Shakuntala Devi Film Review: Vidya Balan in Still Image (Courtesy primevideoin)
Interpretation: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra, Jisshu Sengupta
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
A warm and whipped dramatization of the life of an extraordinary woman whose head of numbers is a legend, Shakuntala Devi is still entertaining and emotionally engaging, a triumph for director Anu Menon and lead actress Vidya Balan.
The numbers add up indeed well in this warm and vibrant film marked by a controlled tone even when the feelings expressed on the screen require a little heightening and a certain melodrama inevitably creeps into the treatment. It’s a great leadership balancing exercise.
Vidya Balan also demonstrates exceptional skill in tempering a vivid interpretation of an incredible woman with an air of normality, which significantly enhances the appeal of the portrait.
Made by an all-female crew, Shakuntala Devi is definitely feminist in its essence, but that’s thankfully not all there is to the eminently watchable biopic, an Amazon Prime Video version.
It presents a meaningful and inspiring portrait of a woman who lived her life on her own terms, often came close to paying the price but never allowed herself to wonder if the choices she made in life were wrong.
Shakuntala Devi is projected as the woman she was – a citizen of the world who has not taken root anywhere. In fact, she mocks her bureaucrat husband, Paritosh Banreji (Jisshu Sengupta) – the married couple in the late 1960s – for refusing to leave Calcutta.
In one scene, in which she is with Tarabai (a stunning Sheeba Chadha), owner of a London guest house that she checks out after setting sail for Old Blighty, Shakuntala asserts that we are human beings and not trees; we have legs and not roots. She also has wings.
Her differences with her husband form a crucial part of the story. The husband describes her as “a storm” that you do not oppose. He pulls aside when he realizes that neither marriage nor motherhood can compel Shakuntala to drop anchor and say goodbye to his passion for mathematics.
The screenplay, written by Menon and Nayanika Mahtani, is, as the film immediately indicates, “based on a true story seen through the eyes of a girl”. It depicts the making of a legendary mathematician, writer and astrologer in an era when a woman in a sari and pigtails was not supposed to “ do ” arithmetic miracles on stage, especially in cities around the world.
But equally important to the film is the conflict Shakuntala faces and the angst she endures trying to balance her relationship with her parents, husband, only daughter and son-in-law with her ambition.
The film recognizes the contribution of Shakuntala Devi’s daughter, Anupama Banerji, and her son-in-law Ajay Abhaya Kumar, played on screen by Sanya Malhotra and Amit Sadh respectively, in shaping the tale. But this is not a disinfected and unbalanced biopic.
Shakuntala Devi Film review: Vidya and Sanya in a still image (courtesy Instagram)
Shakuntala has its share of idiosyncrasies. In a surprising moment, the reason she cites for writing a book about homosexuals upsets her daughter endlessly. The latter thinks it’s a lie. Her mother agrees. But she asks: What harm does a little lying if it helps sell a story?
Yes, Shakuntala had Devi suffixed to her name – it was just an acknowledgment of her gender – but the movie doesn’t treat her as such. A clear line is made between the world famous mathematician and the woman behind the public figure. The film does not hesitate to recognize his angularities, which caused him and those closest to him considerable pain. Either way, this character study has an undeniably positive sound.
It doesn’t matter what Shakuntala faces – a father-teacher (Prakash Belawadi) who barely understands her, a painfully docile mother (Ipshita Chakraborty Singh), men who let her down and her only child who walks away from her. ‘she – she manages to find a way out of a place and get to her feet.
“I always win. I never fail my numbers. My answers are never wrong.” “I”, “me” and “mine” dominate his conversations. She is not sorry. She is aware of the discomfiture that her level of confidence often causes in those around her, especially in men. Shakuntala’s stance when someone casts doubt on anything she’s about to do is never defensive.
Shakuntala Devi Film review: Vidya Balan in a still image (courtesy Instagram)
She says what she thinks and stands her ground, especially when she takes on the world‘s fastest computer in a UK television studio and proves her point in the face of the show’s anchor skepticism.
His lost childhood is raging. She blames him as much on his father, who prevents him from going to school like other children, as on his shy mother, a woman who never stands up to her husband. Shakuntala lets these unhappy memories determine how he deals with her own daughter much to the dismay of her husband and the daughter herself.
Numbers can be difficult to animate on the big screen. Menon and Balan rise to the challenge squarely and extract great excitement from the many situations that rely on Shakuntala Devi answering questions from an audience, often made up of hard-nosed experts who don’t give quarters but always walk away impressed. by his bizarre gift for quick calculation.
The first time Shakuntala took part in a math show – in the mid-1930s a Bangalore school – her father, having seen her magical ability to find cubic roots of multi-digit numbers in a jiffy, made a request to the teacher of mathematics. : “Ask her a tough question or she’ll be bored.” The problem she is being asked to solve is hard enough, but as expected, it turns out to be a snap for her.
His luck with men is not so perfect. Her boyfriend from Bangalore (Neil Bhoopalam) is intimidated by her extraordinary character. In London, Javier (Italian actor Luca Calvani playing a Spaniard), with whom she develops a bond, feels “rich and famous” and does not need him. Shakuntala asks in exasperation, “Why do men always want women to need it?”
The women behind the film – dialogue writer Ishita Moitra, who alternates between Hindi and English, both Pidgin and Queen’s; publisher Antara Lahiri, who gives the film a look with a back-and-forth rhythm; production designers Vintee Bansal and Meenal Agarwal and cinematographer Keiko Nakahara who together conjure up a bright, cheerful color palette enhanced endlessly by the hues of the heroine’s sarees – are all at their peak.
Vidya Balan, who plays Shakuntala Devi from 25 to 70, doesn’t miss a turn. With subtle changes in diction, body language, and mock gestures, she fleshed out a strong and fiery woman that was both endearing and impressive.
It’s easy to step into the shade when the show’s star is this good, but Sanya Malhotra perfectly conveys the flickering emotions of a daughter at odds with her mother’s worldwide fame. And Jisshu Sengupta and Amit Sadh, as men grappling with two strong-willed women, set out for the ride with their feet firmly and presumably on the ground.
Shakuntala Devi is a must-see movie and not just for the joy of watching Vidya Balan have fun with numbers. Be sure to sit through the end credits, which begins with photos from Shakuntala Devi and Anupama Banerji’s personal albums juxtaposed with stills from the film and ends with the Skip Nahi Toh Fail Nahi song that sums up both the spirit of the film and the protagonist.
