Spoilers ahead…
After a long time, or maybe for the first time ever, Hrithik Roshan comes across like a non-Greek non-God – a normal human, in other words. He’s thinner, darker, unmuscled. His unironed shirts and tees don’t cling to him. In Super 30, he plays Anand Kumar, the son of a postal worker and the “calculator of Patna, Bihar, India”, who offered free coaching to underprivileged kids and empowered their dreams of entering the IITs – and Hrithik does play him like a calculator. When Anand gets an admission letter from Cambridge, his father (a wonderfully empathetic Virendra Saxena) is ecstatic, practically jumping with joy. But Anand, at first, is pensive, as though computing, processing, and yes, calculating what it all means. Then we get a slow smile. Then he squats and we see the joy. Thought comes first, then the emotion.
Nothing in Vikas Bahl’s career prepares you for Super 30. Based on his best-known work – Queen and Shaandaar, interesting films both – he comes across as someone who makes Hindi films for those who don’t care for Hindi Cinema. There’s a certain distance in his work, a sense of taking what makes our cinema ours and yet making it safe and unembarrassing for the multiplex moviegoer. But here, he dives right into myth and masala. Take the pre-interval scene, where Lallan Singh (Aditya Shrivastava) threatens Anand Kumar. For a while, the two men were together. After Anand’s dashed Cambridge dreams, Lallan had lured him into the world of expensive coaching classes, but now, Anand has returned to his world, having decided to coach kids who cannot afford those classes. This “classroom” has corrugated tin sheets for walls, and as the war of words between Anand and Lallan intensifies, they rattle in the winds that have begun to blow. The camera glides out of the small room and hovers outside like a satellite, framing Anand and his kids through the door – this confinement gives us a sense of their smallness, what they are up against. But first, Anand tells Lallan, “Lagta hai toofan aane wala hai.” A storm is coming.
By itself, this moment is masala-flavoured (thunder and lightning need no “reason” to exist in this universe; they can be brought in simply to amp up the dramatic tension in a scene) – but what makes it really work is the superbly resonant, genuinely emotional screenplay by Sanjeev Dutta. Earlier, we have heard the story of Ekalavya, who was refused “coaching” by Dronacharya because the guru preferred Arjuna. (Those days, was it called Indian Institute of Teer-chalana?) And now, we see these modern-day Ekalavyas: the manual scavengers and dish-washers who dream of becoming nuclear scientists and biotech engineers. And Anand becomes the modern-day Dronacharya, who rejects the Arjunas and sides with these Ekalavyas. He is rewriting long-established myth. Those aren’t just winds. Those are winds of change.
The Anand Kumar story can take these stylistic flourishes because it goes beyond the usual underdog story. You may feel the Lallan Singh character is too much of a “villain,” but at the end, a note tells us that the real-life Anand Kumar is still receiving death threats. Also, the emotional temperature is higher because Anand is no outsider (like, say, the protagonist of Swades). He knows what these kids are like, how deep their dreams are, because he was one of them. He was thrown out of the BHU library where he wanted to read foreign mathematics journals. He couldn’t go to Cambridge because he couldn’t afford it, and later, he took to selling papad on the streets to make money. He meets Lallan when his bicycle is knocked off the road by the latter’s car, but instead of confronting Lallan, he begins to pick up the notes and coins that have spilled on the roadside. That comes first. The scene (and Hrithik’s unwavering concentration on the money) makes us feel Anand’s abject poverty that no lines of dialogue could.
The screenplay doesn’t make him a saint. After this incident, Anand is seduced by the fat bundles of cash Lallan waves at his face. Most people would simply say he’s being practical – but this is myth, so we see that he loses his soul. Anand becomes someone else. He becomes… Hrithik Roshan. He wears shades, a shiny, form-fitting shirt, and rides his new Yamaha – and for the first and only time in the film, we see the star. (A low-angle shot makes his stardom loom even larger.) And this very bike helps him become Anand again. Before his father died, we have seen the man struggle with his bicycle, whose chain was loose. Now, Anand’s two-wheeler won’t start. It’s like a message from beyond. Anand sees a young, maths-obsessed boy like himself, and his past – especially his father’s words – comes flashing back. The father, thus, gets an arc that goes beyond his time on screen. It’s like he’s keeping a watch from wherever he is. We sense him whenever we see Anand using his bicycle. And we sense his inherent goodness when something he did saves Anand from an assassination attempt. If it’s a deux ex machina (the father’s name is, after all, Ishwar), I’ve rarely seen it employed with such emotional integrity.
