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Filmmaker Anu Menon chats SHAKUNTALA DEVI – Mythily Ramachandran interviews (Guest Post)

Jennifer Merin 0 Comments , , , , , , , , ,
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Indian filmmaker Anu Menon, known for busting Bollywood stereotypes, is releasing her latest film globally on Amazon Prime. The film is a narrative biopic that traces the life of the late Shakuntala Devi- the legendary mathematics wizard of India. Better known as the ‘human computer,’ Shakuntala Devi astonished all with her ability to multiply two random 13 digit numbers in a few seconds. And, rightly found her place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

National Award winning Indian actress Vidya Balan takes on the eponymous role. From the trailer it appears that Menon’s story goes beyond mathematics to explore a mother-daughter’s relationship and other aspects of Shakuntala Devi’s life that show that she was way ahead of her time. Continue reading on THE FEMALE GAZE.

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for Women on Film, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and (currently) Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and, currently, for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is also a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).