Anupam Kher’s Directorial Means Well, Ends Well

Anupam Kher’s second directorial is a warm cuddle of a film. It cannot be faulted for not having its heart in the right place. And although the treatment of the subject could have been far more controlled in its flow of uncapped-toothpaste-tube emotions, the overall impact of the storytelling is dignified and undamaged.

Unlike the recent Sitaare Zameen Par, the specially abled protagonist here is played by a neuro-unchallenged actress. Debutante Shubhangi in the title role communicates the character’s urge to purge herself of the “specially abled” label. However, her inexperience as an actor shows up when she is required to show her character’s emotional velocity. She tends to get out of character and shed her autistic act in such moments. In such scenes, she displays a deficiency that we never saw in the way Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra did in My Name Is Khan and Barfi, respectively.

Nonetheless, it is a brave performance, and one that compares well with the other debutante this week. Shubhangi is supported by able actors whose contagious convictions envelope and downplay whatever shortcomings in the debutante’s performance.

Anupam Kher’s director is linear and unadorned. The story and its execution come from the actor-director’s determination to draw out the emotions from the plot without causing any stir in the pool of storytelling. The film has a fable-like aura to it, and no harm in that.

As a fairytale about a spunky, spirited differently abled girl (who won’t be referred to as differently abled) who will join the army even if eyebrows are raised and warnings are shouted, Tanvi The Great delivers an emotionally charged story, albeit one with over-punctuated emotions which never become problematic for us. After all, who doesn’t like a good old-fashioned tearjerker about an unlikely hero? Kher himself plays Shubhangi’s grandfather in this overlong but innocuous inspirational sage bogged down by excessive perspiration and some inspiration..