I bought everyone around Anand. His doting parents. His long-suffering brother (Nandish Singh looks quite a bit like Hrithik). The restaurant manager who’s used for a nice bit of broad comedy. Even the rich kids aren’t demonised. (It’s only in Anand’s brood’s imagination that they are cruel.) One of these rich kids even asks Anand why he has left them in the lurch. How is it their fault that they have money? But Anand has made his choice. There’s a refreshing cussedness in the man that further dials down the sainthood. He’s saying “I won’t let what happened to me happen to these kids,” but he doesn’t see what this decision does to others – especially Ritu (Mrunal Thakur), who defies her snooty, cartoon-figure father to be with him. They get sweet courtship scenes and a sweet waltz (Ajay-Atul’s Jugrafiya, which rhymes bharose with samose) – so it’s a shocker when she confronts him about his decision to leave the cushy coaching job and he doesn’t even meet her eyes. He looks away, as though he cannot be explaining all of this. (Hrithik’s is really the best commercial-film performance since Ranveer Singh’s in Simmba.) They split up – but like Anand’s father, Ritu returns in an unexpected way. And as with the father, her inherent goodness saves him. In a lesser film, their reunion might have been used as an excuse for sentimentality, but here, Ritu’s arc ends with a small joke.
Almost everything works. The lovely graphics in the opening titles, featuring bar graphs and prisms and pendulums. The small mera Bharat mahaan speech given by Anand’s former student, played by Vijay Varma (it shows how a good actor and good, self-deprecatory writing can tide you over a bunch of clichés). The crooked but very practical minister played by a delightful Pankaj Tripathi, as a man in love with the sound of his own voice (the scene where he slaps Lallan with a newspaper will surely go into the actor’s tribute reel). What doesn’t work? The reporter played by Amit Sadh, who preens around without doing much. And the too-heavy score. The music itself isn’t bad. It’s filled with strong hooks. But the volume threatens to blow the theatre apart. How much better to see a scene scored with nothing but the oncoming whoosh of a train. That’s the Ekalavya scene, and it shows how powerful sound is so much better than overpowering music.
Finally, the kids. They aren’t differentiated enough (they remain a collective) – and yet, they come across as more than pawns in the battle between good and evil, Anand and Lallan. Anand reminds them that they have nothing to lose, but they all have their own complexes – so their achievements (like building a projector) are hugely satisfying. (The people in my theatre clapped.) And they get to be part of two of the grandest scenes in masala-movie history. The first is a song, staged during Holi, a festival that’s been part of countless masala movies. The kids set out to perform Sholay in English. (There’s a reason.) The audience, naturally, laughs at first, and boos the kids. But the kids turn the negation, the “no… no… no…” chant, into a rhythmic syllable – they build a song of defiance out of it. It’s thrilling to watch, and I wanted to shove this scene at everyone who says masala movies are brain-dead movies.
The second is an action stretch that occurs after Anand is shot. The kids use what he’s taught them – angle of incidence, angle of reflection, fundas explained using trains and cricket – and stave off a bunch of armed thugs. The emotional logic is rock-solid. Anand “saved” them. Now, it’s their turn to save him. (This reciprocity makes Anand less of a god, more human.) Plus, it’s a sensationally effective way to show how different Anand’s method of teaching is. It isn’t just about rote learning. He taught them how to apply these principles in real life – and the exaggerated action scene drives home this point beautifully. At the end, it’s time for the IIT results. We know what lies in wait (otherwise there’d be no movie). But I loved how the writing further conflates Anand and the kids. He reacts the way he did when he got that letter from Cambridge. At first, he is pensive, thinking it through. Then we get a slow smile. Then he squats and we see the joy. Thought comes first, then the emotion. Now that is consistency of character. He may have changed the world for these children, but he remains what he was, the calculator of Patna, Bihar, India.
