Super 30 Movie Review: Certainly passes the test!

Super 30UA Biography dramaDir Vikas BahlCast Hrithik Roshan Mrunal ThakurRatingThis is what you would call a quintessentially Bollywood film mdash nearly touching three hours rather overdramatic and highoctane in its treatment For how else to justify the grandness and scale for superstar Hrithik Roshans first outing in theatres in close to a couple of yearsOn the face of it Roshan may not even appear as the prime candidate to be cast as a deeply downtrodden downandout mathematician from Patna who somehow ekes out an existence selling papads on the street despite a talent for numbers that cant take him too far since he has no financial resources to pursuebuild a career commensurate to his aptitudeClose your eyes or match his picture with Anand Kumar on whose life Super 30 is based No Roshan is not the guy youre likely to imagine in the part Watching him on screen you could have a quibble or two over whether his Bihari accent is instantly convincing or indeed if the finely tanned makeup worksWhat you cannot deny though is the lead actors innate ability to take risks with roles all through his career mdash whether that be as a Mughal Emperor Jodha Akbar someone mentally challenged Koi Mil Gaya or totally paralysed GuzaarishI know its become rather common for current mainstream stars to seriously experiment mdash sliding into lead parts that the audiences least expect them in But Roshan along with Aamir Khan has been doing this for decadesA film like Super 30 in that sense is purely par for the course for Roshan Without doubt he passes the test As does the film which starts off with actor Vijay Verma narrating the story of how his character from Bihar rose to prominence in science because a teacher took bets on similarly underprivileged kids mdash providing them food stay and free coaching to crack the IITJEE that holy grail of Indias higher education systemWhere do you remember Vijay Verma most from Gully Boy 2018 Is there a similarity between the boys from Mumbais underbelly in that film with similarly poor kids in this besides that they also perform a strange sort of streetrap Basanti No Dance before an audience hereWell the fact is Apna Time Ayega Our time will come for a wishcommand for almost all of Indias economically disadvantaged mainly applies to education mdash their only escape route towards eventually upping the game in the workforce And even within that more specifically technical education since English as an alien language almost shuts off all gates for liberal arts in schoolscolleges for most Math plus IQ is a universal leveller in comparisonThis English nonEnglish problem essentially an extension of the richpoor divide lies at the heart of this film As it does for India mdash making Super 30 one of the most relevant films for our times Of course the story itself mdash that of the celebrated math whiz Kumar mdash is known to many if not easily accessible on the web Quite keen to check out the Discovery channel documentary on Kumar by the wayHow much of this film is really a faithful representation of the protagonists actual life Hard to tell especially when you consider the song dance loveinterest Mrunal Thakur Agneepathtype climax etcNo Im not gonna bore you with what this film could have been rather than what it is Except that one wishes there was a greater feel of the place where this film is set Its a bummer that you get a better geographical sense of Bihar Patna in a thriller like the recent Indias Most Wanted than a movie totally centred on itSuffice it to suggest that the script treated with an arthouse touch has a potential of an Oscar nomination no less But you already know this is a Bollywood evententertainer with an understandable mix of memoir and melodramaAnd I guess attempting a 3 Idiots 2009 type approach wouldve been hard to resist Look at the numbers the Raju Hirani blockbuster managed to bring into theatres even change lives I reckon Wish Super 30 similar luck with drawing in masses and leaving them with a simmering thought of course The filmmakers have tried really hard towards it It showsWatch Super 30 TrailerCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates