Shakuntala Devi, The Vidya Balan- starrer is the perfect film to watch this weekend.
Shakuntala Devi Movie Review: Shakuntala Devi was known as ‘Human Computer’ honoured by Guinness World Records with the long overdue record for ‘fastest human computation’ which she proved 40 years ago. In the year of 1980 on 18th June she successfully multiplied two randomly selected 13-digit numbers, at Imperial College London, UK, within 28 seconds. The fastest human computation achieved by her.
Late mathematician’s daughter Anupama Banerji received the certification on behalf of her. She was only 10 years old when her mother made this record. She also told in an interview that whenever she visited any place people always used to talk about her mother’s achievement. She gradually understood that her mother was a genius.
Shakuntala Devi was born in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Her father worked as a circus artist. Her father discovered her ability to memorize numbers while teaching her a card trick at that time she was only three years old. Her father left the circus. He then decided to take her on road shows that displayed her ability at calculation. She did this without any formal education. At the age of six, she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore. She died on 21st April, 2013.
A biopic on her was released on the OTT today. Vidya Balan plays the role of Shakuntala Devi, directed by Anu Menon. The first half of the film talks about Shakuntala Devi’s professional life, in the second half, the focus is on her personal life. And this is where things begin getting emotional. While a major chunk is dedicated to her relationship with her daughter, we also get a glimpse of Shakuntala’s relationship with her parents and husband, making us laugh at some times and a bit teary-eyed at other. Especially in the climax, the film has some hilarious scenes. And there was room for a few more.
While shooting in London for the movie Vidya Balan met her daughter. During this time Vidya came to know from her daughter that Shakuntala Devi didn’t have an official certification from Guinness World Records. Then producer Vikram Malhotra and Balan reached out to the Guinness World Records team to get the official certification.
Shakuntala Devi, thus, is the perfect film to watch this weekend. Catch the film within the comfort of your home on Amazon Prime Video and if you have the opportunity to watch it with your mother, don’t miss it. Be prepared for a super-emotional climax
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