Pushtaini (ancestral) is a small indie film that takes on a big, taboo subject: child sexual abuse.
Those three heavy words are not exactly an invitation to be entertained and have fun. And that’s why, perhaps, a glamorous name is associated with the film — that of Hrithik Roshan, who “presents” Pushtaini.
Directed by Vinod Rawat, who has also co-written the film and also stars in it as the lead, 'Pushtaini' feels and moves like a debut film. It has awkward scenes, a rickety narrative, overacting, dizzy camerawork—all of which are the hallmark of film institute student films. But it also has some powerful moments, a pulsating heart and endearing sincerity.
Pushtaini begins in Bollywood on an assured, gripping note.
A film scene is being shot that involves a big hero (Rajkummar Rao in a cameo) and a struggling, new actor, Aryan Shah (Vinod Rawat). In the scene, Aryan is playing Bollywood’s stock goon. He is wearing a black Pathani suit, has a massive mole stuck on his cheek and is to issue threats while swinging a switch-blade knife.
Aryan has just a few lines, but it’s his debut and he is nervous. So he overacts, and in take after take, makes it worse. The crew, irritated, begin to gossip about how he got the role. That secret is recorded in a video clip on a line producer’s phone who uses it to first humiliate and then blackmail Aryan. Aryan has to pay Rs 8 lakh, else the clip will go viral.
Aryan doesn’t have the money, but he has some ancestral property near Nainital.
The film travels to Uttarakhand with Aryan as he visits family members, beginning with his sister, where we learn more about him, his father and his real name, Bhuppi.
Aryan, aka Bhuppi, then heads to the house of his father's boss, Yashpal (Mithilesh Pandey). But just as he is about to enter, traumatic scenes from the past flood in. He sees round, shiny marbles and a helpless young boy.
It's a place of violence, hurt. A place where a boy was sexually abused, and also the place where a father broke his son’s heart.
There is a will, and Bhuppi has an inheritance, but there's also a condition. To encash his inheritance, Bhuppi needs an NOC from Prema, his bhua (father's sister) who lives in Bageshwar, a picturesque hill town.
Rawat, who co-directed Sushmita Sen’s series Aarya, has co-written Pushtaini’s script with Rita Heer, who also stars in the film as the female lead, Dimple.
En route to Bageshwar, Bhuppi meets an old friend and a young traveller, Dimple, a life coach. Carrying her own burdens and a bottle of vodka, she too is on a journey to come to terms with her past and learn to breathe.
As they all drive together to Bageshwar, we meet men having illicit affairs, and see how quickly basic politeness and friendly demeanour of single women is taken by men as an invitation to creep up on them and cross lines.
At his aunt’s house, as she shares stories about Bhuppi’s father, a boulder becomes a metaphor for the emotional blockage that Bhuppi and Dimple have lived with, but must now learn to navigate life around it.
A lot of Pushtaini feels amateurish. It's an uneven and flawed film. Scenes that should have been tighter, neater, are baggy. And while it's commendable that the film has many non-actors, the acting of Pushtaini's main characters flits between passable and bad.
Rita Heer mostly just overacts or doesn’t act at all. Vinod Rawat is heavy and does too much when less would have been better. He makes faces and distracts us in powerful moments with his hamming.
And yet the story that Pushtaini tells — about sexual abuse, of a boy coming to terms with it, his father's behaviour and his own compromises, about the stories we tell ourselves and hold on to, and how we become prisoners to these stories — is important and essential.
While watching Pushtaini, I recalled an illuminating conversation I had years ago with the screenwriter Urmi Juvekar about women, men and how they go through life.
Juvekar, who wrote the screenplays of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula, Shanghai and I Am, among others, spoke about how, after women’s liberation, there really should have been a concerted effort to liberate men from their daddies, from macho-panti, from the boulders of unresolved traumas, unexpressed emotions, and the debilitating fear of vulnerability.
That moment of men's lib is not upon us, sadly, but when films begin to talk about men's sexual abuse, I really believe that some festering wounds will burst and eventually begin to heal.
Last year, director Anmol Sidhu’s 'Jaggi', a brutal, unsettling film about sexual abuse, released. And now we have Pushtaini.
Pushtaini doesn't pack in the power of 'Jaggi' (a Punjabi film that is streaming on Mubi), but it does add to the conversation about men and the sexual abuse many suffered as boys. And that's a welcome baby step for boys to become men.
Movie: Pushtaini
Cast: Vinod Rawat, Rita Heer, Ankur Bhalla, Hemant Pandey, Preme Karayat, Maya Dharakoti, Mithilesh Pandey
Direction: Vinod Rawat
Rating: **1/2 out of 5
