Shubhangi Dutt makes a shining debut in Anupam Kher’s emotional & heartwarming directorial – Firstpost

Star cast: Shubhangi Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Arvind Swami, Boman Irani, Pallavi Joshi, Karan Tacker, Nasser, Anupam Kher, Iain Glen

Director: Anupam Kher

The legendary actor and filmmaker Anupam Kher returned to the director’s chair after 23 years of Om Jai Jagadish with Tanvi The Great. While the promotional material, including trailer & songs, struck the right chord with the audience, does it manage to impress them? Let’s find out…

Tanvi The Great’s plot starts with Capt. Samar Raina (Karan Tacker) & Major Srinivasan are travelling on the Kashmir bridge when the former gets a call from his wife Vidya, who asks him about his health and passes the phone to their daughter Tanvi, who asks Samar to Jai Hind loudly.

After finishing the call, Samar talks to Srinivasan about Tanvi revealing that she is autistic, but her angel. He calls her ‘different but no less’.

Soon, the bomb explodes on the bridge, and their jeep falls into the creek, resulting in Samar’s demise. 15 years later, Vidya (Pallavi Joshi) and Tanvi (Shubhangi Dutt) are seen sharing a beautiful bond with the former making the latter realise that she is different and extraordinary, which one can see through her actions.

As Vidya, who is an autism expert, is leaving for New York for an autism programme for a global body (WAF) for nine months, she drops Tanvi off at her grandfather, Retd. Col. Pratap Raina (Anupam Kher) to Lansdowne, where she can learn music from Raza Sahab (Boman Irani).

Pratap, who has been living alone for 15 years after the demise of his son Samar, followed by his wife Kaveri, struggles to create a bond with Tanvi as the duo have an awkward approach towards each other. While Pratap finds it difficult to accept her autism, Tanvi doesn’t show likeness towards him as she calls him by his name instead of daadu.

As Vidya leaves for America, she tells Pratap that instead of managing or handling, he should discover Tanvi. As the bond between Tanvi and Pratap starts improving, one night, the former enters the room of his late father and through a video, she finds out that his dream was to salute the tricolour flag at Bana post, Siachen.

Now, Tanvi wants to fulfil her father’s dream and gears up to join the Indian army. Since she is autistic, as per army rules, she can’t be a part of the military forces. Will Tanvi accomplish this impossible-looking dream?

Tanvi The Great explores the inspiring philosophy of achieving one’s goal against all odds, where Anupam Kher masterfully crafts the narrative by infusing it with the emotional elements of kindness, goodness, and compassion.

While it’s not flawless and does look sometimes stretched and far-fetched, it beautifully combines music with storytelling, creating beautiful moments in the movie that leave you teary-eyed as well as pumped with a huge smile.

Talking about the performances, Shubhangi makes a superb debut as her act looks like a breath of fresh air. She rules the screen pulls of emotional moments with innocence and finesse. Anupam Kher is brilliant as Pratap, but that’s what you expect from an actor of that calibre. Pallavi Joshi, Karan Tacker, Boman Irani, Arvind Swami and Jackie Shroff play their characters perfectly.

On the whole, Tanvi The Great is an emotional roller-coaster, which leaves you with a smiling face.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Tanvi The Great is playing in cinemas