Netflix's Movie Review: 'Pihu'

Pihu is a movie like no other. It is intense and keeps viewers watching every single minute because they don't want to miss anything the two-year-old girl is doing, while she is left alone in a house with her dead mother.

It took directors and producers three years to finish the Bollywood film, which features Myra Vishwakarma, who plays Pihu, in the major role. Voices are heard, but the only actor is the toddler. The 2018 film is based on a two-year-old baby girl, who was left in a house with both parents dead in New Delhi 2014. Myra was only 29 months old when the shooting began, and she did not have to audition for the film's solo part. Her parents are friends of the writer.

Writer-director Vinod Kapri wants people to know that Pihu is not a horror movie. Instead, it is a social thriller that is now on Netflix. Once you start watching it, you will probably see all of it to find out how it ends.

About the movie

When the movie first starts, the child searches through the big high-rise apartment, going up and down the stairs calling out for her father and mother. Her father is away at a conference, and her mother has died from an intentional dose of sleeping pills.

Throughout the movie that lasts one hour and 29 minutes, the toddler tries to wake her unresponsive mother. When she is not trying to wake her, she explores the spacious apartment, which is extremely messy from the child's second birthday party that was held the night before.

The girl goes up and down the stairs to different rooms to entertain herself. She goes to the bathroom and brushes her teeth and uses the bathroom. One of the more intense scenes is when she goes to the kitchen in search of food. She finds a roti, which is a piece of Indian flatbread. The girl has a hard time opening the microwave. She touches difference buttons until it finally opens. She pushes the buttons over and over until the microwave starts with a time of 19 minutes. Needless to say, when the child finally gets the appliance opens she sees that the roti is burnt to a crisp.

Then she finds a slice of bread and puts it on the flames after she turns knobs on the stove. The toast is also burned. She tries several times to open the refrigerator door. When it opens, she sees a piece of cake that was left over from her party. She sits on the floor and eats some it. After she gets bored, she takes everything out of the refrigerator and the unthinkable happens. She sits down in the refrigerator and the door closes. Viewers saw the refrigerator shaking and heard her screams. In the next scene, she is trying to stop water from coming out of the faucet. She finally gives up and leaves the water flowing for the duration of the movie.

If you are keeping track, the sink is overflowing, flames are still burning on the stove, and the kitchen floor is a complete mess. There are a lot of other dangerous things that happen throughout the movie as the child entertains herself when she is not trying to wake her mother. She puts makeup on herself and on her mother's lifeless face.

Whenever the phone rings she says, "Hello" and puts it to her mother's ear.

One might think this is a boring silent film, but it is not. There are sounds from the beginning to the end. The television is on until a fuse is blown and it is not operating. Pihu plays with her toys that are noisy. Her mother's telephone ring dozens of times and people come to the door on several occasions, but the child ignores them. Besides, there are times when Pihu cries, laughs, giggles, and talks to her mother and on the telephone when people call.

First of all, the child could work only two hours a day because of child labor laws. Writer Vinod Kapri and his team did a fantastic job with this emotional thriller film. It is extremely intense, but it is worth watching. It is first of its kind to have someone that young acting throughout the film. That's why Kapri submitted it to the Guinness World Records for being unique with a toddler as the only lead. This has never happened in any other movie.

Kapri said making the movie wasn't easy because you cannot teach a toddler how to act. He said he and his team were successful because they had cameras all over the apartment and made footage of her doing things in her normal environment. He added that he spent two months with the child and her family so she would think of him as part of the family. The filming crew stayed with the family two weeks so the toddler could get to know them as uncles and aunts.

The writer allowed the child to her own toys and wear her own clothes. Furniture and appliances were used from her own household, so she would be familiar with them. The scene where Pihu is perched on her balcony is scary but safe. The writers used that part because the child has a habit of going on her own balcony and yelling out to people below.

Watch the film that has that is on Netflix and see what you think about it. Yes, it is intense and you can't multitask while watching it because you don't want to miss seeing how the little girl escapes danger after danger.