Shakuntala Devi (2020) - India

Greetings!

Today I am bringing you another interesting thing. Maybe you already know about this. Have you heard about Shakuntala Devi? As it for me, I just have heard her name and thing that she had solved maths problems very quickly. I didn't know more than that. But she was a Guinness World Record holder.

_Source

Yesterday, I got a chance to watch this movie, Shakuntala Devi, by chance. I watched this because of Vidya Balan who portrays the character of Shakuntala Devi. This biographical/comedy/drama film was written and directed by Anu Menon. The film brings the life story of Shakuntala Devi. Actually three-time frames, childhood, youth and middle age of her life. And also how she played with numbers.

She had unlimited mathematical knowledge. Why I am saying that is because she could solve any mathematical problem just by looking at it and no need for writing. That means she did all the calculations mentally. It only takes her a few seconds to solve any math problem. She is really a mental calculator! The other surprising thing is that she did those mathematical calculations without any formal education.

_Source

After I watched the movie, I wanted to find out about who she really is and how did she get this ability. Let's see some real-life facts about this mathematical genius. (Then I found out that many changes have been made in the movie than real-life events).

_Source
Shakuntala Devi

Shakuntala Devi was born in 4th November 1929 in Bangalore. Her father was a magician in a circus and identified Devi's ability when she was about 3 years old. After knowing that she has a special gift of mesmerizing numbers, father made her to present her surprising mathematical calculations in roadshows to earn. And yes she earned well as everyone came to see her ability.

After moving to England the good times of her life came. She had her peak of mathematical calculations in 1977. It's hard to believe but in 50 seconds Devi gave the 23rd root of a 201-digit number at Southern Methodist University and her answer was confirmed by the calculations done by the UNIVAC computer. The most interesting thing is that the computer took more time than Devi to do the calculations. In 1980, at Imperial College London gave her random two 13-digit numbers and she demonstrates the correct multiplication in 28 seconds. The only time that she took was telling the answer!

Apart from this mathematical life, she wrote a book about homosexuality and was an astrologer. She was married and had a daughter.

_Source
Shakuntala Devi with her daughter

Let's turn to the film, shall we?

So the movie begins with Devi's daughter goes to file a criminal case against her mother. First I thought about what happened that much. Then the story is revealed as past and present. The character of Devi's daughter Anu is portrayed by Sanya Malhotra. She also has done her job well. When Devi was travelling around the world, she met Paritosh and later Anu was born to them. So for a while, Devi had to move away from mathematical life. But she couldn't do that any longer. With the husband's permission, she started to do her maths shows again travelling around the world. Because of that, she couldn't able to spend proper time with her daughter. If you want to know what happened to the rest, you have to watch the film.

The film manages to capture the human emotions between a busy mother and daughter. Devi did everything for the daughter. Gave every luxury. But was that enough? This film shows us that happiness in life cannot be achieved no matter how much money we have.

_Source

In this world, no one is perfect. At some point in life, everyone is selfish. Parents sometimes become selfish for various reasons and do not allow their children to do what they want. Then children will get angry about it and don't have an idea about the parents' denial. The real idea of this comes one day when that child also becomes a parent. When we have to go through the same situation, we understand that thing. Parents have no right to invest their children in their dreams and children have no right to be selfish in their parents' dreams. That's the main thing the film focuses on.

This movie makes you laugh a lot at first and then makes you very sensitive. But apparently, the film has been made in a way that it would add a more dramatic effect to the story of Shakuntala Devi. You will have the opportunity to learn some amazing math methods. Watch this. Numbers never let her down.

_Source

Shakuntala Devi Official Trailer