Introduction: The instructions in the form of didactic lectures can prove monotonous, unidirectional and less interest evoking for students. The subject of Pharmacology is no exception to this. The incorporation of interactive elements within a didactic teaching setting has been shown to positively impact the learning and comprehension of the students. Objectives 1. To compare the perception of students about the active and passive methods of teaching. 2. Impact of the active and passive methods on student cognitive learning outcomes. Students of the second year MBBS were exposed to two teaching methods i.e. classical didactic lecture and interactive lecture in small groups in succession. The perception of the students about the was obtained at the end of the session by a prevalidated 10 item questionnaire. They were tested at the end of both the sessions to assess the immediate understanding and comprehension of the students by both the methods. Results: More than 75% students in this study opined that, the interactive lecture caused them to be more attentive, interested and stimulated and resulted in better understanding of the topic covered. In the short term, the interactive sessions were observed to produce a statistically significant enhancement in comprehension of the topic as compared to the didactic lecture. Discussion: Besides an actual comparison of two teaching methods, this study helped to understand the feasibility and acceptability of the newer teaching learning method in our established set up. The support and encouragement obtained from the faculty members as well as students in this study would facilitate the introduction of such newer and more interactive strategies in medical education. Conclusion: The interactive teaching learning methods are well accepted and effective compared to simple didactic lectures. teaching methods can be devised to optimise the maximal benefits of both the approaches.