''Skater Girl'' is a 2021

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Manjari Makijany Manjari Makijany is an Indian writer, director and producer who works on American and Hindi films. She is best known for her award-winning short films, ''The Last Marble'' (2012) and ''The Corner Table (2014)''. Early life Makijany is the daug ...

. The cast includes newcomers Rachel Sanchita Gupta and Shafin Patel, and also stars

Amrit Maghera Amy Maghera (formerly Amrit Maghera) is a British model and actress, working in Hindi, English and Punjabi films. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' as Neeta Kaur. Career Maghera began her career as a dance ...

, Jonathan Readwin and Waheeda Rehman. It was written by Manjari and Vinati Makijany, who co-produced the film through their Indian production company Mac Productions. It was released on 11 June 2021 by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Plot

In the present day in a remote village in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, teenager Prerna is living a life bound by tradition and duty to her parents. When London-bred advertising executive Jessica arrives in the village to learn more about her late father's childhood, Prerna and the other local children are introduced to an exciting new adventure thanks to Jessica and her old friend Erick who cruises into town on a skateboard. The kids become infatuated with the sport, skating through the village, disrupting everything and everyone around them. Determined to empower and encourage their newfound passion, Jessica sets out on an uphill battle to build the kids their own

skatepark A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, q ...

, leaving Prerna with a difficult choice between conforming to society's expectations of her or living out her dream of competing in the National Skateboarding Championships.

Cast

* Rachel Sanchita Gupta as Prerna * Shraddha Gaikwad as Gunjan *

as Jessica * Waheeda Rehman as Maharani * Shafin Patel as Ankush * Anurag Arora as Mahesh * Jonathan Readwin as Erick * Swati Das as Shanti * Ankit Rao as Vikram * Ambrish Saxena as Ramkesh * Vivek Yadav as Tipu * Sohan Suhalka as Vishwinath * Sahidur Rahaman as Police Officer

Production

Production of the film under the title ''Desert Dolphin'' took place in

Khempur Khempur is a village in Udaipur district, Rajasthan, India. It is noted for its Ravla Khempur, an equestrian hotel which was originally the palace of the Cāraṇa chieftain, Khemraj Dadhivadia, after whom the town is thus named. It featured as ...

, a village near Udaipur, Rajasthan which was also the location for the film ''

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'' is a 2011 British comedy-drama film directed by John Madden. The screenplay, written by Ol Parker, is based on the 2004 novel ''These Foolish Things'' by novelist Deborah Moggach, and features an ensemble c ...

''. As the central set of the film, the producers built Rajasthan's first and India's largest skatepark in Khempur. The film brought together crew from the US, Canada and India. Production on the film completed in early 2020. The production employed approximately five hundred cast and crew including over three hundred and fifty village locals. Over three thousand children were auditioned, many of them skaters from skate communities across India. The filmmakers spent over a year researching, writing and meeting with teenage girls and boys in

to write Prerna and Ankush’s characters as authentically as possible. Fifty-five skaters from across India featured in the movie including thirty-four local skaters from

. Post Production was completed in Los Angeles at Warner Bros. facilities.

Release

The film was released by

on 11 June 2021.

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 17 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.90/10. Writing for

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

, critic Sheila O’Malley said the film “captures the iconoclastic freedom and rebellion skateboarding has so often represented, and it joins a long line of rousing skate films.” O’Malley added,

Newcomer achel SanchitaGupta is a revelation, as is hafinPatel, who plays her mischievous and sweet younger brother. Both understand all of the complexities of this story and give beautiful and powerful performances. There may be one too many obstacles placed in Prerna's way…stacking the deck against her so there will be an even bigger payoff. But overall "Skater Girl" is so gratifying it doesn't matter.

Source of inspiration

Following the release of the film's trailer, netizens familiar with the story of

Ulrike Reinhard Ulrike Reinhard (born 1960) is a German publisher, author, digital nomad and futurist. She is best known for her skatepark in Madhya Pradesh, Janwaar Castle. Reinhard has also been editor of ''WE Magazine'' and has written for ''Think Quarterly''. ...

's skatepark and

Asha Gond Asha Gond is an Indian skateboarder from Madhya Pradesh. She represented India in the 2018 World Skateboarding Championship and leads a non-profit organisation, Barefoot Skateboarders. The 2021 Netflix film, '' Skater Girl'', is believed to be ...

's rise as one of India's top skateboarders, found similarities between the movie and Gond's life. While Gond was auditioned for the film, director Makijany denied that the movie was about Gond stating, "the film is not a biopic based on anyone's life story nor is it a documentary. It is not Gond or Reinhard's story."

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title Hindi-language Netflix original films 2021 films English-language Netflix original films Indian direct-to-video films 2021 drama films 2020s sports drama films 2020s coming-of-age drama films 2021 directorial debut films Skateboarding films Films about women's sports 2020s feminist films Films set in India Films shot in Rajasthan Films directed by Manjari Makijany