Secret Superstar
Secret Superstar is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film written and directed by Advait Chandan, and produced by Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao under the studio Aamir Khan Productions.[3][4][5] The film stars Zaira Wasim, Aamir Khan, Meher Vij and Raj Arjun.[6] The film tells the coming-of-age story of a teenage girl who aspires to be a singer, uploading videos on YouTube while disguising her identity with a niqab, and her relationships with her mother, father and mentor.[7] The film deals with social issues including feminism, gender equality and domestic violence.[8]
The film received overall positive reviews from critics.[9] Wasim won the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement.[10] Secret Superstar received ten nominations at the 63rd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Chandan, Best Actress for Wasim, and Best Supporting Actor for Khan. It won three Filmfare Awards, including Best Actress (Critics) for Wasim, Best Supporting Actress for Vij, and Best Playback Singer (Female) for Meghna Mishra.
Secret Superstar became one of the most profitable films of all time, grossing ₹965 crore ($154 million) worldwide on a limited budget of ₹15 crore (US$2.0 million), with over 6,000% return on investment (ROI). The film is also the highest-grossing Indian film featuring a female protagonist, the highest-grossing 2017 Hindi film, the fourth highest-grossing Indian film worldwide, and the second highest-grossing Indian film overseas. In China, it is the fifth highest-grossing foreign film of 2018, and the second highest-grossing non-English foreign film ever (after Dangal).
Insia Malik, a 15-year-old girl, lives with her Gujarati Muslim family in Baroda: mother Najma, brother Guddu, paternal grandmother, and father Farookh who often beats his wife. Insia is very passionate about singing but her father is against her dream of being a singer.
She records a song wearing a niqab, so Farookh can’t find out her identity, and uploads the video on YouTube under the name of ‘Secret Superstar’ using the laptop gifted by Najma. She becomes an overnight sensation and grabs the attention of Shakti Kumar, a talented but pretentious music director based in Mumbai. He requests Insia to record a song, but she refuses as she hears a lot of negative reviews of him. Due to her poor academic grades, Farookh rips out all the strings from her guitar.
The next night, after discovering that Najma sold a valuable necklace to buy Insia’s laptop, Farookh thrashes her and tells Insia to throw out the laptop. Insia gets so angry that she snatches the laptop and drops it from the balcony where it falls and shatters on the street. Insia persuades Kumar to arrange a meeting with his ex-wife’s lawyer. The lawyer prepares papers for Najma to sign, and gives them to Insia. After fleeing from school to record a song for Kumar, she is unable to sing a certain party song. Insia tells this to Kumar who reveals that it is a remix. He tells her about the original version which was launched ten years ago. After singing the original song, her fame grows and she is nominated for the Best Female Singer.
