Indo Canadian News News That Matters
Shakuntala Devi, the Vidya Balan starrer movie was released online yesterday (31 July). The film is about the life of Shakuntala Devi, who was popularly known as the Indian “Human Computer.” The biographical comedy-drama film is written and directed by Anu Menon and produced by Sony Pictures Networks India and Vikram Malhotra under his banner Abundantia Entertainment.
The film was originally scheduled to be released in theatres on 8 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the film was streamed worldwide on 31 July 2020 on Amazon Prime Video.
Shakuntala Devi, the film, dramatises the life of the maths wizard whose bold outlines are public knowledge. A girl whose talent for maths was identified at a young age, Shakuntala supplemented her family’s dwindling resources by doing maths shows from an early age. A fierce feminist before perhaps she even knew the word, Shakuntala lived life on her own terms.
Some of the critical reviews trending about the movie:
Sreeparna Sengupta of Times Of India gave three and half stars out of five and said, “A joy to watch simply to soak in the fascinating life and times of the maths whiz – a human computer faster than an actual computer, the free-spirit, who was all that and so much more!”
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the movie 3/5, calling it “a Vidya Balan show”.
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opined “the numbers add up nicely with a feisty Vidya Balan”, giving the movie 3/5.
Komal Nahta of Film Information said, “A fair entertainer but it is more for the classes than the masses and more for the ladies audience than the males.”
Mike McCahill of The Guardian gave three stars out of five & said, “The movie finds funny ways of dramatising the process whereby one generation of women squares its frustrations with another – but it adds up to spirited, intelligent, authentically feminist entertainment.”
Neeraj Sharma of FilmyChat gave nine stars out of ten & said, “The movie is wonderful depiction of the life of Shakuntala Devi and Vidya Balan is at her best to justify and deliver another entertainer for the family.”
