The MisEducation of Bindu

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

The MisEducation of Bindu is the next installment in an unintentional string of excellent female-driven coming of age comedies. Produced by the always endearing Duplass brothers and written and directed by Prarthana Mohan, this movie offers something that its predecessors did not – a completely unique perspective. Not only is Bindu (Megan Suri) a fifteen-year-old girl, but she’s Indian and struggling to navigate the murky waters of high school and her mother’s pretty impressive sex life. The MisEducation of Bindu is not a film that was made for everyone, but one that everyone should see. Even when it stumbles, it bounces back with the vigor of its own fed up protagonist.

The film starts as any good coming of age tale should, by subjecting the main characters to the soundscapes of her mother Kasturi (Priyanka Bose) and stepfather Bill (David Arquette) doing…each other. The following morning Bindu, still disturbed by her parents’ symphony, only experiences deepened turmoil when she discovers that her facial moisturizer is in fact vaginal lubricant. This opening exchange sets the tone for the entire movie, which is consistently funny and heartwarming even as Bindu gradually loses some of her charming naivety.

Bindu, expertly portrayed by young actress Megan Suri, finds herself subjected to more turmoil as her day goes on. Her locker is vandalized by bullies, her clothes are ruined, she runs into the boy’s bathroom, destroys a client’s homework and crashes into an unlikely ally named Peter (Philip Labes). Her day can’t even improve after a restroom pep talk witnessed by equally quirky Holly the Head (Hannah Alline). The drama and the trauma reach a summit though when Bindu decides take control of her future. After years of trying and failing to get her mother to sign a slip granting her freedom to take the last test standing between her and escaping high school, Bindu decides to forge the document. Harboring resentment for her loving and goofy but misguided stepfather (he encouraged her matriculation into public school) and her mother for ceasing the homeschooling she’d once gone through, Bindu quickly rids herself of guilt over her rebellion.

Bindu’s journey doesn’t stop when she decides to disobey her mother. In fact, this is where it begins. In order to take the test Bindu must purchase the exam for fifty-seven dollars and change – a sum of money not many high schoolers can instantly cough up, especially without parental financing. Thus, begins the seven-school period long saga of collecting cash through deceit, selling homework, smoking weed and…finding herself with the help of a motley crew of stoners, promiscuous girls, helmet wearing oddballs and stringy nerds.

The MisEducation of Bindu is more than a comedy joyride through teen rebellion. It’s an exploration of life for teenage immigrants trying to blend in and mend their wounds at the same time. There’s an equal balance of belly laughs and chest pains. The film does a good job at painting Bindu’s pain without sitting on it for too long and that makes the film feel all the more real. The heartache of adolescence is always there, but life starts moving too fast to dwell on it.

Bindu is an Indian immigrant living in America – a character seldom seen on the big screen, though women like her are so desperately needed in media. This is why the MisEducation of Bindu is a fresh spin on an aging trope. This movie is a topical, heartwarming look at what our kids go through, no matter where they are or where they come from.