Pihu, Movie Review: This Longish Heart-Stopper Is An Experience

So yeah, you know by now (thanks to the trailer and marketing) it's about a 2-3 year old girl who is grappling at home alone while her mother lies dead on the bed. Bruise marks on her face suggest that she was in an abusive relationship with her husband and downed a bit too many sleeping pills (which are strangely in a bottle, for I think that all sleeping pills today are in foil packs). Anyway, it's time we loudly applaud the new ideas that are coming into today's cinema and the fact that producers like Sidharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala (they formed a formidable team in UTV, so no reason why they can't do an encore for many films to come when they're out of it) are backing such talent by putting their money on the line. And this idea keeps you on the edge almost throughout even if you are not a parent.

The burning iron, the trapping in the refrigerator, the leaning over a balcony and so much more around this toddler Myra Vishwakarma (in title role), who can teach a lesson or two to many of the established glamorous names (even though a lot of her portions are extracted from raw footage), makes your heart literally (almost) stop on several occasions. What stands out is that when her dad and the neighbours eventually break the door open, you are only concerned that Pihu survives; you have no inclination left to know their discord story but it's only the child's welfare you are concerned about. So yeah, whether she does or not, is not my style to tell you as that would amount to a huge spoiler. But despite the high tension predominantly present in most scenes, what also stands out is that there is a certain kind of repetition which tends to act as a slight deterrent. Real-life situations can get repetitive if depicted in real time, but I would say that those are the situations which are mundane and not the unusual, edgy ones as in this case. The long and short of this very well-made film is that it could have been at least 25-30 minutes shorter.

Vinod Kapri (director) has done a praiseworthy job and once again in 2018, you have some very good content. Formula films are falling by the wayside, and it's time for Bollywood fraternity to realise that a huge monotony and over-budgeting has set in which are the two main reasons why the losses are exceeding the gains. Kapri said in an interview that 'every film should have a message'. I think I have mentioned his film's message, even though it may have got driven by default.

I am going with THREE-and-HALF.





Image Source: youtube/rsvpmovies