MoViews: Shakuntala Devi BAGEO Rating: A(verage)
Year | 2020 | Rating | PG-13 | Genre | Drama | Language | Hindi | Runtime | 2 hr 7m |
Story | Anu Menon (a true story dramatised) |
Screenplay/Script | Kunal Mehta |
Cinematography | Keiko Nakahara |
Key Actors | Vidya Balan |
Direction | Anu Menon |
Producers | Sony Pictures Vikram Malhotra |
Summary: A true story of the famous mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi who was widely respected for her mathematical and astrological abilities. THe movie is shown from the point of view of her real life daughter Anupama Mukherjee (acted by Sanya Malhotra) who had many arguments and disagreements with her mother in the way she was brought up and even living separately with no contacts. The movie shows the struggles and challenges Shakuntala as a mother and at the same time focusing on her passion of numbers. However towards the end of Shakuntala Devi's life, the daughter-mother due patch up and understand each other's compulsions and situations.
It shows many inspirational moments of the genius though - like participating in many number competitions in many famous universities in US, Europe and other places. It has a few catchy dialogues too - like an incident where Shakuntala is asked if age has impacted her abilities and she replies 'age is just a number and all numbers like her'. The director has used technology to show the number calculations in the screen for the viewers to know better.
Though a biographical movie , the movie is a dramatized version in a typical Hindi movie format with songs that are not catchy or melodious. The main drawback on the movie for me is the frequent changes in the timeline and related incidents. There seems to be no clear flow of the storyline and many times the script seems to be jumping from one incident to another drastically. Also, the movie moves back and forth in periods which I think could be very confusing to the viewers.
Overall, I think the camera and cinematography including the visual elements, lighting, framing and some great picturesque scenes of UK are the only good part of the movie. The acting of the key actors, especially Vidya Balan as Shakunthala Devi is good, but I felt in many scenes her make up, dialogues etc. are too dramatic and not natural.
I am compelled to compare with the movie 'The man who knows Infinity' which is true story about another great Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. This 2015 movie directed by Matt Brown and starring Dev Patel as Ramanujan got rave reviews and was successful in the box office as it depicted the struggles and virtues of the mathematician in a realistic limelight. I think the current movie on Shakuntala Devi had the same potential in terms of story line and climax, but the director did not bring it up to a professional level of a realistic movie.
Other interesting points: Except for the scenes in UK, nothing much was special or interesting.
Overall: A time-pass movie to watch - especially for kids to know who this genius was. No other value add from this movie.
BAGEO Rating: A(verage)
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