Shakuntala Devi: Not a biography

Before the film begins the audience is told that the film is not a biography. This was not a bummer for me. The film is based on true events, and the makers have taken creative liberties to tell us a tale that challenges the patriarchal society we live in.

In trying to convey its message is where the film stumbles. I think the problem lies in the film using Shakuntala Devi as a means to deliver the message. A person like Shakuntala Devi can bring a lot more to the script than what’s there in the film. For a film named Shakuntala Devi, an audience may want to take a sneak peek into her mind.

The film starts with Shakuntala Devi’s daughter going to press criminal charges against her mother. From there onwards we go to the past to experience Shakuntala’s life along with her. Well, at least we’re expected to experience it. The problem lies in the journey. The audience just becomes a fly on the wall looking at the events which take place in Shakuntala’s life one after the other. We never get to experience those events with her. It’s just numbers popping out of Shakuntala’s mind. We never get to go inside it.

In the film, we’re shown Shakuntala collecting newspaper clippings of her and storing it in a book. The film looks as though the makers took the book and made a film one event after another. From the past, the film occasionally cuts to the future giving us a glimpse of Shakuntala’s daughter’s life. Just to make sure that we don’t forget that there’s a mother-daughter drama which is yet to unveil.

By the time Shakuntala’s daughter opens her eyes to the world, we’re nearly halfway through the film. And it’s such a short time to delve deep into the mother-daughter conflict. And after her daughter is born, Shakuntala contests in elections competing with Indira Gandhi and she also writes a book on homosexuality. Along with her being a math genius, these are such interesting topics that could have been explored. There’s so much potential there for drama, but the film chooses to just pass it off. Why? Because the film is not trying to be a biopic but explore the drama between mother and daughter, and to fight the stigma surrounding an independent woman in our society.

There’s a lot more going on in Shakuntala’s life. And the film is trying to tell us that all these important events occurred in her life, but you look at this. I felt that I was forced to look at the mother-daughter part of the story while I was more interested in her decisions to participate in elections, write a book about homosexuality and in her math. The film tries to sail on two boats together. It would have been so much better if it focused on one aspect.

Because we have only been witnessing the events and have not experienced them for the most part of the film, we don’t feel anything either for Shakuntala Devi or for her daughter during their heated moments. We’re never in between them. We never root for anyone nor are we torn apart between them. We are at a distance watching all that happens in the story.

However, after all this, the film is not a disaster either. Vidya Balan’s spectacular performance is a treat to watch. Her being a math genius is explored through humour. Sanya Malhotra, as Shakuntala’s daughter, is not bad either. The film is shot over a few decades with meticulous production design. But the film is neither a biopic nor is it a gripping tale on women empowerment. It’s somewhere stuck in between trying to be both.

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