Super 30 (film)


Super 30 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed by Vikas Bahl and co-produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, narrating the life of mathematics educator Anand Kumar and his educational program of the same name. Co-distributed by Reliance Entertainment, the film stars Hrithik Roshan as Anand, with Mrunal Thakur, Virendra Saxena, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastava and Amit Sadh in lead roles.
Super 30 was Phantom Film's last production. Principal photography began in February 2018 and the film was extensively shot in Ramnagar Fort and Sambhar Lake Town which was shown as Kota, Rajasthan. Super 30 was theatrically released in India on 12 July 2019 and received positive to mixed reviews, but with some praise for the storyline and Roshan's performance.With worldwide earnings of, the film emerged as one of the highest grossing Bollywood film of 2019.

Plot

is a lower-class student who has a passion in studies and is good at it. At a local competition felicitation, the local minister, Shriram Singh, proud of him, promises for help whenever needed.
Anand frequently goes to Banaras Hindu University's library to solve a foreign Math journal. One day, the manager finally catches him, and says that he has no right to read there. One staff member suggests him to get his article published in this journal and earn a free lifetime subscription to it. Anand goes to the post-office, where his father Rajendra works as the head, and posts a letter regarding the solution to a difficult Math problem that no one has been able to solve yet. He then gets featured in the journal for solving the problem, and gets a letter from Professor Richard of the University of Cambridge to join a program there. But Anand needs money to travel. He and Rajendra go to Shriram but he denies any promise. They both further try to collect money but remain helpless, and get depressed. One day, Rajendra dies of a heart attack. Anand refuses to go to Cambridge due to his father's death and financial condition.
He then sells papads in the city. One day, he meets Lallan Singh, an assistant of the local minister. Lallan takes Anand as a teacher in his coaching centre, Excellence Coaching Centre. There, Anand sees the plight of a boy who had to leave due to poverty. He thinks that these poor kids also have a right to study. Hence, he leaves Excellence and starts a separate tuition for poor kids, in which he enrolls 30 kids at a time. He teaches them to learn everything practically and have the concepts cleared in an easy and fun way. All this enrages Lallan, whose centre is facing criticism for not retaining Anand.
In course of the tuition, Anand gets immense help from his brother Pranav and his mother. Lallan and Shriram plan to have Anand killed so that his kids won't be entering IIT. Anand is hurt brutally by two of Lallan's henchmen, and is hospitalised, on the verge of death. He tells his students to then use their knowledge to defeat the goons sent by Shriram, while he is being treated. The students, in unity, use their knowledge and defeat the goons and Anand is treated successfully. The students take the IIT exam and all 30 students pass successfully.

Cast

Principal photography commenced in November 2017. Mrunal Thakur was cast opposite Hrithik Roshan in the film. The film was shot at Ramnagar Fort; part of the fort was converted to look like the Super 30 institute. The film was also shot for ten days in Sambhar Lake Town which was shown as Kota, Rajasthan and Jaipur. A set was erected in Mumbai at the cost of 10 crore to recreate Patna city of Bihar to facilitate shooting. In second schedule of Varanasi shooting, the film was shot at Banaras Hindu University in the end of June 2018. This was the first Hindi film that the university allowed to be shot at its campus. Filming was completed in September 2018. Television actor Nandish Sandhu made his film debut in the film; he played Roshan's younger brother.

Soundtrack

composed the music for the film and lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Vipin Nair of The Hindu gave the soundtrack 3.5/5, calling it a "pretty engaging soundtrack ". The Times of India based Debarati Sen, in her review, said the composers "do not fail to impress".

Marketing and release

The first look posters of Hrithik Roshan from Super 30 were unveiled on 5 September 2018 to coincide with the Teacher's Day in India. Second poster with new release date was revealed on 12 January 2019. Another look of Hrithik Roshan from the film unveiled in new poster on 2 June. The next day another poster with Roshan soaking in the rain of success with motto "Misaal Bano, Haqdaar Bano" was released. one day later on 4 June official trailer of the film was released by Reliance Entertainment. It garnered 44.99 million views since its release on YouTube.
The film's producer reported that Hrithik Roshan will be accompanied by Anand Kumar for the promotion of Super 30.
The film was theatrically released in India on 12 July 2019, as the release date was advanced by fourteen days.
The film has been certified with a runtime of 155 mins by British Board of Film Classification and was released on 12 July 2019.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Sreeparna Sengupta of The Times of India gave the film three and a half stars out of five, and praised Hrithik Roshan, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Srivastava and cinematography of Anay Goswami. She felt that Super 30 conveyed the message that though education is the privilege of people with good economic background, if given the level field others too can shine equally. Concluding, she wrote "While the narrative does have its flaws, Super 30 is a human drama and the story of a teacher who triumphs over the many challenges that life throws at him, to set an example for the world to see. Just for that it’s worth a watch." Writing for the NDTV Saibal Chatterjee, rated it with two stars out of five and felt that erratic screenplay of Super 30 had 'skimmed the surface of a massive mound of tangled issues', and that Hrithik Roshan was miscast as Anand Kumar. He opined that the major problem with the film was telling a true story, which was not convincing. He concluded the review as, "The idea to bronze up Hrithik Roshan so that he can impersonate Anand Kumar is anything but super: it is a formula that equals zero." Samrudhi Ghosh of India Today rated it with two and a half stars out of five, but praised the performances of Pankaj Tripathi and Aditya Srivastava. Ghosh felt the film was lengthy and had aroused the dramatics without need, saying "Under the guidance of math wizard Anand Kumar, his Super 30 turned out to be miracles. Under the guidance of Vikas Bahl, Hrithik Roshan's Super 30 is far from one."
Priyanka Sinha Jha of CNN-News18, disagreeing with Ghosh praises Roshan and ensemble of Pankaj Tripathi, Virendra Saxena, Nandish Sandhu and Aditya Srivastav for their performances. She feels that Roshan has given an admirable performance. Agreeing with Sengupta she opines that education is a means to a better life, but is a privilege in itself, and that is what the film questions and challenges. She rates the film with three stars out of five, and concludes, "After all, as the famous saying goes—“Not all superheroes wear capes.” Super 30 is the story of one such.." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave two stars out of five and termed the film 'way less than super', she opined that if handled in right way, it would have been a 'rousing, goosebumps-inducing, cheer-athon.' She summarised by stating, "Yes, the real-life story is inspiring. But the telling of it is a drag. The film has its moments, which belong mostly to its young people: the kids are all right."

Box office

Super 30 collected 11.83 crore from India, and 6.18 crore from overseas on the opening day. Next day showing upward trend the film colllected 18.19 crore from India, and 5.46 crore from overseas. The film grossed 75.08 crore in the opening weekend, and 112.65 crore in the opening week worldwide.
, with gross of 172.84 crore from India and 36.09 crore from overseas, the film has grossed 208.93 crore worldwide. The film entered the 100 crore club on 21 July 2019.