Story of UP village girl 'Smile Pinki' wins Oscar

Residents of Dabai village in Uttar Pradesh's Ahura district have a lot to smile about today.

Smile Pinki, based on the life of a girl from the village who was born with a lip deformity, has won an Oscar for best Short Documentary.

Megan Mylan's film depicts the saga of six-year-old Pinki, who becomes a social outcast because of her cleft lip. In the 39-minute documentary, the girl from this obscure Uttar Pradesh village undergoes corrective surgery and gets a normal childhood. The film was shot in Mirzapur and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh.

Elated at the victory, Mylan thanked the eight-year-old girl, who could not smile due to her cleft-lip and was teased as "othkatti' (one with a cut lip) for letting her tell her story.

"Thank you Pinki. Thank you for letting me tell your incredible story," said Mylan while accepting the Oscar.  Pinki then underwent a simple surgery with the help of social workers that almost changed her life. Mylan also thanked the NGO Smile Train, which funded the surgery and Pinki's Los Angeles trip to attend the Oscars.

Mylan also thanked Dr Subodh K Singh, who performed the surgery. Smile Pinki edged past The Final Inch, which was also shot in India and documents the struggle of polio workers as they travel from village to village to administer polio drops under the polio eradication programme of India, to win the award.