Super 30: An Over Exaggerated Tale of a Real Life Story

Super 30 Movie
Movie - Super 30
Super 30 Movie
Movie – Super 30

Vikas Bahl’s ‘Super 30’ is based on Anand Kumar, a brilliant mathematician who has devoted his entire life teaching economically backward students free of cost and preparing them for competitive examinations like IIT-JEE.

Directed by- Vikas Bahl

Produced by- Anurag Kashyap, Sajid Nadiadwala

Starring- Hrithik Roshan, Mrunal Thakur, Pankaj Tripathi, Amit Sadh, Aditya Srivastava

Music by- Ajay, Atul

Plot

Anand Kumar played by Hrithik Roshan who’s a brilliant student of maths (so obsessed with numbers that he indulges in calculating proportions of his girlfriend’s facial features to measure her beauty) cracks prestigious Cambridge University, UK. However, due to the lack of financial means, he can not go overseas. This economically disadvantaged young man opens a coaching centre to provide free coaching to the engineering aspirants who belong to the economically weaker section (manual scavengers’, domestic helps, labourers etc). Needless to say, this becomes a threat to the other expensive tutorial centres in Bihar.

Analysis

This is a real life story which is based on the life of a man who tried to change the notion of education by challenging the system. The film had a huge scope to portray intricacies of the class dynamics and the unevenly balanced educational system that favours the privileged. In fact, the beginning of the film raises hope that this issue will be dealt with in depth as the movie progresses. But as it turns out, the movie ends and the film barely touches the periphery in its understanding of the system.

Hrithik Roshan is not my reason to see the film and hence I’m not disappointed. But if he is yours, then you might end up praising other actors more. Talking about other actors, this film actually demonstrates how a good supporting cast is equally important to run a film. Aditya Srivastava, Pankaj Tripathi, Mrunal Thakur, and Amit Sadh play their roles to the T. In fact, over the years, Tripathi has emerged like an ‘aaloo’ (potato), that mixes in every ‘dish’ very easily and effortlessly.

There’s an important scene between Roshan and Tripathi where Roshan has to show vulnerability. He tries his level best to portray it on the screen, but somehow the excellent comic timing and screen presence of Tripathi overshadow Roshan completely.

Quite a few times, a particular dialogue would pop up in the film which says “Raja ka beta raja nahi banega”. Bollywood should actually practice what it preaches. Why the hero of a big budget film should always be a superstar?

Also, the film has a separate budget for bronze. To look like a native Bihari, Roshan has left no bottle unturned by applying all the bronze in the world. Still didn’t work. Not only his looks, but his Bihari accent sounds exaggerated which you can’t look past.

However, the film has an unpredictable graph of its run. Some scenes are so monotonous and lengthy that you would want to leave the theatre. On the other hand, there are scenes which will move you occasionally but I wish it was not over exaggerated beyond a limit. Scenes which should have evoked sympathy for the underprivileged students in a lop-sided education system were evoking laughter from many in the audience when I watched the movie, because of the way it was executed. Having said that, this movie has reminded me of my books which are sitting inside a closet, covered in dust. So if you want, you can definitely give it a try and decide for yourself.