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Critic Review
Shakuntala Devi (2020)SHAKUNTALA DEVI is the story of a mathematical genius and her complicated relationship with her daughter. Shakuntala Devi (Araina Nand) is 5 years old and lives in Bangalore with her family. Her brother Srinivas (Ahan Nirbhan) discovers that she can solve complicated maths problems easily. Shakuntala’s father (Prakash Belawadi) realizes that he can do maths shows with her to enthral audiences and thereby earn money. He starts doing so, depriving Shakuntala of a formal education in school. He justifies it by reasoning that she is too intelligent and sharp for schooling. Shakuntala agrees but begins to hate her father for his selfish agenda. She also gets irritated with her mother (Ipshita Chakraborty Singh) for not standing up against her father. Shakuntala’s closest family member is her paraplegic sister Sharada (Jiya Singh). Sharada passes away one day because of lack of medical care. Her father argues that he didn’t have enough money to take her to the doctor. This enrages Shakuntala. Two decades later, Shakuntala (Vidya Balan) moves to London, hoping that she can use her talent to make money. After initial rejections, she finally gets a chance to do her own shows thanks to Javier (Luca Calvani), a member of a mathematical society. He also fine-tunes her English and makes her presentable. In no time, Shakuntala becomes renowned and she is able to buy her own house in the English capital. This is when Javier decides to leave her as he believes that she doesn’t need him anymore. A year later, she meets a divorced IAS official Paritosh Banerji (Jisshu Sengupta) in Bombay and they fall in love. They get married and soon have a daughter, Anupama (Sanya Malhotra). At first, Shakuntala gives up on her work and becomes a full-time mother. Soon, she begins to miss doing shows and travelling around the world. Paritosh encourages her to follow her dreams and assures that he’ll take care of Anupama. Shakuntala begins her tours once again. All is going well until one day, Shakuntala learns that Anupama’s first word is ‘Daddy’. Shakuntala realizes that she shouldn’t be away from her daughter. Hence, she decides to take Anupama with her on her tours. Paritosh protests but she doesn’t listen. Anupama starts living like a nomad with Shakuntala and begins to miss her father and a normal routine life. Shakuntala, however, encourages her to enjoy the life she’s living and she even uses Anupama for her work purposes. Slowly and gradually, Anupama begins to despise Shakuntala just the way Shakuntala had begun to abhor her own mother. What happens next forms the rest of the film..
On the whole, SHAKUNTALA DEVI, despite the unconventional subject, works big time due to the execution and Vidya Balan’s award winning performance. Recommended!.
Shakuntala Devi, thus, is the perfect treat for you this weekend. Catch the film within the comfort of your home on Amazon Prime Video and if you have the opportunity to watch it with your mother, don’t miss it. Be prepared for a super-emotional climax,.
The film, which stays determinedly cheerful even in the grey hues of London, slides into flatness here and there. The lines are perky but sometimes startlingly contemporary (did anyone say, for example, ‘let’s take this to the next level’, back in t.
Shakuntala Devi is an unmissable film and not just for the joy of watching Vidya Balan having a ball with numbers. Do make it a point to sit through the end credits, which start with photos from the personal albums of Shakuntala Devi and Anupama Banerji j.
Given the optimistic zeal of the film, you're never bored with the characters. It is indeed an enjoyable and happy film that you’ll want to watch with your mother. It would have been better oif it was not limited to stereotypes..
Like the woman whose story it tells, Shakuntala Devi the film is complicated. That it has been made at all is important. That it is often amusing bodes well for an industry that still tends to hold the view that films revolving around women must perforce .
