‘Pushtaini’ review: A gentle, satisfying watch

Bhupinder “Bhuppi” knows his name won’t make him a movie star, so he’s changed it to the trendier-sounding Aryan Shaw. Bhuppi has presumably done what it takes – it’s left to the audience’s imagination – to finally get a role as a villain. His nervousness almost gets him thrown off the set, but a worse nightmare is to follow.

Bhuppi is forced to return to his hometown in picturesque Uttarakhand, which he had fled after a spat with his father. Bhuppi has to make humiliating compromises to save his career.

With a few economical strokes, Vinod Rawat portrays the struggles and sacrifices needed by an outsider to get a break into movies. A Film and Television Institute of India alumnus, Rawat has written, directed, produced and acted in his debut feature Pushtani (Ancestral).

The first visual variation is from a dingy shared flat in Mumbai to the open mountain range of Uttarakhand. In Bhuppi’s absence, things have changed drastically in his family. His sister angrily blames him for their problems. Once the story moves to the pristine villages of the hill state, without underlining it, Rawat conveys the condition of the locals – the lack of jobs, mass migration and the endless slog of the women left...

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