Pankh Movie Reviews

Parents who force their own lofty ambitions on little kids is not a new theme for Bollywood. As recently as last year there was Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance where Dimple Kapadia hints at a traumatic childhood spent on the sets and all the accompanying exploitation which accompanied it. But Pankh isn't just about kids being exploited at the hands of their avaricious parents. There aren't too many child artists in the industry.

Is he Kusum, the little girl who managed to become a star in tinsel town and win awards for her performances? Or is he Jai, the wannabe hero who hangs around derelict film studios, auditioning for a big break as a hero? That's the dilemma that plagues our young protagonist as he tries to fight the sundry forces that are robbing him off his true identity

Pankh’s protagonist is a National Award-winning child star who grows up into a psychologically damaged young man because his ambitious mother forced him to masquerade as a girl to get roles. Jerry, played by Maradona Rebello, was once the superstar Kusum. Between the ages of four and eight, he did 19 films as a girl. But the frock and lipstick permanently skewed his sense of identity and sexuality. The adult Jerry has a tenuous connection with reality.

Pankhstarring newcomer Maradona Rebello, is the disturbing story of a young man grappling with the psychological side-effects of being passed off as a girl in his childhood years. The film picks up the important and delicate issue of gender confusion and sexual identity, but treats the story in such a pretentious and heavy-handed manner that it's sometimes hard to empathize with the protagonist's pain. Set within the Mumbai film industry

"Tum ladka ho ya ladki?" asks Bipasha. The boy in question is Jerry (Maradona) who grew up being a popular child artiste Baby Kusum. Now, as a teenager on the brink of embracing his adolescence and leaving puberty behind, he's submerged under the weight of not just identity but gender crises. Is he a boy or a girl? His mom (Lilette) wants to make him an actor, but every time he sees the caked up Bipasha wearing rhinestones and glitter

A lot of bizarre experiments are being made in the name of art house/experimental cinema. Precious raw stock, precious time and precious resources are being utilised to create movies which are so weird that only its creator would know what he's actually trying to say. PANKH is one of those films, which, frankly, makes no sense. Let's give the credit where it's due. The premise - of a young boy being cast in girl's roles in movies - is interesting

An ambitious woman dresses her little boy as a girl, because that’s the only way he’ll be a star. Master Jai grows up conflicted, never knowing quite how to fill the shoes of Jerry D’Cunha ( Rebello). His mother’s ( Dubey) primping and prinking has affected him in ways he is still trying to come to terms with, one of which is to talk to a beautiful apparition ( Basu) whenever he is troubled.`Pankh’ has a powerful premise. Our films seldom address

Plot: Maradona is confused about his sexual identity because his mother, Lillete Dubey, had made him work in movie...