Accessibility, generally is a tough one. But it is a whole another level when it is denied to you at the very beginning. Imagine your community prefers to deny you access to life itself. For your sake. Then you spend your childhood tied down, literally and metaphorically. And bullied, of course. To still have the spark in life, the zeal for it is inspiration enough. Srikanth does more and aspires for the beyond. Salute to the chemistry in the human body that takes away a physical capability but gives you a never-consider-I-can’t mindset.

If at all there is a moment or two when you are distracted by the jerkiness in the first half, Rajkummar Rao’s performance yanks your mind back to your seat.

Like I say for any such truly inspirational real-life story, the job is half done for the writing department. The other half is all about presenting it with creativity so that the viewer doesn’t lose interest even if they know it all. No mean feat, this. Srikanth’s writers made it feel a little episodic in the first half, jumping from one life stage or milestone to the next. In the second half though, they recover. The flow is smoother and the narrative, more engaging.

This could be because Srikanth’s very raw, human side is exposed post-interval—he suddenly turns into a regular ol’ human being from an extraordinary one; someone more like you and me. The film keeps this part simple and that is what makes it engaging too.

If at all there is a moment or two when you are distracted by the jerkiness in the first half, Rajkummar Rao’s performance yanks your mind back to your seat. And what he does well before the interval, he does even better after it. It’s almost as if he’s saying, were you distracted by my character’s disability, let me show you what happens to him when he goes really blind. The rest of the cast do well—Jyotika, Alaya F, and Sharad Kelkar. but their act seems pale given the lead actor’s naturalness and ease of portraying his character’s disability—physical, emotional, and mental. Sure, Rao is pretty uneven with his diction, but that didn’t bother me too bad.

What was the most jarring was Aamir Khan’s presence throughout the film. I saw no reason for ‘papa kehte hain…’ to be blaring through most of the background score. Seemed relentless. On the other hand, you have sequences that break the flow of the film but are well done because they give you a peek through a visually impaired person’s sense of space, like the one in the post-grad university. Another one that will stick to memory is the one in which Srikanth is being rushed to the dark side.

You know you have a winner when you find yourself heaving a sigh of relief when you realise that Srikanth won’t succumb to the frailties of being human though. Even if it means that you will have to be satisfied with a standard biopic climax.

- meeta, a part of the audience