Review: ‘Skater Girl’ Lands As A Feel Good Movie But Not Much Beyond

Maybe I’ve said it here before, maybe not, but something important to know about me and the movies I like is that I don’t much care for the “Coming-of-age” subgenre. Perhaps it’s because my teen years aren’t far behind me, but I find most stories in the genre redundant, simply because almost every person has gone through the same growing pains of adolescence: first love, first heartbreak, fighting with your family, and figuring out who you are. At this point it’s a bland recipe that needs seasoning to flavor.

Thankfully, there’s just enough spice in Manjari Makijany’s debut feature Skater Girl to shake up the coming-of-age routine by placing it in an underexplored context – what does adolescence look like for a low-caste girl in a rural Indian village?

And what if she absolutely shredded on a skateboard?

That’s really all you need to know about Prerna, the young protagonist played by newcomer Rachel Sanchita Gupta. After a pair of affluent tourists roll into her village on skateboards (Amy Maghera and Jonathan Readwin), Prerna – and the rest of the village children – become obsessed with skateboarding, learning to build their own and ride them anywhere they can. Problems quickly arise as the traditionalist adult villagers call for an end to this recreational infestation, and Prerna’s parents demand their daughter live within her caste.

There’s plenty of things that I really like in this film; I think Gupta, as well as all of the child actors, did a very good job and were all realistically characterized and endearing. I was especially smitten with the loving relationship built between Prerna and her younger brother Ankush, portrayed by Shafin Patel.

Another huge positive aspect of the movie is its music – the creative duo Salim-Sulaiman did some beautiful work on this project, with Bollywood-inspired tracks that range from the sweet and demure to the boisterous and hopeful. Every plot beat is wonderfully and adeptly scored.

While the first act felt incredibly strong, it was in the second act that my interest started to falter – in particular because that is the point where our adult out-of-towners (Maghera and Readwin) become the driving force for nearly the entire act, pushing Prerna and the children’s storylines to the backseat. To put it simply: the acting was capable but didn’t stand out and the characters themselves were just not written to be very compelling. Yes, I know they exist in the story because at some point a skatepark has to be funded and built, but I’m sure with perhaps another pass through the script there would be a way to better integrate Prerna’s personal storyline and this segment of the overarching storyline together – because honestly, as a coming-of-age tale, Prerna’s the important character here.

I think it’s also important to acknowledge the sort of “white-savior” implications that this strong focus on these two non-village characters inadvertently brings to the film. While Maghera’s character does come to the village because her recently deceased father was adopted from there, she is still very much a western, light-skinned, and most importantly in the context of where this film takes place, British woman. Likewise, Readwin’s character is a laid-back, So-Cal American that works at the same start-up as Maghera. While their inclusion as characters in the story may only have been a means to the specific set pieces Makijany had envisioned (i.e., the skate park), we need to be aware of the way a story like this could be read with the broader context of European and Indian history outside of Skater Girl’s plot bubble.

Things improved as Prerna and her familial drama regained focus, but the film did still suffer from some storyline inconsistency that is understandably common with debut features – there are several interesting threads set up throughout the film that never reach a conclusion, seemingly forgotten about, and the ending, while sweet, does not resolve all of the major conflicts of the film in a clear and resolute way. Makijany has written and directed two very good award-winning short films, The Last Marble and The Corner Table, and I’m sure the transition from writing and directing shorts to 90 minute-minimum features is quite a task.

I did enjoy this film, Gupta’s performance, and Makijany’s directing, and I’m interested in whatever projects they have in store for the future.

If you like “Coming-of-age” and are looking for a feel-good movie, Skater Girl is a good pick. Want to expand your mother’s film palate but don’t want to scare her off with anything extreme? Skater Girl has your back. Want to hear some dope Filmi music? The Skater Girl soundtrack is on Spotify – but maybe watching the film first will help you appreciate the music even more.