The protagonist of Tanvi the Great is a young woman with autism. She has an impossible dream. Her grandfather, after initial bouts of hesitation, stands by her. The girl soldiers on in quest of ‘normality'.
Much of the emotional frisson in the well-intentioned but inconsistent film stems from the young woman's determination to defy odds and get ahead in life. But why must she, in seeking wider acceptance, adhere to conventional notions of success?
The film is meant to be a celebration of the indomitable spirit of a neurodivergent youngster but what it ends up doing is put her in a convenient straitjacket. The world of average adults intrudes into Tanvi's sphere, undermining her inborn uniqueness.
Tanvi is made to journey towards what normal people want to see her as – a reflection of themselves. That is where the film gets it wrong. The payoff of the conflict that rages within and around Tanvi is insubstantial. Tanvi the Great is an undercooked, over-garnished affair.
Directed by Anupam Kher, who last helmed a movie at the turn of the millennium (Om Jai Jagadish, 2002), Tanvi the Great is self-consciously low-key and cutesy. It fails to grasp the complexities of the needs and impulses of an autistic girl determined not to be weighed down by the expectations of the world.
The script allows the protagonist no escape chute. She is under constant pressure to find her way out of the dichotomy between ability and ambition, between society's prejudices and her own individual persistence.
Restraint is usually an admirable attribute in a movie about spirited souls, emotional bonds and unlikely pursuits. But when it overwhelms everything else, without serving the purpose of strengthening the core of the story, it gives way to tepidity.
The overwhelming simplicity of Tanvi the Great, written by Ankur Suman, Abhishek Dixit and Anupam Kher, could have been disarming. It isn't because crucial parts of the film feel a touch manipulative.
At the heart of the film is 21-year-old Tanvi Raina (debutante Shubhangi Dutt). She sets out to do what her departed soldier-father (Karan Tacker) failed to do – salute the Indian tricolour at the Siachen Glacier. Her vow may be fanciful, but the audience has no reason not to wholeheartedly root for her as she sets her heart on the difficult task.
Tanvi's mother, Vidya (Pallavi Joshi), an authority on autism, understands the girl better than everyone else. But she jets off to a global conference, leaving her in the care of her grandfather, Colonel Pratap Raina (Anupam Kher) in the salubrious Pauri Garhwal cantonment town of Lansdowne.
The grandpa has no idea what autism is and, to begin with, treats Tanvi like just another child. Inevitably, a bond develops between the old man and the girl and the way is paved for her progress.
Tanvi also receives help from a brigadier (Jackie Shroff), her music teacher (Boman Irani) and an ex-army man who runs a training academy (Arvind Swami).
The film makes the right noises but its strokes, despite being consistently well-directed, are delivered without ambiguity and nuance. Its emotive tugs and pulls are both laborious and inconsistent. The bland writing obviates the possibility of any uncharted territory being thrown open to reveal new perspectives.
In the military milieu in which the story plays out, no quarters are sought and none are granted. Not that Tanvi expects any concessions. But neither the tenacity and resilience that the doughty girl demonstrates at every step nor the obstacles she encounters yield memorable situations with the potential to linger.
The serene beauty of the locales in and around Lansdowne enhances the film's surface texture. Keiko Nakahara's luminous cinematography misses no trick. But while Tanvi the Great is easy on the eye, it could have done with a tighter edit. It has scenes, especially in the second half, that last way too long.
On the face of it, the drama, delivered in little driblets, has some endearing, sensitive elements. But little that the film pieces together beyond a simplistic storyline about an extraordinarily undeterred young woman navigating emotional, psychological and physical hurdles rises above the ordinary.
Nobody, least of all her grandpa, gives Tanvi a chance in hell of breaking into the army. But people around her, acutely conscious of what she is capable of and what she is not, gradually come around. The girl herself never wavers. The tough cookie that she is, she certainly deserved a movie that could make us all sit up and break into applause. But Tanvi the Great isn't that film.
It is at best a middling exercise that skims the surface of Tanvi's fascinating inner world. Its legitimacy rests more on the social relevance of the theme than on its cinematic strategies, which, at their best, are rudimentary.
Done in partly by the length – it runs well over two and a half hours – and partly by its tendency to be pretty (rather than sturdy and gritty), the film struggles to achieve genuine impact and offer meaningful insight.
Tanvi the Great has its share of quiet moments but its silences are devoid of genuine depth and the ability to convey the certitudes of a mind that illumines itself with the power of hope.
A host of veteran actors give solid accounts of themselves. Jackie Shroff, Boman Irani, Arvind Swami and Nassar (in a brief appearance) are in their elements, as is Iain Glen, Game of Thrones' Jorah Mormont.
Shubhangi's central performance, the film's fulcrum, is enterprising no doubt, but is somewhat inconsistent. It fluctuates, sometimes in disorienting ways, between a convincing portrait of a resolute girl and a shallow interpretation of a plucky woman completely at ease with who she is.
Tanvi the Great is commendably offbeat but it rarely strikes the chords that it needs to with the force that can enable the girl's struggles and strengths to hit home.
It showcases a girl who prides herself on being “different but no less”. The film is different all right but it could have been much, much more than it actually is. Tanvi the Great isn't as unusual as it aspires to be.
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Anupam Kher, Shubhangi Dutt, Boman Irani, Pallavi Joshi
