Batch of 2020 - Beyond Degrees & Certificates (YouTube)
Written and Narrated: Anto Philip
Rating: 3/5
Anto Philip the co-founder of Under 25 Studios wrote and narrated this 59 minutes long documentary film that tries and for the most part succeeds at sowing seeds of hope and confidence in the outgoing batches of 2020, the graduates of this year. After a short welcome from Anto Philip, we see actor Hrithik Roshan give everyone an opening speech about how well they did with their academics, it was ok.
Starting out with a mind-blowing section from Faye D’Souza where she started reading out a letter written by her for all the graduates of 2020 and it truly is inspiring not just for them but anyone who watches it.
This was followed by some good bits of speeches by Anupama Chopra, Roshan Abbas and Armaan Malik. A young actor, Reba John and the hilarious Nazar and Vineeth Kumar of Jordindian talk about the first year after graduation. It was a light-hearted session that had not much to offer. Then Deepika Padukone arrives in the section that’s called ‘dropping out’. It was fun to watch Deepika goof up once or twice but manage to put forth an interesting talk.
Now, Rega Jha and Raghava KK explain well why the educational system that we follow these days isn’t as perfect as we thought it was and how we as individuals can go past it. Many more people spoke following these but all that captured my interest was how Anand Gandhi explained so beautifully about critical thinking and knowledge of science. It is something that everyone regardless of age should watch and grasp. Followed by this was some great advice by Tanmay Bhat that really anyone can apply to their lives to be a better performer.
Altogether, I felt it would make more sense for the actual graduates of 2020 to watch it than someone who is way past all that; but it doesn’t go without saying that it had things that are for everyone.