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Shakuntala Devi

It's mandatory that a biopic narrate a nuanced story with layers. Each aspect of the individual has to be gone into, not just the one which seem obvious. Also the trope of a much idolized icon not being good family has to be full of angst and the redemption arc if there exists one, should be cleverly crafted. Remember the powerful Gandhi My Father?

None of this is evident in this movie. It just becomes an occasion to trumpet the bugle of feminism, without exploring the emotions of it. 
I am a big Vidya Balan fan and have watched everything that she has been in, including her average outings in Kahaani 2, Bobby Jasoos and Hamari Adhuri Kahaani. And never in any one of those did I find cause to fault her personal performance. The movies were bad sure, but she was always good. 

In this one though, she doesn't quite pull it off. Her persona subsumes the character she plays. All you can see is Vidya Balan - I didn't get any sense of who Shakuntala Devi was! It didn't help that an insider joke was everyone saying  -  *vidya kasam* Ewwwwww....

The childhood trauma, the later estrangement with her daughter all just skim the surface. Wasn't there a meatier story to be told?
I mean come on! Consider Tumhari Sulu, a simple slice of life movie and yet the screenplay and the performances were much above average. 
Someone dropped the baton here and I am thoroughly disappointed. Sanya Malhotra had an important role and she just doesn't pull it off. Jessu Sengupta and Amit Sadh were good in their spouse roles, but nothing else was really memorable in this one.

So much attention to detail has gone into the costumes and styling and yet not much is made of the fact that in an era when not a lot of people knew what homosexuality meant, this lady wrote a book about it? How liberated was that! That alone could have taken up half the screenplay.

For me it was painful to watch how superfluous the treatment of a woman's selfishness was. She seperates her child from a loving father and then neglects her needs, and yet it is all glossed over with a passing reference. 

It's just sad how this was handled. 
I am off to greener pastures where lies the much praised Lootcase. I shall let you know if that was juicy or not.
Till then,
Love and Peace.
Eid Mubarak.

#AllLivesMatter
#MiniasReviews
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