book on his life and Mr. Kumar agreed. A few months later, Dr. Mathew travelled to Bihar to see Super 30 for himself and interview Mr. Kumar’s students and colleagues. The book, which took him more than three years to write, was a hit in India after it was published in 2016. Dr. Mathew donated all the proceeds to the Super 30 school.
The trailer for Super 30, which was directed by Vikas Bahl, was released on June 4 and has already racked up more than 32 million views on YouTube.
On Twitter, Mr. Kumar credited The Globe’s role in leading to his Bollywood debut: “You are perhaps not aware that you have played a big role in the making of the upcoming film,” he wrote to Ms. Nolen.
Super 30 is set to be released globally on July 12.