Our society has yet to come to terms with the sad reality that sexual exploitation is not gender-specific. Perhaps that’s why our mainstream cinema either ignores the sexual manipulation of boys or considers it as a device to generate some humor. For a change, “Pushtaini,” a small film with a big purpose, begins on a film set where a struggling actor, languishing on a couch, struggles with his lines.
Like an emaciated cat trying to roar like a tiger, Aryan Shaw (played by Vinod Rawat) is fumbling to hide the simple mountain boy Bhupinder, or Bhuppi, from the camera. Soon, we discover that his set is perhaps purposefully designed into the script as his launchpad, for Bhuppi has come through a painful process of the ‘casting couch,’ a euphemism for sexual favors in exchange for work.
The slimy line producer has a video that can shut Bhuppi’s career down, but somehow the frustration of getting blackmailed breeds in him the natural flair that was missing from his performance. It is something Rajkumar Rao, playing the hero in the film within the film, advises him to bring out, but till then Aryan and Bhuppi were two different people.
To escape the trap, Bhuppi treads back to his ancestral land in Uttarakhand. The scenic vistas open the crevices of the past in the young man’s mind, which made him run away from his reality to the city of dreams. As the purpose of the title starts to make sense, we find that Bhuppi is suffering from deep-seated daddy issues, far more profound than those encountered in Animal. There is a sister who feels he let the family down and an aunt who holds him responsible for his father’s unnatural demise. Then there is a will in the hands of his father’s employer Yashpal (Mithilesh Pandey), whom Bhuppi doesn’t want to face due to a childhood trauma that hasn’t healed and has perhaps created flaws in his personality. This creates an emotional cesspool where the soundscape and the landscape become integral to storytelling.
In the journey to find his truth, Bhuppi finds a co-passenger in Dimple, a life coach (Rita Heer), who is also seeking answers to questions that have troubled her since childhood. While Bhuppi avoids intoxication, for it strips away the layers he has covered himself with, Dimple turns to weed and vodka to keep herself moving against the gravity of the situation and the landscape.
The film finds its humor and levity with Hemant (Hemant Pandey), a taxi driver and Bhuppi’s childhood friend, who drives him and Dimple on this journey of self-discovery.
. Hemant is a prototype of those small-town men who judge women by their food and lifestyle choices, adding an interesting dynamic to the narrative.
Vinod Rawat has not only played Bhuppi/Aryan with gentle intensity but has also directed, produced, and co-written “Pushtaini.” While finding answers to Bhuppi’s quest, he touches upon issues like unemployment, migration, and economic hardships in the hills, making people prone to different kinds of manipulation without making a show of it.
Much like his inherited property, Bhuppi’s problem is also ‘Pushtaini.’ People on the margins faced and hid sexual exploitation then; they are uneasy to talk about it now. Time and space don’t seem to matter. They seem destined to suffer and move on with a straight face. Rawat has depicted this helplessness and reconfiguration in Bhuppi by weaving the events into a gripping narrative that doesn’t seek mercy for being an independent film.
In terms of technique, for a large part, “Pushtaini” gives the feel of a good, personal student film. It has a beating heart, but the loose ends in writing and acting have not been properly soldered. At times, the rawness in expressing emotions and language works to the film’s advantage, but there are sequences where low-hanging metaphors are plucked for effect.
That said, “Pushtaini” is better than many decorative products currently on display in theaters. One hopes it finds a way through the heartless distribution system that is skewed towards tentpoles and where ancestral hold on the system still works.
“Pushtaini” is currently running in theaters, offering a somber but essential look at the complexities of sexual exploitation, especially as it affects marginalized communities, and tackles the broader issues of societal manipulation in the backdrop of the scenic yet struggling hills of Uttarakhand. Hindi cinema, though often criticized for its lack of depth, finds a redeeming quality in this independent gem that dares to confront uncomfortable truths.
