Hrithik Roshan's 'Super 30': Fact or fiction?

A majority of people in Mumbai are unaware of it, but a strong movement around mathematician Anand Kumar has been playing out in Bihar over the last few days. A controversy has erupted against the Super 30 founder and several students. According to their parents, Anand has allegedly made some false claims. Reportedly, he had started the Super 30 programme in 2002 along with IPS officer Abhayanand in order to help and teach underprivileged kids, free of cost, to crack the IIT-JEE examinations. But in the wake of recent events and some media reports, which have been circulating on social media, it turns out that Anand is being accused of deceit.

While the mathematician is yet to tell us his side of the story, his detractors say that a scam may be unearthed. 

We reached out to Abhayanand, who originally started the Super 30 coaching classes with Anand, as he has been vocal on social media. He told us, “From what I have read and heard, there are children who are distraught and concerned. Students, who were part of the Super 30 programme, are coming out and talking. The media has opened a channel of communication now and they are sending out their messages and opinions.”

(Abhayanand started a petition online to urge the filmmakers to reconsider making the film, Super 30)

‘Super 30 can’t be a biopic’

Anand’s life is being made into a Hindi film, titled Super 30, with Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan playing the mathematician. The biopic has largely been shot and one hears just 20 per cent of the shoot is left. The movie will hit the screens on January 25 next year. Talking about it, Abhayanand says, “I don’t know what’s there in the film. Even if it is based on the biography written by Anand, it can’t be a biopic. I’m aware of the window between 1992-2008 in his life. I have read the book partly, but in my opinion, a lot of it is just fiction. He cannot deny my presence and contribution to Super 30. If he can claim it was solely his thought, I can also say it was my brainchild. It makes little difference to anyone as long as it’s a thought to help the society. But that hasn’t happened.”

‘Anand has made tall claims’

Reports floating around in Bihar suggest that while Anand claimed 26 out of 30 students from his programme made the cut this year, he failed to show their credentials when asked to do so. 

(An image of the article that appeared in a Patna newspaper)

Instead, apparently, only three students from his team have actually cleared the examination. The mathematician allegedly got 10-12 students from Kota and introduced them to the media stating that they were his students. Abhayanand further adds that Anand had ‘made tall claims about his success rate’, on the basis of which ‘students used to come to study under him’. “Now, his claims are turning out to be highly suspicious. He’s not adhering to transparency. He can call it a ‘coaching institute’ and nobody will say anything. But don’t claim to be a champion of social causes when you are just taking money from people. It has suddenly become a controversy because the truth’s coming out now. If the producers had done their homework, they would have known it all along,” he adds. 

When asked whether Abhayanand had reached out to the filmmaker or the actor and informed them about the controversy, the IPS officer says, “It’s not my job to show Hrithik Roshan the truth. Why should I reach out to him or the makers of the film? Mujhe kisi ko gyaan nahi dena hai, I’m not their teacher.”

Abhayanand feels the makers “should have done proper research on him”, before announcing the biopic. “Whatever basic knowledge we have about biopics, it teaches us that when you make a film on someone’s life, you need to find out a lot more about that person from others around him. Look at Hollywood — they do such detailed research on someone’s life before making a movie on the person. For a film like Super 30, at least six-seven years of research needed to be done,” he says before adding, “How many times have they come to Patna and how many people have they spoken to before announcing the film? People take biopics seriously. The internet can be a place where you begin your research, but it can’t be the end of it. This is not ancient Indian history where there can be lack of clarity.”

Although Abhayanand doesn’t want to jump to conclusions just as yet, a few pictures of Hrithik from the sets (where he is selling papad) have surprised him. He avers, “I heard they are showing that Anand Kumar had a poor background and used to sell papads! His neighbour, who also happens to be his first cousin and worked with him, has gone ahead and told everyone how these reports are false. They have told news channels that Anand’s father had 20 bighas (acres) of land and they all used to stay together. Patna mein makaan garib aadmi ka nahin hota hai. His father was doing government service. Yes, his mother would make papads but they were for the family. Woh bikta nahin tha! So how can they show a different story altogether?”

Responding to reports that suggested that Abhayanand was planning to take legal action against Anand, the erstwhile partner of Super 30 states hesitatingly, “I can’t tell you this right now. I don’t know because I haven’t watched the film yet. It will depend on what they show in the movie. If they omit me or show me in a bad light, it’s their prerogative. Until it comes out, I can’t do anything because the court will question me.”

We called Anand Kumar and his brother Pranav Kumar, and followed up our phone calls with text messages to both siblings, asking them for their side of the story. We texted filmmaker Vikas Bahl seeking his comment on the matter. Lastly, we sent out text messages and a mail to a representative of the film corporation which is bankrolling Super 30; we got no response from any of the concerned parties till the time of going to press.