Shakuntala Devi (2020)

Place: Chennai

Date: August 2020

Mode: Amazon Prime

After “Crazy Rich Asians (2018)”, "Little Women (2019)", Parasite and Contagion, Amazon Prime is becoming like a theatre watch for me, and it is nice to be able to watch some movies despite Covid. I keep movie watching for weekends, and it is a nice routine to follow.

My latest watch is Shakuntala Devi. My mother and I watched it together, and enjoyed it. I first heard of the movie via Nayanika Mahtani, the writer of the movie – we are both in one online group. I got curious to see how the movie has been written and to my pleasant surprise, it is well written and well edited. As with any biopic, I am left with questions around how true the incidents depicted in the movie are, but I must say that I liked that the movie didn’t have too many songs. Perhaps the casting of Vidya Balan in the lead role had something to do with this – she isn’t known for her dancing skills.

Both my parents have witnessed Shakuntala Devi in action when she visited their educational institutes, and while I had heard of her, I must confess that I didn’t know much about her. Via the movie, I got to know that she opted to marry a divorcee and herself got divorced later. It makes me view her as a gritty woman. Her difficult relationships with her mother and her daughter have been fleshed out well, and I shed tears in one scene where she visits her childhood home after her mother has passed away, and she bawls at the sight of her mother’s material belongings that include newspaper cuttings of her performances.

The feminist flavor given in the movie to her choices make me want to know more, especially in the context of her book on homosexuality where she has referred to her ex-husband as being homosexual. The movie shows that she says this to sell the book better, but the Wikipedia entry says her book went unnoticed when it was published. 

The movie made on the “Human Computer” is worth a watch.

Agli Baar (2015)

This year, I have been fortunate to watch more documentaries and films out of the mainstream genre, and here’s one. The short film “Agli Baar” was meant to be an Independence Day release, and it is an online release.

The short film is loosely based on the famous poem “First they came…” by Martin Niemoller. The poem goes,

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
Because I was not a Socialist. 

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist. 

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - 

Because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.

The short film is set in the context of slum demolitions and addresses religious violence as well. It is provocative, and can make for a great in-person discussion. All of 7 minutes, do watch it.