School Master is a 1958 Indian Kannada-language film produced and directed by B. R. Panthulu. The film stars Panthulu himself in the lead role along with Dikki Madhava Rao, M. V. Rajamma, Udaykumar, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi in important roles. This was the first Kannada film to complete a silver jubilee.^[1][2] The film had its children's dance drama in Gevacolor, taken by cinematographer W. R. Subba Rao. It was later remade in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi in spite of it being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu as Engal Kudumbam Perisu and Badi Pantulu respectively.

In 1959, ALS Productions remade it in Hindi as School Master which was also directed by Panthulu. The film was remade in Malayalam in 1964 as School Master by Puttanna Kanagal, in Telugu in 1972 as Badi Panthulu and in Tamil in 1973 as School Master.^[3]

School Master was the first Kannada film to be remade in four languages and also the first Kannada film to be remade in three other South Indian languages.^[4] The movie is based on 1937 English movie Make Way for Tomorrow^[5] which has been adapted multiple times including in Japanese as Tokyo Story (1953), in Marathi as Oon Paus (1954), in Tamil as Varavu Nalla Uravu (1990), in Pakistani as Samaj (1972) and twice in Hindi as Zindagi (1976) and Baghban (2003).^[6]

Ranganna is a newly appointed headmaster in a government-run village primary school, where he admits his children. Gundappa is a peon in the school. A disciplinarian, Ranganna lives with his three children and wife Seetha. His elder son Gopi gets into fight with a ruffian student, Vasu. Vasu is punished, but his innate goodness wins over his teacher. He is given special care, to become a good student.

Nagappa is a corrupt chairperson of the village panchayat and has frequent run-ins with an honest Ranganna and the district authorities. He burns down Ranganna's house after the latter refuses to campaign for him in the forthcoming elections. However, Ranganna's young students, led by Vasu, build a house for their teacher. Ranganna's efforts to convert the primary school into a high school gets temporarily stalled after Nagappa steals the funds that was collected for the purpose and pinning the blame on the former. However, Nagappa is caught and is sentenced to seven years in prison.

Years pass and Vasu tops his matriculation exams. Ranganna's sons get married — Gopi to Radha, who is Nagappa's daughter, and Ravikumar to Geetha, much against the wishes of their parents, but the parents take it in their stride. Their daughter Gowri is married to a simpleton businessman, Puttanna. Upon Ranganna's retirement from service, the sons are averse to take their parents. With no savings of his own, Ranganna has to rely on them to lead a retired life. Gopi takes his father while Ravikumar, their mother. Ranganna is thus separated from his wife. As time goes by, old age and deteriorating eyesight meant Ranganna is unable to even read his wife's letter, because his son would not provide him with spectacles. His wife and he are both ill-treated by their daughters-in-law leading them to leave their sons' homes.

At the other end, Ranganna's house, built by his students, has to be auctioned off. It is bought by Vasu, now a Superintendent of Police, who happens to pass by and notices the auction. In the climax, he hands over the house to Ranganna and his wife who have now united. Ranganna is overcome by emotion upon seeing his once ruffian student becoming a role model. His journey of being a teacher has met a satisfactory end.

The film's score was composed by T. G. Lingappa.

National Film Awards^[7]

• 1959 – All India Certificate of Merit for Third Best Feature film
• 1959 – National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada