Super 30 Review: A Biopic Littered with Commercial Elements!

The latest Hrithik Roshan starrer Super 30 directed by Vikas Bahl, is a biopic-drama about the educational program in Patna of the same name and its founder Anand Kumar. The movie also stars Mrunal Thakur, Virendra Saxena, Nandish Singh and Pankaj Tripathi as the supporting cast and the 155-minute long narrative takes us through the hardships and hurdles faced by Anand Kumar in his life. Now, let’s discuss how it has fared until the end.

Making a biopic about an individual could be a tough and tiring job to pull off successfully. You have to take bits and pieces of their life and turn it into a 150-minute film and still convey the underlying message. While there are quite a few films released in the past few years to quote an example for, like Tollywood’s gem – Mahanati, Irrfan Khan’s Paan Singh Tomar, M.S. Dhoni: An Untold Story, all of which succeeded in their primary goal of being a biopic even after taking the artistic liberties. Even though Super 30 showcased an array of scenes from the early life of Anand Kumar and the financial distress he faced, the latter part of the movie seemed to move away from their initial destination and re-routed itself into a commercial track.

Hrithik Roshan, glows in his tanned brown skin, sporting the look of a guy from the below poverty line and he is exceptionally great as Anand Kumar. He got into Anand’s shoes effortlessly and lived through his character. His commendable performance is the only bright spot I could find in the movie. The female lead, Mrunal Thakur, had less screen time to share, and she excelled in being a cute girl hailing from the high society. I also found the selection of the 30 actors portraying the students of Super 30 program to be convincingly good as they did their part decently.

The latter part of the movie, post-interval, focused on the Super 30 program and how the students faced every hurdle they came across before cracking it into the IIT. Well, I accept the fact that there isn’t much to show about the life and the struggle of Anand Kumar as they accounted for the entire duration of the first half. The second half was nothing more than ordinary with routine scenes included for showing the struggles, like the antagonist threatening the good guys with goons and stuff. The real problem is with the unrealistic hospital scene in the climax, which completely skinned the impression of watching a biopic.

It is evident that writer Sanjeev Dutta had gone beyond the limits of taking liberty in art and escalated the narrative from being a biopic to a commercial drama. The addition of a special club song explains it. Furthermore, the movie also failed in creating an attachment between the characters and the audience, as I felt disconnected soon after they drifted away from the main goal.

Nevertheless, Super 30 works as a regular monetary movie rather than a biography. It definitely loses the charm of a biopic and ends up as a commercial movie.

Rating – 2.75/5 | Grade – C

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