‘Slumdog Millionaire’ at the Oscars got the whole of India euphoric - mainly because Indian talents were being acclaimed, globally . While there was so much hype over ‘Slumdog’, for reasons still being debated, another India-based creation, ‘Smile Pinki’ was quietly basking in the limelight of a new found glory.

While Slumdog portrayed a white man’s lopsided view of the  ‘real’ India --which humiliated several Indians in its wake-- smile pinki  is a touching, real life, ‘ darkness- to- light’ depiction – an experience that can be quite humbling.

‘Smile Pinki’

The documentary ‘Smile Pinki’,  is an enchanting modern day fairy tale about Pinki Kumari, a poor little Indian village girl, who was born with  a cleft lip and palate and whose life  was magically transformed after a simple surgery, made possible by the world’s leading cleft charity ‘ Smile Train’.

The vibrant style of this film’s narration  captures  the true-life  tale  of its  protagonist’s liberation from stigma and shame. Directed by American film maker Megan Mylan, this  film  won  the Oscar for the Best Short Documentary at the 81^st annual Academy Awards .The documentary, made in Hindi and Bhojpuri, is 39 –minutes long and was shot in the villages of Uttar Pradesh and Varanasi in Northern India.

 ‘Smile Pinki’ attempts to throw light on the global problem of cleft lip and palate and also acclaims the work of the plastic surgeon Subodh Kumar Singh. By providing free surgeries, Dr.Singh has been  bringing  smiles on the faces of  poor children with cleft lip and palate.

Pinki’s Story

’Smile Pinki’ is the moving story of a 5-yr old Pinki Sonkar,  who was born to impoverished parents  in   Rampur Dabai of  the Mirzapur District in Uttar Pradesh. To add to her misery she was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate.

Pinky had the misfortune of being born poor in one of the most backward areas of rural India. She also had to live with the burden of being born  a girl, with an embarrassing physical deformity, in a region where a girl child was not as welcome as she should be. It came as no surprise that she was denied school, shunned  and was even ostracized.

 Pinki’s family hardly realized that all  that she  required was one simple surgery for her to  become a ‘normal’ little girl and even if they did, they could hardly afford it. One day they chanced upon Pankaj, a social worker who traveled between villages gathering patients to avail of the free surgery being provided at the hospital in Varanasi thanks to Smile Train, an international charitable organization that focused in helping people with cleft lip and palate.

Pinki’s unilateral complete cleft was operated upon by plastic surgeon Dr Subodh Kumar Singh  and her life was transformed for ever. Dr.Singh says, “Earlier she was very depressed, she wasn’t like a child at all. Now she is like any other eight-year-old,”.

The doctor along with Pinki and her father Rajendar attended the Oscar  ceremony.They also visited  Smile Train’s Head quarters at New York.

 The Smile Train

 The Smile Train, is the world’s leading charitable organization dedicated to helping people with cleft lip and palate. Its goal is to ensure safe and quality treatment  to the millions who can ill- afford it. The charity also aims to continue providing these treatments across India until the problem is completely wiped out.