Nayanika Mahtani's new Approach Contrary to the Unrealistic Glorification of Motherhood in Indian..

Screenplay writer Nayanika Mahtani who worked on the film on the late mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi, told Vani Tripathi Tikoo at the Jaipur Literature Festival London 2021 that during the process of working on the film, she had met Devi’s daughter, Anupama. “(At) that meeting, she didn’t speak very much…she had lost her mother, there wasn’t closure. There was a lot of unfinished stuff in her head: grief, pain, hurt and resentment.”

What drew Mahtani in, as a mother and daughter, was that Anupama had the honesty to share the story of mother. “It was without airbrushing either her mother’s flaws or her own…she was telling it with an honesty that really resonated,” said Mahtani and further added that for her, the emotional core of the story was the realisation that one’s mother is not just a mother - she also has her own dreams, baggage and journey.

“Anu Banerjee and Shakuntala were very different people but at the heart of it, they shared this stubborn sense of DNA,” which was their honesty and courage to own their choices. Though she did resent her mother, she wanted to tell the story of her mother - that was her tribute to her. It was a story that kicked one in the guts and that was what captivated Mahtani’s imagination.

#vidyabalan #jlf #Shakuntaladevi



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