Copyright ©2019 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
brangan
July 18, 2019
Why only 30 students per class? Is it explained anywhere in the film? I seem to have missed that bit…
LikeLike
vinjk
July 18, 2019
Wow! I loved the review. I wanted to watch this movie but judging the general reaction to the film I thought it must be a mediocre one at best.
Again, I worry that the movie I visualized in my head while reading your review is way better than the actual movie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ram
July 18, 2019
Beautifully written review. Kannula thanni, seriously. That’s what great movies (and this case an awesome review) do to me. I went with my extended family to the movie first day without looking at the reviews… and was blown away by the intent and earnestness of the movie. The negative reviews by the leading Hindi reviewers took me by surprise – I don’t think they did justice to the movie. Well reviewed, Sir!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Anu Warrier
July 18, 2019
Man, yours is the first ‘good’ review this film has received (I think!) Your colleagues, Anupama and Rahul tore the film apart. What’s even more ironic is that the very scenes you chose to explain why the film affected you are the ones they chose to decimate the film.
Hrithik is one of those unfortunate few whose looks will always eclipse his talent but I have generally liked him in most movies except for the abysmal Yaadein and the painful Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon – both of which, interestingly, co-starred Kareena. To have even his muscles quiver with emotion set my teeth on edge.
It’s been a long time since Hrithik had a reasonable success, so I’m glad for his sake that the film is doing quite well. I hope I can catch this in the theatre. Or I’ll have to wait until it comes on some legal streaming platform.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Soren K
July 18, 2019
BR has really mad skills re: making the movies that ‘clicked’ (for him) seem way better than they actually are (from my POV anyway). And I mean that as a complement 🙂
Imagine my shock, when I watched ‘Mumbai Express’ post reading BR’s review, made me wonder if it’s the same movie I was watching 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
bart
July 18, 2019
Thanks for the positive review. Will try to catch it in theatres.
But why this is not put up in film companion website? Is it because it is too late?🙃
LikeLike
krishikari
July 18, 2019
The trailer looks as if BRs rave review is justified. Im dying to see a really good new masala movie.
LikeLike
sidtheauthor
July 18, 2019
Dear Mr Rangan,
Is this a review or a retelling of the whole story.
Thanks
LikeLike
abishekspeare
July 18, 2019
The main reason why he had only 30 students is he couldn’t finance more
There’s a scene in which his brother asks him if all this is possible, he says “30 students, nothing more nothing less”. This fact is reaffirmed in the scene in which a student almost passes the exam but is not selected (but later is selected when one student runs away) because only 30 are allowed and even one mark will make a difference
LikeLike
brangan
July 18, 2019
Yeah, but why that obsession with 30 that he turns away the boy who comes late? Can’t stuff be shared?
Just thinking aloud because it’s such a SPECIFIC number and it made me curious. What was the real-life Anand Kumar’s reason, does anyone know?
LikeLike
sanjana
July 18, 2019
Well, maybe a numerological kind of fixation. Like 3, 5, 7 or so on. I used to buy 3 of anything!
And if he cant keep a cap of a certain number, there will be 2 more, 3 more and so on.
And he must have calculated the money he has to arrange for each student, he being a mathematician. Number of rooms, number of beds and other nittie gritties.
LikeLike
Rocky
July 18, 2019
Wow, loved the review specially the following:
they build a song of defiance out of it. It’s thrilling to watch, and I wanted to shove this scene at everyone who says masala movies are brain-dead movies.
Aside: Any reason why the review is not linked to the FC site?
Aside-2- Was very pleased to see Kanika Dhillon totally supporting Kabir Singh in an interview to Anupma, and earlier so did you with Arjun Reddy.
LikeLike
Rishikesh
July 18, 2019
Thanks. Been waiting for this ever since you made it public that you enjoyed the film. I wished I had liked it as much. Not that I entirely disagree with the review but I felt the movie glossed over some important segments. Felt Vikas Bahl was in a bit of a hurry in the first half and could have taken more time to establish certain plot points. The obsession of the protagonist towards Mathematics, a major driving force of the film and Anand Kumar’s life didn’t quite come through for me. Also the change in Hrithik’s character after he joins Lallan’s coaching academy too fails to come through, his change over feels all too sudden and preordained.
