Anand Kumar, the man behind Super 30, talks to Chahak Mittal about his numerous struggles on his journey to training the underprivileged, on various litigations filed against him, on facing the mafia and being physically attacked
Anand Kumar recalls spending one of the many evenings with actor Hrithik Roshan, talking to him about his various life events. Apparently, the actor failed to realise that he was walking barefoot to the other end of the road when he went to see Anand off, so engrossed he was in their conversation. The result of that dialogue is Super 30, a film that traces the life of the mathematician and ex-IITian, who through an educational programme in Patna, named Super 30, that began in 2002, selected 30 meritorious students from the underprivileged sections of the society and trained them for free for IIT-JEE (Joint Entrance Exam).
He says, “He was full of questions and curiosity. He constantly used to ask me questions on how I went about the struggles in my life, what did I do when I faced backlash from the government at so many levels, how did I work them out and many more. Even after reading about me and watching some of my videos, he wanted to know all those details from me. And most of the times, he used to get so lost in the conversations that once when he came down to see me off, his staff pointed out that he was barefoot. The level of love and respect I saw in him was enough to make me realise that in the film he will portray me in the best way possible.”
And evidently, both Hrithik and Anand didn’t shy away from controversies. Recently, there have been numerous reports and allegations against Anand and he has been accused of projecting inflated success rate for his coaching institute and for misleading IIT aspirants. In a recent PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in Guwahati High Court by four students of IIT-Guwahati, it was alleged that Anand charges Rs 33,000 from IIT aspirants for the coaching. The petition also says that he claimed 26 out of 30 of his students cleared IIT entrance in 2018 but never disclosed their names. Another PIL in Patna High Court also accused Anand of claiming students from other institutes as his own or taking cuts from other coaching centres. In 2018, a local daily labelled him as fraud and quoted former Super 30 students who said that fascinated IIT aspirants would land in Patna seeking admission in Anand’s institute, but much to their surprise and shock, they were asked to take admission in the Ramanujan school classes, which were paid.
Talking about the allegations, Anand defends himself by saying that after the film, the case at Guwahati HC was the last one, which everyone heard about in detail. “But before that, there were a lot of mafia and feudal politicians, who had made an alliance to pull me down. Hamla hua tha mujhpe (I was physically attacked). I asked for my protection from the Bihar Police and four commandos were appointed for it. My brother was purposely hit by a truck. A volunteer, who worked for our social media, was pushed into jail for no reason and they alleged that he wrote something on Facebook which was unacceptable. When I spoke to the senior authorities to look into the matter, they investigated the case for three months and found out that he was innocent. There was no such post. And then he got a bail. Later, they collected four IIT-G students and they filed a litigation against me saying that I charge students heavy fees. However, I never taught those kids who were alleging that,” says he. When we ask him that why would then the kids accuse him, he flips the question and says, “Even I wanted to know why. Because I never taught them. None of them is an Anand Kumar kid. None of them even appeared for my entrance test which I take to select the batch.” He adds that the list of names is always released on Facebook after the result. “We did that the previous year too.”
However, now, having waded through it all, Anand is happy that at least most students have seen hope. He is glad to see the level of curiosity and excitement in people when he looks at so many journalists waiting for his interview. “I am happy because they will be able to see what my struggles have been throughout my life. It will reach maximum people and help make an impact by influencing others,” says he.
So how did he first get the idea for such an initiative? What were his struggles? Did he have enough funds to teach 30 students for free?
Even though the film would answer just that, he narrates, “I had got an admission in the Cambridge University in 1994. My father was an employee in postal services and used to schedule letters for posting so we didn’t have enough money to fund my education and travel fee. Apart from my education, he had other responsibilities too as my chacha’s (uncle) children were also dependent on him since he was paralysed. In the midst of all this tension, he passed away. Post that, all the responsibilities came on our heads — on me and my brother. Now I couldn’t have gone to Cambridge. I had written many papers at the undergraduate level, which even got published. But that wish to become a scientist or a mathematician became a distant dream. I was offered his government job. My mother gave me the liberty to choose what I want to do with my life and I didn’t take up that job.”
His mother then started making papads and selling them for a livelihood and his brother sold violins in Patna. Anand would help the two during the day and study at night. They went about the same pattern for two years until he finally realised that he should do something to be near to his dream even if he couldn’t go abroad. “I realised that being a teacher was my final goal and I should work out something related to it. I started teaching slum kids for free. It was then when we developed the concept of Super 30 where we could select a given set of students and help them get through top colleges, especially IIT. It was in 2002, we kept around 30 selected students at our home even though our financial conditions weren’t that stable,” he adds.
While the programme became a rage among the people within a few years, did he feel the need to expand it further? He didn’t. He says that it was all about delivering a message in the society that “education could be free too and most importantly, available for those who can’t afford it. This also influenced other people to create centres like Super 30. And now that a film is being made on it, it is only growing.”
Talking about his reaction when he was first approached by the filmmakers who wanted to adapt his life story into a movie, Anand says he had conditions. “I didn’t want anything to go or be showcased without my consent as I couldn’t have let a wrong message or image be delivered about me in the society. The condition was that the film shouldn’t send any wrong message or create a faulty image of mine in the society. Yes, a bit of creative freedom is allowed when it comes to films but it couldn’t have elements of fiction. That is why I had read and made changes in the script 13 times,” he says and goes on to add, “Uske baad laga ki haan ab kahaani sahi hai (then I felt that the story was correct).”
Anand hasn’t watched the film but when he first saw the trailer, he felt “it was me, not Hrithik. Mera hi image tha voh. I have seen Hrithik work very hard to get into my skin. I have seen him following my way of walking and my body structure. Mere strong muscles (laughs). I have seen him practising my Bihari accent aur trailer me dikh raha hai ki kitna perfectly aaya hai (its perfection is evident in the trailer).”
(The film releases on July 12.)
Photo: Pankaj Kumar
