Hello everyone, It is I, your Feisty Indian Aunty who has watched yet another Hindi movie (with English subtitles, of course) on Netflix. The story of Skater Girl should be a given – a young girl finds passion in a sport and begins to enjoy it to the exclusion of everything else in her life. That’s something that should be encouraged, right? No, not in her life. Not in her village. Not with her father who thinks that she isn’t behaving like the docile village girl who should learn to do chores, and take care of a home, so that she will be a good biddable wife when she inevitably gets married off at a young age.
The movie begins when a London-based advertising executive, Jessica (Amy Maghera), comes to a little village in Rajasthan to learn about her father’s ancestry. There, she meets Prerna (Rachel Saanchita Gupta) and her brother Ankush (Shafin Patel), two teenagers who live in that village. Jessica is fascinated by the way the children in the village create little toys made of wood, and string, and leaves. She gets to know them and, on a whim, introduces the children to skate boards.
The kids, of course, go crazy with this new sport, skating through the village and upsetting the caste system that exists. They stop going to school, and the village school master (who is of a higher caste (of course) in collusion with the village chief, ban skating altogether. The kids go on strike and Jessica has to find a way bridge their passion for skating with their studies.
The skating here proved to be a disruption to the caste system as children from all walks began to skate together. This is obviously frowned upon. The village was clearly not happy with Jessica’s influence on the children. Not to be discouraged, she continues to find ways and means to keep the kids love for skating.
Prerna has her own obstacles. Her father, who hates her skateboarding, is hell bent on marrying her off, leaving her with a seemingly impossible choice between fealty to family and following her dreams. What does this girl do? Will she succumb to her father’s will, or will she have the courage and confidence to go with her passion?
I should say that this isn’t a movie where Jessica swoops in an overturns centuries of cultural baggage in order to “save” the children of this small Indian village. There is a lot more nuance here. There is a complexity to the way this story is told. All of these characters have a sense of agency. Prerna has to make her own decisions. She needs to decide to save herself.
Skater Girl is a must-see movie for every teenager, whoever you are, wherever you are. This is a movie to help you find your dream and follow them. Do not let anyone stand in your way. You need to embrace everything that you are capable of doing. Build your confidence and allow for the world to be dazzled by your abilities – no matter what you do.
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