Super 30 : Movie Review

'Super 30': The Story of Ekalavyas!

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Reviewer’s Thumb Mark

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all" -- Aristotle

The 155 minutes long film 'Super 30' takes you through a journey of modern-day Ekalavaya who triumphed upon adversities and has become a beacon of hope for all those who are fighting to pull down the walls of conventional educational systems and methodologies that are only affordable and accessible to the privileged.

In a country like India, Che Guevera's quotes becomes more relevant - "A country that does not know how to read and write is easy to deceive."  Vikas Bahl's film Super 30 is inspirational and is based on a real-life hero called Anand Kumar and his educational program 'Super 30'.

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The film draws parallels with the epic drama 'Mahabharata' and its mystical characters like Dronacharya - the Guru and his blue-eyed disciple Arjun, towards whom he evidently had a bias. Without naming Ekalavya, the film questions the decision of Drona to coach only the privileged (The Royal Blood) and negate the right of Ekalavya (The Under Privileged) to learn archery. The film slowly pans on to our educational system which has been commercialized by pro-rich policies which have resulted into mushrooming of innumerable coaching institutes and educational firms claiming to guarantee 100% success and state of the art infrastructure at a heavy price. Most of the students who end up here are children of those parents who have set high goals for their children and pay through the nose. There are many more hapless parents who end up going for educational loans or even mortgaging their hard-earned assets.

Anand Kumar's life itself is a living example of how his father, a postman, had to run from pillar to post to get his son go to Harvard after receiving a scholarship offer letter based on his piece of work that got published in a foreign scientific journal. Unfortunately, they both failed miserably to gather the required amount to see him off to his dream university.

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The impeccable Hrithik Roshan as Anand Kumar effortlessly strikes a chord with you as a teacher on a mission. He is hard to resist and is a powerhouse who inspires you to stand up for your right to educate and live a life of respect and regard. There is a dialogue by him on his hospital bed when he says ' Bahuth hogaya padai, abh hai ladne ki baari' ( You have done enough studies, now it's time to fight) that leaves you charged and touched. The story is heart-wrenching at the same time a great lesson that reminds us of the much-quoted Mexican Proverb - "They tried to bury us. They didn't realize we were seeds".

Sreekar Prasad's deft editing, Anay Goswamy's cinematography, and Ajay-Atul's music keep you hooked to the film. Vikas Bahl had earned a brownie point by directing this movie and proving his mettle once again as a director. Hope he finds and engages himself more in making meaningful movies rather getting embroiled in controversies, scandals, accusations and Me too. One needs to understand that talents are rare and therefore, the world can't afford to lose them.

In short, the film 'Super 30' is a must-watch for all those who are not only just the fans of Hrithik but also for them who want to see and believe that there are people on a mission who really want to see this world changed. So let's go and watch the movie and celebrate their failures and triumphs together.

Let's carry home what Anand Kumar says on-screen - "Apne liye khoob chikna sadak banaye... Hummare raah mai itna bada bada gadda khodiye lekin yehi vo sabse badi galti kardiye... humko saala challang marna seekha diye"  (They made beautiful roads for themselves and made potholes all the way for us... this is their biggest mistake that they have done because by doing so, they made us learn how to leap ahead!).

Life Connoisseur Movie Rating: 4/5

Cast: Hrithik Roshan (Anand Kumar), Mrunal Thakur (Ritu Rashmi, Anand's love interest), Virendra Saxena (Anand's father), Nandish Singh (Anand's brother), Pankaj Tripathi (Minister), Aditya Shrivastava (Lallan Singh), Amit Sadh (Journalist Raghunath)

Genre: Biography, Drama

Director: Vikas Bahl

Producers: Phantom Films, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment

Written by: Sanjeev Dutta

Based on: Life of Anand Kumar

Music by: Ajay-Atul

Cinematography: Anay Goswamy

Edited by: A Sreekar Prasad

Production Company: Phantom Films, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, HRX Films

Distributor: Reliance Entertainment, PVR Pictures

Release Date: 12 July 2019

Duration: 155 Minutes

Language: Hindi