Cast: Shubhangi Dutt, Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Jackie Shroff, Arvind Swami
Director: Anupam Kher
Genre: Drama / Inspirational
Duration: 2 hours 39 minutes
Stars : 3/5
In Tanvi: The Great, Anupam Kher returns to the director’s chair with a deeply personal film that dares to place an autistic protagonist at the center of a story built on national pride, emotional legacy, and quiet resilience. While the ambition is enormous and the heart is in the right place, the execution wavers between emotionally enriching and narratively convenient.
The story follows Tanvi Raina (Shubhangi Dutt), a young girl on the autism spectrum who learns of her late father’s dream to salute the Indian flag in Siachen. That discovery becomes the anchor of her journey—a dream that may seem impossible, but one that Tanvi approaches with childlike certainty and steely resolve. What follows is her attempt to break through not only societal prejudices but institutional limitations to find her place in a world that wasn’t built to accommodate her.
Newcomer Shubhangi Dutt is the soul of the film, delivering a performance that’s both grounded and illuminating. Without relying on stereotypes or melodrama, she humanizes Tanvi with moments of internal struggle, joy, confusion, and defiance. Her portrayal of autism is sensitively restrained and believable, capturing the nuances of neurodivergence without turning it into spectacle.
Opposite her, Anupam Kher as Colonel Pratap Raina brings a certain gravitas, portraying a man caught between duty and empathy. His transformation from an emotionally distanced Army veteran to a tender, supportive grandfather is handled with finesse. Pallavi Joshi is reliably earnest as Tanvi’s mother, while Arvind Swamy adds depth to a role that could have easily turned one-dimensional. Jackie Shroff and Boman Irani provide warmth in fleeting but effective moments.
The film’s greatest strength is its intent. It raises vital questions: Who gets to dream? What does it mean to be ‘fit’ to serve? And can love be a form of resistance? These are powerful themes, and Kher deserves credit for taking them on. But the film stumbles in its delivery. Where Tanvi: The Great could have explored systemic challenges and social commentary with nuance, it often resorts to emotionally loaded shortcuts—convenient plot turns, oversimplified military procedures, and on-the-nose background scores that scream emotion instead of allowing it to simmer.
The second half, in particular, loses some of the organic buildup of the first. Tanvi’s military training sequences feel rushed, glossing over the intense physical and psychological demands of such an endeavor. What should have been an arc of hard-won progress often becomes a montage of inspiration, sacrificing authenticity for uplift.
Visually, the film is undeniably beautiful. Keiko Nakahara’s cinematography captures the quietude of Lansdowne with poetic elegance, often serving as a visual metaphor for Tanvi’s internal world—isolated, serene, but always reaching outward. MM Keeravani’s music, though melodious, occasionally overstays its welcome, inserting emotion where the performances already do the work.
Tanvi: The Great is not a perfect film. It falters in pacing, occasionally drifts into sentimentality, and takes liberties that strain credibility. Yet, what keeps it afloat is its emotional honesty and commitment to telling a story not often told in Indian cinema. It is less about whether Tanvi makes it to the Army and more about whether she’s allowed to dream in a world that tells her she can’t.
In the end, Tanvi: The Great leaves you with a lump in the throat, not from grand cinematic gestures, but from the quiet dignity of a girl who simply refuses to be underestimated.
Watch it for the performances, stay for the message.