His conversation with the rickshawallah and the subsequent decision to quit lallan’s academy and start a free coaching institute for the have nots was however convincing. But still writing felt formulaic, we knew how it will all end, through there are a few interesting touches here and there.
Bahl does his maximum with the material and the cinematography was exquisite. But It’s Hrithik’s sincere performance though that made me stick with it. The support cast too was solid.
LikeLike
abishekspeare
July 18, 2019
Actually, I think the number isn’t applicable to the real life program. This is a movie, but as far as anand kumar is concerned, there are some issues. Firstly, he ran a parallel program in which the students had to pay money. This was intended to fund the super 30 program. Secondly, as laudable as his achievement is, he certainly didnt score a 30/30. Only 18 of the 30 students apparantly passed the exam(according to wikipedia).
Maybe, he selects AROUND 30 students rather than exactly 30 students.
However, the most logical explanation is because of the financial crisis and perhaps he thought that would be the optimal number as too many students will dilute his capabilities(you gotta draw the line somewhere right).
Also, he doesn’t turn away the boy because he came late, but because he got one mark less than the pass mark
LikeLike
KK
July 18, 2019
I didn’t like the song “Basanti no dance” and that climax. Those were bizarre. I would have liked a more realistic portrayal, something on the lines of October Sky. Plus despite Hrithik’s unfaltering earnestness, he came across as trying instead of successful. Also, the film didn’t show a crucial detail that Anand Kumar also ran a for-profit coaching institution that paid the expenses of his super 30 program. It doesn’t take away his greatness or anything but the fact that they didn’t show that somehow indicates their distrust in reality, as it is. It’s also the same malice that mars most of the biopics and their employed reverential treatment of their subject. Dhoni’s biopic is a good example. Any thoughts on this, Braddy?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Naveen
July 18, 2019
this is vintage BR class of review
LikeLiked by 1 person
jaga_jaga
July 19, 2019
Bad thing in the movie:
For me this was yet another over-the-top Karate Kid meets Rocky Balboa meets pick-your-favorite underdog wins the day movie. Some scenes like a kid making it to the coaching class in a boat crossing what appeared to be a water fall suddenly gave me a jerk and transposed me to Bahubali.
Good thing in the movie:
The Science in this movie was the saving grace for me. It just not had the emotional connect. It also had the logical connection. Be it based on optics, or kinematics or in the creation of a makeshift slide operator.
LikeLike
An Jo
July 19, 2019
I think it isn’t shown in the movie directly but is hinted at with the conversation he has with the hotel owner: He has included in his calculations the number of people he could train with all the liabilities and assets in place; and it turns out to be 30…I do not believe there’s any other logical reasoning to that number cap..
LikeLike
An Jo
July 19, 2019
The film goes miserably hay-wire in the 2nd half with the over-usage of masala..and it’s terrible to see such a fantastic leave from a railway-station never to reach its destination. There’s of course, a clap-worthy moment mid-way when a hospital assistant psychologically slaps a ‘donation-doctor’ and arranges for the recovery of Anand Kumar! Terrific!
And what does one have to say in these days of #METOO movement, when a former-lover says, ‘MY TASTE IN MEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN GREAT.!’ And the husband smiles!!
LikeLike
Nikhil Verma
July 19, 2019
Excellent review ! You have been able to see what many have missed ….sharing it with friends !
Nikhil
LikeLike
sanjeev datta
July 19, 2019
dear brangan, its due to 3,6.9 being divine numbers as per tesla. -sanjeev datta
LikeLike
skeptic
July 19, 2019
Not sure about the significance of 30 in the film which I have not seen. In real life though the whole Super 30 is a scam. Anand Kumar runs a for-profit coaching center and every year the “30” are chosen from the students who do well after the JEE. During the early years it was likely legit and it seems that a couple of years they indeed had good results, but now they are milking the game for money.
