‘Skater Girl’ Movie Review: Rural Indian Teenager Girl Takes Flight on a Board with Wheel

Cast: Rachel Saanchita Gupta, Amy Maghera, Jonathan Readwin, Ambrish Saxena, Swati Das, Vinayak Gupta

Director: Manjari Makijany
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

It's not often that a film sparks immediate collective action. Even rarer is a film's social impact before it has been seen by an audience. One such film is Skater Girl, which is available on Netflix. It has made a lasting impression on Khempur, which is hardly a spot on the map. The audience is told that a rural Rajasthan village 45 kilometres from Udaipur now has its own community skatepark where girls can go.

Skater Girl is a simple and touching sports film directed by debutante Manjari Makijany that zips along swiftly and avoids the tired cliches that Bollywood reserves for the underdog-against-all-odds genre. It's about a poor tribal teen (newcomer Rachel Saanchita Gupta) who discovers skateboarding and sets out on a quest for independence.

Prerna Bhil, the girl, has dropped out of school due to a lack of funds to purchase textbooks. Worse worse, her father is adamant about marrying her off. She is a victim of a strict and hierarchical culture. Skateboarding has the potential to set her free.

On her road to fulfilling her dream to compete in a national skateboarding event that might change her life forever, she must overcome poverty and patriarchy, overcome other societal difficulties, and traverse harsh caste barriers.

The film Skater Girl, created by the filmmaker and her sister Vinati Makijany, combines a realistic portrayal of life in a genuine town with elements of restrained fiction while avoiding overt melodrama. The plot may be lacking of big surprises, but it is also free of cliches. The film's effectiveness and relatability are enhanced by the straight, unshowy means it uses to make its argument.

Waheeda Rehman makes a cameo appearance in Skater Girl's cast. The senior actress is required to appear in both sequences in order for the plot to have a strong emotional context. All of the other performances in the film are spot-on, owing to actors who do an excellent job of seamlessly blending into their surroundings.
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Jessica, a 34-year-old Indian-British girl, introduces a new sport to the young boys and girls of Khempur, and they learn to express themselves through it (Amy Maghera). On a personal mission, the latter has arrived in the village. Soon after, Erick (Jonathan Readwin), a buddy from Los Angeles, arrives on a skateboard and creates a path for the kids.

Despite the continual support she receives from her spirited kid brother Ankush, Prerna's journey is not without obstacles (Shafin Patel). Her precarious situation, in which she is a bundle of worries, qualms, and uncertainties, illustrates the magnitude of the obstacles that a girl like her must overcome before she can even mount a skateboard, let alone take up the sport seriously.

Her strict father (Ambrish Saxena) sees her as little more than a domestic helper for his wife (Swati Das) until it's time to send her away as a bride. Prerna's blossoming connection with an upper-caste child named Subodh (Vinayak Gupta) irritates both his teacher-father (Anurag Arora) and her own father.

Getting the village residents to embrace the girl's newfound interest for skating is as challenging as breaking caste barriers here. The replacement of the flat wooden carts that the youngsters use as indigenous playthings with something as alien and empowering as skateboards is a tremendous leap that the conservative community does not approve of.The skateboarders and their mentors soon run into a volley of protests.

 

The entire community is against the kids because, in their excitement over discovering a new sport, they not only skip school but also start causing minor disasters all throughout the village.

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"Everyone hates skateboards no matter where you go in the globe," Erick remarks. The Maharani (Waheeda Rehman) informs Jessica in another scene that her people are resistant to change. When things get out of hand, Erick and Jessica are forced to do the seemingly impossible: carve out a separate space for the aspiring, overly enthusiastic skateboarders.

After a few stumbles and hiccups, the two visitors have devised a strategy that will allow the kids to get up and running. The premise of the film includes a couple of the skatepark builders and skating coaches.

It's hard not to wonder if Skater Girl is another of those well-intentioned pictures that ends up preaching the Saviour Syndrome. To be fair, it is aware of the danger. Jessica, whose true motivations for being in Khempur are revealed later in the film, is well aware that she isn't the only one who knows what's going on around here.

The village youngsters take some time to perfect the many tricks of skating, but they are naturally good at taking the rough with the smooth, as they are with everything else in life.

The Skater Girl crosses the finish line without breaking a sweat thanks to effective writing. But it's Rachel Saanchita Gupta's key performance as Prerna Bhil, in which she effortlessly slips into the role without skipping a beat, that helps the film find its stride and attain a steady canter.