Amazon Prime Shakuntala Devi Review: Is Vidya Balan able to keep Balance between Maths and Motherhood?

Who was Shakuntala Devi?

Shakuntala Devi was an author, mathematician, and a social worker also. She was known as the Human Calculator or Human-Computer. She was born on 4 November 1929. She aimed to simplify mathematics for the students. Shakuntala Devi also wrote several books about mathematics, puzzles, astrology. She also wrote the book titled “The World of Homosexuals” which is considered as the first study of homosexuals in India. Shakuntala Devi was one of the female mathematicians who was never believed that being female is a drawback.

Details about the life of Shakuntala Devi

At the age of six, she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore. She demonstrated her abilities without any formal education. In 1944 Shakuntala Devi moved to London with her father. Shakuntala Devi traveled to several countries all around the world and demonstrating her arithmetic talents. She was on the tour of Europe in 1950 and was in New York in 1976. At last, her talent was acknowledged by the whole world when she was able to earn in the 1982 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. Shakuntala Devi was one of the famous Indian mathematicians. Shakuntala Devi Achieved her world record on 18 June 1980 at the Imperial College, London. She died on 21 April 2013.

Overview about Shakuntala Devi Movie

Shakuntala Devi is a biographical comedy-drama movie. Vidya Balan is seen as Shakuntala Devi who is also known as the “Human-Computer”. This movie streamed worldwide on 31 July 2020 on Amazon Prime Video. The Movie is directed by Anu Menon. The story of this movie is written by Anu Menon, Nayanika Mahtani, and Ishita Moitra. The trailer was launched on 15 July 2020. Shakuntala Devi is available on Prime Video.

Shakuntala Devi Movie is made from whose perspective?

The opening disclaimer states that it is being “inspired by true events but does not claim to be documentary or biography on any character represented”. This film ends with the text on screen that it is “based on a true story as seen through the eyes of a daughter, Anupama Banerji”.

Shakuntala Devi Cast

Vidya Balan is playing the role of Shakuntala Devi who is known as Human-Computer. Jisshu Sengupta is seen as Paritosh Banerji and the Husband of Shakuntala Devi. Sanya Malhotra is seen as Anupama Banerji who is the Daughter of Shakuntala Devi. Amit Sadh is seen as Ajay Abhaya Kumar and the Husband of Shakuntala’s Daughter.

Shakuntala Devi Storyline

Shakuntala Devi was able to get attention at an early age. A Fierce Feminist before she even understood the meaning of the word, Shakuntala Devi always lived life on her terms and that’s exactly picturized into the movie.

The storyline is trying to strike a balance between her responsibility as a mother and her personal growth as a mathematician. Anupama Banerji narrates the story in flashback. Shakuntala has won several awards in the field of mathematics and holds many world records for solving numeric problems in just a few seconds. As the narrative moves forward Shakuntala Devi does multiple shows in the US and that’s when she meets Paritosh Banerji and she shifts her all focus to making a family.

Years after their daughter is born Shakuntala Devi realizes that her life belongs to the stage and that is where the second phase of the story starts of her life and the movie as well. From this point, Shakuntala’s conflict between her ambition and motherhood begins and hence the family drama takes place.

Shakuntala Devi Review

Throughout the film, director Anu Menon has made sure that the audience always remember that Shakuntala Devi is a Maths Genius. Including that capability Shakuntala also keeps us reminding that she is a vulnerable mother who wants to live with her daughter. Overall Shakuntala Devi’s Reel journey seems quite good. Some good dialogues are written by Ishita Moitra like “Aadmi Kyun, main to Duniya ki sabse badi aurat banungi” and “Why do men always want women to need them” and some more. But the disappointing thing is we do see Shakuntala saying big things and also accomplishing some of those but we never see how it happened or what went behind it. All the credit goes to Vidya Balan. She seems just confident, witty, and charming as Shakuntala Devi. Sanya Malhotra, Jisshu Sengupta, Amit Sadh also play their roles well. Their roles are brief but still their presence on the screen makes a good impact on the story.