Amidst Slumdog Millionaire's spectacle at Oscar nominations, one unnoticed Indian film went to Oscars. 'Smile Pinki' is being nominated in the short documentary section which revolves around poor eight-year-old Pinki from a small village in Mirzapur district in UP.
Pinki is an eight-year-old girl from a village near Varanasi who is getting ready to go for the Oscar awards ceremony. Pinki happens to be the protagonist of a 39-minute documentary film named- Smile Pinki, which got nominated for the Oscars. The film is produced in Bhojpuri and Hindi (with English subtitles),
Smile Pinki has added something more to cheer for the Indians amidst the strong presence made by Slumdog Millionaire and the Indians attached to it. While people are busy celebrating Slumdog Millionaire’s encouraging display at Oscars nominations, little Pinki is quietly weaving her own dreams for the big night.
Smile Pinki is the tale of a girl born with a lip deformity which made her a social outcast. Smile Pinki tells speaks about the journey of a farmer’s daughter Pinki, from cleft-lipped towards normalcy after undergoing plastic surgery in a nursing home. This change in the fortune of Pinky could only happen with the efforts of Pankaj, a social worker travelling village to village to help such needy ones through a hospital that provides free surgery to them.
This documentary was shot in Pinki’s village and G S Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital in Varanasi where Pinki underwent the surgery by Dr Subodh Kumar Singh. Dr Singh is the project director of ‘Smile Train’, which works for bringing back smile on the faces of cleft children by performing free surgery.
The documentary is directed by Megan Mylan which also tells the similar story of another boy Ghutaru, who alongwith Pinki were made social outcasts due to their cleft lips. Nomination of Smile Pinki for Oscar is bound to bring awareness about this congenital anomaly among the general public and health agencies. Before being nominated for Oscars, Smile Pinki, was also short listed in October 2008, by the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences. Amidst the celebrations of Slumdog Millionaire’s nominations, this fairy tale cure of Pinki almost went unnoticed for an Academy award in the short documentary section. The others in the race with Smile Pinky are- The Conscience of Nhem En, The Final Inch, and The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306.
Dr Subodh Singh, is trying to help in tackling the issues related arranging visa, passport, and tickets. He has been a sort of God father to Pinki who has not only cured her deformity but has also gifted 400-odd books to the girl and is even in the process of raising funds to add a room for his family.
Hats off to Dr. Singh, Pankaj and people like them who are striving to bring back happiness and smile on the faces of people who have forgotten to dream
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