Every parent’s worst nightmare comes alive in Pihu, a film that has a two-year-old as its only actor and manages to keep you on an emotional roller coaster through much of its 93-minute running time.
A desi Home Alone but without the fun and laughs.
Journalist-turned-filmmaker Vinod Kapri takes a newspaper headline — the story of a toddler home alone while her mother’s lifeless body lies on the bed — and spins it into a film that is both a thriller and a cautionary tale for parents.
Except that it’s the parents that orchestrate Pihu’s predicament. The innovative opening credits use voices to set up the drama that results in Pihu being left home alone. The parents argue over a suspected extramarital affair on the night of Pihu’s birthday party. The next morning, the dad stomps out to catch a flight on business to Calcutta, the mother pops sleeping pills and the child wakes up to find Mumma “sleeping” and the house in a mess.
Unable to fathom what has happened, the toddler runs amok and you watch her with your heart in your mouth. With the camera following Pihu around the house, director Kapri excels in keeping the tension taut, with seemingly harmless household objects acquiring a sinister presence. Pihu’s home is a potential minefield and you wince every time the young girl gets her hand too close to a hot iron; you have to look away when the geyser almost bursts on top of her head after she accidentally keeps it switched on for hours and you let out a silent scream when she totters precariously on the edge of a balcony.
Powered by a riveting solo act from two-year-old Pihu Myra Vishwakarma, Kapri ensures that his film neither exaggerates the toddler’s situation nor makes it seem exploitative. Some scenes may come off as a tad manipulative, especially towards the end, but Pihu is not camera conscious; she isn’t aware that the camera is tailing her and that translates into moments that will make you want to reach out and comfort her.
The novelty wears off in the second half with many scenes and situations playing out in loop. It would perhaps have worked better as a short film.
But Pihu hits home as a bitter comment on life in the modern age where people live in isolation even in densely populated highrises. A lot like Rajkummar Rao’s Trapped, but with a pint-sized protagonist.
