Vidya Balan as Shakuntala Devi, in a scene, says, “We, Indians are like that. Drama or nothing”. It sounds more like a self-dig for branding themselves as a day time Indian soap you catch on TV. They prepare their audiences for what they are about to witness for the next 2 hours. Anu Menon’s, this directorial feature film, wears the biopic badge so proudly but I wish it stays grounded to the realism and leaves some crumbs to get inspired on its way. The film, in various moments, doesn’t seem to be capturing the headspace of one of the most brilliant geniuses of this century. A story can be weaved so interestingly about a strained marriage and a troubled motherhood of a woman who tries to reach for the stars while balancing her struggles. We have seen them better in fictions. The problem, with the film Shakuntala Devi, is that, it’s not so affecting when it portrays the trials of this brilliant woman. It’s only touch and go that makes it not a perfect homage to the genius. Vidya retorts in a scene when she was mocked by a British man, “A man with Dhoti and Lati is a joke too but he won in the end”. I wish the filmmakers took their notes from Richard Attenborough’s biopic Gandhi for their film.
The film celebrates her free-spirit but I wish they have shown the struggles she had to endure to get her piece. Shakuntala Devi acknowledges her dreams and never bounds herself inside a compact circle. “I am not a tree to be rooted in a single place”, she says. Her energy is infectious. But I wish the film hasn’t deprived us of her pain but just states them as the facts of the things that she has missed, lost and yearned. She does Math shows on stage and amazes people with her skills. A woman’s brilliance was used just for the shows during her times and I wish the film took its stand to show a side of which her brilliance is not utilized to its entirety, for any major scientific contributions. Vidya Balan is dashing and the only thing that stays with you from the film. She has fitted perfectly to the role and keeps you entertained.
Sanya Malhotra gives an affecting performance as Vidya’s daughter. The film insists to show the troubles of the mother-daughter relationship in Shakuntala Devi’s life. It is less poignant and more sentimental and soapy in its way. It fails to unearth the realistic touch but stays distorted in its representation of a woman who refuses to lose her spirit.
