Why be normal when you can be amazing? And that sums up the life and times of extraordinary achievers through the pages of history. That trope defines the Human Computer #ShakuntalaDevi and makes you ask some fundamental questions about how much you are conditioned by society to behave in a certain manner. Living life on your own terms comes with its own set of misgivings but at the end of the day, what matters is what you consider your priority!
ASHOK’s FIVE presents #ShakuntalaDevi just released on #AmazonPrime. Director #AnuMenon looks at the life and times of India’s own super mathematician from a feminist perspective. #VidyaBalan wades into the proceedings with her braids and retro sarees and delivers a sucker punch that stays.
1. #VidyaBalan is a Rockstar. Her full throated, delightful laughter and twinkling eyes pull a wonderful veneer over a distinctly flawed character. There is one scene where she is visiting the house that her parents lived in and she opens a box that has her mother’s clothes. In a trice, her expression changes and she lets out a guttural scream “Maa….”. In that one moment, she lets her guard down and exposes her vulnerability. She is feisty in a role that sets up the contrast between her love for and the glory she attains through Maths but in the process ends up with a strained relationship with her own daughter. In the process, she separates from her husband, Paritosh Banerjee (#JishuSengupta) who sums it up “To love Shakuntala is to let her be. She is like a storm”
2. Somewhere in the beginning of the film, the questions is asked “How does she do it?”. That question remains unanswered till the end. Instead, the first half is packed with a barrage of sequences and the film moves along at a hectic pace. It also jumps timelines furiously and you find it tough to keep track of where you are on the story arc. The initial acknowledgement credits the real-life daughter for the script, and I think this shows through. Writer #NayanaikaMahtani and #AnuMenon seem to represent the protagonist’s laudable achievements more like a collage and use that as a backdrop to tell a human-interest story. Meanwhile, the production design, costumes and wardrobes are effective and re-create the period drama quite well.
3. There is a lot to be told in the story of #ShakuntalaDevi. She was the winner of the Guinness World record, had authored several books including one of the earliest works on homosexuality, turned astrologer, was a stage performer and even contested elections as an aspiring politician. Interestingly, she did contest for the Medak constituency and that too against Indira Gandhi! And then there is the flawed characteristics. She is ambitious, self-centred and not the best at parenting. I think the problem is that the film tries to pack in a lot of all this while trying to focus on the persona and the relationships.
I think a perspective on how her deprived childhood and the resentment against her parents resulted in moulding her outlook towards life could have been detailed out more impactfully. The childhood days set in Bangalore of the 1930s had potential but are glossed over. She is used as a show-pony and pressed into doing shows at an early age. A heavyweight like #PrakashBelawadi, who plays her father is wasted in the role. The film does set up some uncomfortable questions regarding career, parenting and relationships.
4. Coming off two seasons of the #Breathe series, I thought I had a surfeit of #AmitSadh but I found him quite refreshing here. He plays husband to Anupama Banerjee(#SanyaMalhotra) and carries off the role of an intelligent, well-meaning and balanced son-in-law quite well. Sanya, though is a bit of a disappointment and the scenes showing her confrontation with her mother are perhaps the weakest in the film.
5. It is quite something for a six-year-old in the 1930s to declare “Main bada aadmi banoongi” and not “badi aurat”. From there to navigate her way through a patriarchal male-dominated coterie of mathematicians in London and then conquer the world was quite something. The fire that would have fuelled such ambition would have made for fascinating exploration.
Instead, the film starts with the scene where her daughter is contemplating a criminal suit against her. The intrigue that this sets up comes up a cropper when the tension between mother and daughter is almost trivialised.
The aplomb with which #ShakuntalaDevi solves the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds and beats the computer is amazing. #VidyaBalan is brilliant as she smiles eagerly and asks, “Am I correct?”. The film is a tribute to a woman who demonstrated courage to live on her own terms. In the process, she did not win all her bets but then life is never a zero sum game!
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