Vidya Balan Shares Emotional Song About Motherhood From Her New Film Shakuntala Devi
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Vidya Balan fans can rejoice as the actress’s film, Shakuntala Devi is set for release on the 31st of July. Vidya has been sharing really good promo shots of the film with her followers online and recently decided to share a song from the film. The song titled Paheli is an ode to mothers everywhere. The beautiful song showcases the special bond between Shakuntala Devi and her young daughter, Anupama. The song speaks about the relationship the mother-daughter duo shared and how hard Shakuntala worked to give her daughter the life she deserved:
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“Paheli”
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Vidya shared the video of the song and wrote, “Solving the #Paheli of this beautiful yet complicated relationship is not so easy! Here’s a beautiful song instead!”. The emotional video shows Shakuntala Devi promising her husband that she will be the best mother she can be. The rest of the video shows the various struggles Shakuntala Devi had to overcome on her journey as a mother. The video also shows the pair-bonding while cycling together and other things.“What truly fascinates me is that you wouldn’t normally associate a fun person with math… and she completely turns that perception on its head,” Vidya says.
Vidya had earlier revealed that she found Shakuntala Devi’s story inspirational and was drawn to it because of how she owned her choices. The actress stated that Shakuntala Devi had a gift and that it should be celebrated. She added that Shakuntala Devi showed her that it was okay for a woman to want to have it all. She spoke about how Shakuntala Devi couldn’t understand why the rest of the world was telling her to change her priorities after she got married and had kids. According to Vidya, she was a woman who wanted it all and actually managed to achieve whatever she wanted. Shakuntala Devi showed women that they don’t need to compromise on their dreams just because they had a child.
Who Is Shakuntala Devi?
Well, you may probably know of her as the Human-Computer. Shakuntala was born in the city of Bengaluru and was a child prodigy. She displayed incredible mathematical abilities and memory when consistently beating her father at card games at the mere age of 3 years. It was so unfathomable that a toddler could beat a grown man that her father even thought that she was cheating. But the truth was that she had memorized the cards and sequences and used the power of probability to find his next move.
After noticing her incredible talent, her father, who was a trapeze artist quit his job at the circus and the two embarked on a journey to show off Shakuntala’s incredible talent. At the young age of five, Shakuntala took on the role of the breadwinner for her family! She could solve complex calculations even those twice her age would not be able to attempt to. Shakuntala even appeared on radio talk shows.
Gaining Global Recognition
At the age of 6, the young girl displayed her arithmetic skills at the University of Mysore and her family shifted to London. Once she shifted to London, she began her ascent into gaining global recognition. Shakuntala Devi was not only able to solve complex calculations in a matter of seconds but she could also tell you which date a day would fall on within a century.
She was so talented that even computers couldn’t catch up to her! In 1950 during an interview with the British Broadcasting Company, the announcers stated that her calculations were wrong. However, she asked them to recheck and it was found to be an error on their part. Embarrassingly enough, they were forced to re-calculate and rectify their error. In 1980, she received the moniker of “human computer”. However, Shakuntala later stated that she did not like the term as she believed it wasn’t fair to compare a human mind to a computer as she believed the human mind is capable of much more than a computer is.
Achieving Success At An Early Age
Shakuntala had once stated, “I wanted to improve my abilities, publish books on mathematics, and win fame, but fellow students in my college would not concede that I was gifted. I got very much disgusted with life and sought refuge in the Vyasaraya Mutt. I wanted to renounce the world and become a sanyasini”. She had spoken about how she wasn’t ready to handle the level of fame she received when she was a child. Shakuntala was known for being a proud feminist and would always try her best to uplift other women around her.
When she was quizzed about her views on marriage she said, “Marriage would only mean another of life’s bondages. I do not want to give any man an opportunity to say that if I made a name it was because of his help.” In fact, the mathematician had been married once, but unfortunately her husband ended up being a closeted gay man and when he came out, they divorced.
Shakuntala never married again and she took her last breath on 21 April 2013 after suffering complications with her heart and kidneys. She is survived by her beloved daughter and her grandchildren. It truly is inspiring to see such an incredible person come to life through film. We really can’t wait for Vidya to don Shakuntala’s mask and bring her to life on screen. Do tell us if you’re eager to watch the movie, in the comments below.
