Pinki Elli review: Prithvi Konanur’s hard-hitting film explores if a child is truly safe at home

3.5/5

Story: Estranged from her husband, Manjunath (Deepak Subramanya), Bindushree (Akshata Pandavapura) lives with her partner Girish (Anoop Shoonya) and eight-month-old daughter Pinki. A working mother, Bindushree leaves the tiny tot in the care of a house help, Sanamma (Gunjalamma). Although she has been noticing that the little one smells weird and once had a Rs 2 coin tucked in one of her socks, Bindushree does not suspect any foul play. Turns out, Sanamma has been plying Pinki with alcohol-laced milk to knock her out, so that a friend, Anasu, can use her as a prop to go begging on the streets. When Anasu, a habitual drunk, loses Pinki, a frantic race to find the child begins.

Review: Many years ago, a popular English daily had run an investigative report about the begging mafia in Bengaluru, for which a reporter went undercover to ‘hire’ a baby and beg on the streets of the city. While I do not remember the finer details of how she managed to get hold of a baby and what came of it, Prithvi Konanur’s movie Pinki Elli, which had a fantabulous run at film festivals, seems to find inspiration in similar reportage.

Prithvi wastes no time in getting to the main plot point. Within the first five minutes he establishes the main players in the narrative – a couple, a child, the house help and how the little one ends up going missing. While the focus remains firmly on everyone’s efforts to find the little one, there are sub plots that Prithvi deftly weaves together, whether it is Sanamma’s motivation to make a few extra bucks with the child, the family dynamics of the parents, the skewed police investigation and what can happen when a child lands in the wrong hands.

Prithvi’s film largely relies on the ‘performances’ of non-actors in real locations, whether it is Gunjalamma as Sanamma, her cousin Anasuyamma as Anasu, the corporation sweepers, their shady agent, among others, so the people, and the events that unfold feel more real. This, of course, is amplified by Arjun Raja’s hand-held, and hence, sometimes shaky, camerawork.

Pinki Elli is not an easy watch, especially if you, like me, have wondered why the babies used as begging props at pretty much every signal are almost always in deep slumber. That apart, it also touches a chord if you are a parent, who has had to leave behind your child with a house help for long hours, assuming that your home would be the safest place. After the screening, I could not help but thank my stars for how lucky I was many years ago in having found a trustworthy nanny.

Verdict: Pinki Elli was a film festival darling, so it heads to theatres with that baggage – of being a ‘festival film’, one that typically attracts only a niche crowd. It’s a serious film that cuts to the chase in no time. If thought-provoking cinema with no extra frills (the film does not even have a background score), is your cup of tea, do check out Pinki Elli. The filmmaker’s hope is that since the film came out during the pandemic and had a mixed run of online, hybrid and offline shows at festivals, there is a section that would want to see it, but hadn’t got the opportunity. Pinki Elli is not a typical single-screen movie, so it’s reach will depend on how multiplex chains choose to position it. If the non-peak show schedules of Kannada films in recent times are any indication, it is going to be tough.