19 July,2025 08:34 AM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
Shubhangi Dutt and Anupam Kher in Tanvi the Great
If you must watch this movie - and why must you not - it helps to know that its second half is significantly better than its first.
Which, frankly, is rather rare. Even if you consider that post-interval, the movie simply breaks into a bhajan, with modern instruments, i.e. Om Jai Jagdish Hare; kinda unrelated to the rest of the film.
It's probably a nod to Anupam Kher's directorial debut, Om Jai Jagadish (2002). This is the prolific actor Kher's first film as director since; as in, 23 years!
What made him return to a new role? Pretty sure, his deep concern for autism, the neurological condition the film's eponymous lead character suffers from.
I'm told, so does Kher's niece, also named Tanvi. We watch both the movie's lead, and Kher's lovely niece, who inspired the character, together, during Tanvi's closing credits. Such a sweet touch, there.
Shortly after that post-interval bhajan, the movie also briefly switches genre. In the sense that, for a few moments, it turns into a musical fantasy, with a dream-like sequence, shot inside an Army mess, with Tanvi, the Great, dancing, singing an ode to the Indian Army, Sena Ki Jai.
This unannounced, inconsistent segue apart, the song makes sense. Kher's film is essentially a PSA (Public Service Announcement), wrapped in an attempt at an entertainer.
But it's not simply a PSA for autism. What with Tanvi's mother (Pallavi Joshi), alongside, attending the conference of âWorld Autism Foundation', with enough important pointers sent over for audience notes.
This picture, in fact, comprises two PSAs; almost neatly spread between its two parts. The second is a long advertisement, urging the young, to join the Indian Army.
Tanvi lost her father, a captain, to military sabotage, in Siachen. There's a point, where Kher - who plays Tanvi's grandfather, a retired colonel - has had it with a Gen Z kid, who he must remind that we pick Army over fame and money, because we are "national".
You can see the picture's slightly unrelated, dual purposes - empathise with autism; serve the services. But how does one seamlessly play them out?
Through scattered music (MM Keeravani), perhaps. Or, through an ensemble cast, many of whom feel flat (girl's mom, perennially smiling); or random caricature (Boman Irani as a singer Raza Sahab), perhaps to add humour, but subtracting from the script altogether.
Or, maybe, through a strong narrative. All of the above seem separately going in multiple directions, each leading us elsewhere, or everywhere.
Only past half-time, do you sense a goal being set? And a fine call-back to how the movie started. Up till then, you've coasted through the movie, unable to connect with either the characters or the story.
Can we see this as a relationship drama, hence, feeling the sheer frustration of an old man dealing with a special someone for a grandchild, through dramatic scenes?
Not really.
Kher is, of course, a veteran at playing the role of a senior citizen who's lost his son. That was his debut, Saaransh (1984).
The film is wholly centred on young actor, Shubhangi Dutt, tasked with eliciting all the empathy towards autism, if not the joy of joining the Army.
Does she seem up to the task? I'm unsure. Could someone with autism herself have actually added value to this role? I do think so.
Look at Aamir Khan's Sitaare Zameen Par, from a few weeks ago - they put together a basketball team of neurodivergent champions; no?
That said, the movie's got a thought in place, alright. Even if the emotive scenes/parts are mostly missing.
One good thing about a picture like this, where such little happens for so long - it's still the longest time you may have spent with a character with autism on the big screen.
Did I go home and read up more? I did.
Which means Tanvi the Great is still perfectly fine for a PSA. Even if it feels flat as an entertainer/feature.
