There are two Shakuntala Devis vying for attention in Anu Menon’s biopic of the celebrated mathematician. One is fun and the other is a mum...
There are two Shakuntala Devis vying for attention in Anu Menon’s biopic of the celebrated mathematician. One is fun and the other is a mum.
There is the public figure who fills the room with her mathematical brilliance and the sheer force of personality. Perfectly turned out in saris (preferred colours hot pink and bright reds), this feisty woman with a big grin and a bigger brain impresses the Western world with her superfast ability to solve complex equations.
Numbers prove more steadfast then relationships – beyond the events and the television appearances is a halfway wife and a shambolic mother. Even as she piles up the encomiums and the wealth, Shakuntala’s marriage crumbles and her relationship with her daughter begins to resemble a train wreck.
Career or family? The world or home and hearth? Questions that bedevil women professionals around the world occupy much of the runtime of Shakuntala Devi, which is being streamed on Amazon Prime Video. The 127-minute movie gets its narrative drive from the tensions between supposedly contradictory states, but is also expansive enough to let viewers do the choosing. Although the saris-with-creases saga...