LikeLike
Voldemort
July 20, 2019
Second KK and skeptic.
A lot of people have written about what happens in the institute and how the entire thing’s a farce. May/may not be true, but I thought I’d share this here.
https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-views-on-the-accusations-made-on-Anand-Kumars-Super-30/answer/Zeeshan-Ali-335?ch=10&share=43a45048&srid=h1NeD
LikeLike
sanjana
July 20, 2019
Well, one can see a glass half empty or half full. Obviously Hrithik cant be expected to act in a film portraying Anand Kumar as a grey character. The producer and director wanted it to be an inspirational story, an underdog story. Seeing the reactions, they seem to have succeeded to a large extent. Most people went to see Hrithik, not Anand Kumar.
LikeLike
sanjana
July 20, 2019
In the case of Dhoni biopic, people went to see Dhoni’s fireworks than SSR though SSR did a fine job.
It boils down to who is more popular. The actor or the celebrity portrayed by the actor. Whether people want to see the celebrity or the actor.
Only in a few cases, the actor and the celebrity fuse together to make a great impact where justice is made to the celebrity proportionately. No one overshadows the other. Gandhi played by Ben Kingsley is one example.
LikeLike
Mank fan
July 21, 2019
This is high praise from a Class ‘A’ critic. Is this the ‘hindi film’ of the year so far for you?
Nicely dissected and paraphrased, while others have ripped this film apart, their reviews have lacked objectivity.
Mank chetta though will be shocked you’ve compared Hritik to his favorite masala film actor, Ranveer 😂
LikeLike
MANK
July 21, 2019
Hrithik is pretty good in the film, but it’s in no way in the range of Ranveer, who would have knocked this one out of the park. Hrithik is good in the silent scenes, but it’s very hard to wrap your head around his dialogue delivery, which remains artificial. Even the mannerisms that he has acquired to convey the lower-middle classness of the character, looks just that, Acquired, rather than real. The whole performance has a self conscious, ‘rehearsed’ aspect to it. It just doesn’t flow like Ranveer’s.
I still think Lakshya is his best performance. Even his dancing add a lot to his performance in that film. Agar tum kaho and main aisa kyon Hoon.
Honestly, I am not much interested in seeing Hrithik in this sort of space. I love him in D2 and Bang Bang. I even liked him in his starry turn as Akbar. There are at least a hundred other actor’s who can do a super 30 much much better than Hrithik.
Not that Hrithik shouldn’t do a film like this. But this should only be on a secondary level. Say if he is doing two Films a year. He can make a D2 style blockbuster and then make a film like this. But this is not the film that one expects from him after a hiatus of two and half years. The reason why he lost his stardom, after reaching the top in 2006, is because of his lengthy absences and strange choices
LikeLiked by 4 people
Amit Kumar
July 23, 2019
As always, a very nicely written review 🙂 As for the movie, the subject was promising but I felt the direction and the editing let it down. And although Hrithik’s performance was quite good but his Bihari accent wasn’t that convincing.
LikeLike
Vikash Jaiswal
September 10, 2019
Hi!You are the best actor Hritik Roshan
LikeLike
Madan
October 27, 2019
After a long time, reading your review AFTER watching the film. I came to your review wondering what other critics had missed and how could this film’s average rating be so low. Found myself nodding along with mostly everything you said in this review. Yes, a genuine modern update to the masala movie.
LikeLike
super
October 29, 2019
My super 30 comment didn’t get posted. Has happened before also. Pls check filters?
LikeLike
kaizokukeshav
October 19, 2020
I watched this movie today and was surprisingly impressed by the screenplay. The writer came up with amazing original out of box ideas to keep lifting the expected storyline and it did wonders.
It would be great if the movie is revisited after the nepotism controversy because the theme of the story .. “ab raja ki beta raja nahi banega, jo hakdar hai woh banega..”. The bad reviews has made audience like me to stay away from this film, to be frank I see a nepotist angle to the bad publicity. But then again Hrithik was another ‘Raja ki beta’ who did well enough in his career to ask ‘Aamir paida hona mera galti hai kya ?’ This movie is as good as Swades for me and should reach more audience.
LikeLike