Yes There have been several films before on the difference a teacher can make to the lives of underprivileged students given up as lost causes in schools. Almost always, as they capture the transformation of these students on screen, the films work.
Hichki does well in placing this story within a uniquely Indian context: of an old, establishment school being forced to take in children from the slums next door out of sheer need for space; of a well-meant law such as the Right to Education Act coming up against the stark, unsaid reality of class difference; of the meritocracy-determined hierarchical in system that can be as rigid, in a society driven by competition; and of small aspirations that die within those walls every day format