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"Shakuntala Devi" | Adds up to one-time watch

 31 July 2020 5:50 PM GMT  |  IANS

Adds up to one-time watch

Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman in his 1978 classic, ‘Autumn Sonata’, set up an enchanting conflict of emotions between a renowned classical pianist and her rather average daughter, who stifles beneath the fame of her illustrious mother.

In ‘Shakuntala Devi’, director Anu Menon uses a similar tack while dissecting her subject, in a far more mainstream language. Shakuntala Devi was a phenomenon. She was also a mother and wife. The director takes an interesting approach to dissect how the phenomenon was born at the cost of the mother and wife. The idea is brought alive through a narrative that broadly unfolds through the eyes of the mathematician’s daughter, Anupama Banerjee, which is why ‘Shakuntala Devi’ is as much a biopic, as it is a drama about a mother-daughter relationship.

But Menon’s ambition evidently extends beyond portraying Shakuntala Devi as a flawless genius and a flawed person and that is where the film fumbles. As the life story unfolds, assorted messages that this film wishes to convey make a beeline to be duly served.

The drama was obviously meant to start with Shakuntala marrying the IAS officer, Paritosh Banerjee (Jisshu Sengupta). After a while of happy marital bliss, during which Anupama is born, Paritosh’s tranquil life begins to hurt Shakuntala. She yearns to be back on tour, on the stage and become the magician of numbers. When Paritosh is happy to see her go on tours, Shakuntala has a new problem. She is too possessive about Anupama and wants the child to travel with her on her endless tours. Cracks in the relationship appear. The second half is where motherhood, mathematics and marriage are set up as the three distinct emotions that rule Shakuntala’s mind in that order. This is where the drama really needed to sizzle, for the film to come alive.

Anu and her creative team somehow cannot capture the complex conflicts that seem to define Shakuntala Devi’s mind, beneath the exterior of supreme confidence and success. Yet, ironically, in the end, the story drives home how being a mother to Anupama meant everything for Shakuntala, even beyond her mathematics. The screenplay somehow fails to bring out that paradox.

Vidya admirably balances Shakuntala’s transformation as the protagonist ages. It takes an actor of Vidya’s calibre to morph from one avatar of Shakuntala Devi to another.

The makers have assorted a great back-up team, too. The script finds the perfect support cast in Sanya Malhotra, Jisshu Sengupta and Amit Sadh (as Anupama’s husband Ajay). 

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