The film lurches from one melodramatic situation to another, for nearly 160 minutes, before culminating in an ending that embodies Director Anupam Kher's personal philosophy: Kuch bhi ho sakta hain, notes Mayur Sanap.
If Sitaare Zameen Par emphasised that everyone has their own unique 'normal', Tanvi The Great puts a new perspective to it.
In the film, which revolves around an autistic girl, we hear a character saying: 'Opposite of normal is not abnormal. Opposite of normal is extraordinary.'
Anupam Kher, whose 2002 directorial debut Om Jai Jagadish had the themes of pyaar, parivaar and sanskaar, returns to direction 23 years later with the story of hope and resilience (the inspiration for the film, as Kher earlier said, came from his 13-year-old autistic niece, Tanvi).
There is a well-meaning, feel-good appeal to the simplistic and earnest ideas of Tanvi The Great, but it doesn't quite reach the wholesomeness it aspires to because of the deliberate sappiness that prevents us from connecting to the material.
Kher keeps the narrative light-hearted around the titular character who is often told that she is different, but no less.
She is played by debutante Shubhangi, a gold medalist from Kher's acting school Actor Prepares.
Shubhangi plays 20-something Tanvi Raina, a girl with autism who is raised by her single mother Vidya (Pallavi Joshi) after her army officer father (Karan Tacker) is martyred in the line of duty.
When Vidya, an autism expert, is headed to the US for a conference, she takes Tanvi to the Himalayan town of Lansdowne to stay shift with her grandfather (Anupam Kher), a retired army officer.
As Tanvi warms up to her new surroundings, she learns about her late father's unfulfilled dream -- to salute the Indian flag at the world's highest battlefield on the Siachen Glacier.
This discovery ignites a fire in Tanvi as she makes a life-altering decision: To join the Indian Army.
Penned by Kher, along with Ankur Suman and Abhishek Dixit, the story tries very hard to pull your heartstrings with all its heavy-handed emotional manipulation.
The very relevant subject of autism feels like a mere narrative tool without presenting anything new in our understanding of the complex issues surrounding it.
Pallavi Joshi's Vidya is shown to add some weight on this topic, as she tries to make a world better place for autistic kids, but this track never cuts deep due to its superficial treatment.
Without conveying any true emotional depth, it feels like the film is relying too heavily on its good intentions while it resorts to cliched ways to jerk tears.
This is further punctuated by M M Keeravani's uninspired musical score that compulsorily highlights all sorts of emotions that leaves you feeling more annoyed than uplifted.
Shubhangi is achingly sincere and does give a bright charm to her Tanvi, but her acting feels stifled at times due to inadequate writing.
Her physical acting also fluctuates according to the gravity of scenes.
There's an emotionally charged moment towards the end when Tanvi meets her mother. Her character is supposed to be strong and confident, but it looks like the actor is snapped to her real self as her autism act is completely cast aside.
The film features an ensemble cast with Boman Irani as a sweet music teacher, Arvind Swamy as Tanvi's stern military trainer, Jackie Shroff as an amiable commandant and a wasted cameo by Iain Glen (Ser Jorah Mormont from Game of Thrones) that barely registers.
Most of these actors feel like a set of bullet points rather than fully-realised characters, which feels disappointing for their stature.
The film lurches from scene to scene, with one melodramatic situation after another, for nearly 160 minutes, before culminating in an ending that embodies Kher's famous personal philosophy: Kuch bhi ho sakta hain.
At one point, Kher's character is pointed out the implausibility of an autistic girl joining the army, to which he replies one cannot stop someone from dreaming.
The retort comes: 'No philosophical answers please.'
This film, hell-bent on sentimental uplift, needed the same reality check.
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