
The World's Cleverest Child and Me
Presenter Nikhil Goyal, once labeled a child prodigy himself, sets out to answer a question that shaped his own childhood: can a gifted child grow up to lead a normal life? He meets a handful of children singled out for extraordinary abilities in maths, music, and memory, sitting in on their lessons and talking with the parents who manage their schedules and expectations. Psychologists and researchers weigh in on whether these abilities are innate or the product of relentless early coaching, and the film does not settle neatly on either side. Goyal's own history gives the film its edge. He was pushed hard as a child, achieved early recognition, and is visibly working through what that cost him as he watches these families make the same choices his did. The result sits somewhere between investigation and confession, using other people's prodigies to ask what happened to his own childhood.