In the opening scene of movie SECRET SUPERSTAR , we are introduced
to an arrogant Bollywood music producer
Shakti Kumar. He is judging a children’s
singing competition with a fellow singer.
When she gives points to a kid for being
cute, Shakti flips out and starts cursing her.
He makes the kid cry, commenting
that his cuteness isn’t a talent.
This causes a huge scandal and Shakti is
boycotted from the singer’s association.
The protagonist of the film is a fifteen-year-old
girl named Insia, living with her Muslim family
in the city of Baroda. Her family consists of
father Farookh, mother Najma, and her little
brother Guddu. Farookh beats his wife for the
smallest mistakes and is abusive to Insia as well.
One day, Insia returns from a school trip
and sees her mother wearing sunglasses.
When they are alone, she takes them
off, revealing that she has a black
eye. Najma dismisses it as an accident but her
daughter knows the real cause of the bruising.
She sympathizes with Najma and feels helpless
that she cannot do anything to help her.
The mother and daughter have a bond like
no other. In a household where women are
only taught to cook and clean, Najma has
fought for Insia’s right to go to school.
She has also made Insia a talented singer after
gifting her a guitar when she was only six.
Insia’s dream is to become a professional
singer but she knows as long as her father
is her guardian, it will never come true.
Secret Superstar Full Movie Watch Online
While on the train today, she was told about
an inter-school singing competition where
the winner gets a laptop. She tells Najma
about it and decides to ask permission from
her father when he returns home from work.
To her dismay, Farookh is in a bad
mood because Najma forgot to put
salt in his curry. He throws the plate
in her face and storms into his room.
Insia refrains from asking him about the
competition, afraid to agitate him even more.
This has become a routine for the
family and Insia is tired of it.
She tells her mother to divorce him but Najma
has no money to take care of
herself without her husband.
The following day, Insia returns home from
school to see a laptop on the table. Najma
bought it for her because she was the reason Insia
couldn’t ask her father’s permission yesterday.
Insia celebrates by showing
her mother several things on
the internet. For the next week that
Farookh is away, she is over the moon.
The laptop brings joy to the family whose only
form of entertainment was television till now.
Then, Insia decides to make a youtube video of
herself singing but realizes that if she shows
her face, her father will find out. Upon seeing
her frustrated, Najma suggests she wear a burqa.
That way, the audience can focus on the song
and her father won’t recognize her either.
Insia sings an original song for her first video
and uploads it under the name Secret Superstar.
She waits for views to come in but they never do.
A few days later, Insia gives up on
YouTube and continues on with her life.
But the very next day, she notices that more than
eleven thousand people have watched the video
and all of them are complimenting her voice.
Najma is excited for her but scared that her
husband will get a hint of this. She reminds
Insia to be extra careful on the internet.
The next day, Farookh returns
home from a month-long trip
and sees the laptop. Najma says that it was
a gift to Insia from her uncle in Mumbai.
The man doesn’t ask further
questions, much to their relief.
A few days later, he goes on yet
another trip. As soon as he leaves,
Insia gets on her laptop and
makes a second video. This time,
she sings a self-written song about her
mother which goes viral within a single
day. She starts getting attention from music
producers alongside gaining a lot of followers.
By the end of the month, her face is in the
newspaper. Then, we are introduced to one
of Insia’s classmates named Chintan. He has a
crush on her and has heard her sing for years.
One day, Chintan asks her if
she is the secret superstar
because he noticed they sound similar. Insia
tells him everything and begs him to keep it
a secret. Chintan is happy to help and is
glad that she trusts him enough to share.
At night, Insia is going through her emails
when she sees one from a controversial producer
Shakti. He is struggling to find a singer
for his new song after he was boycotted.
Hence, he asks Insia to come to Mumbai to record
a song for him but she isn’t interested. She has
heard of his controversies and believes that he is
not the ideal person to work with at the moment.
Because Insia’s focus is diverted,
she doesn’t do very well on a class
test. When Farookh finds out about this, he is
furious. He blames her guitar and destroys it,
demanding that she never sing again. In a
fit of rage, Insia retaliates which makes
him more aggressive. In the end, Najma has
to interfere so he won’t hurt her daughter.
The next evening, everyone is getting
ready to go to a relative’s wedding.
Farookh asks his wife to wear a gold
necklace that she was gifted long ago.
But it turns out that she sold the necklace
to buy the laptop for Insia. She pretends to
look for it in the cupboard and is trembling in
fear. Insia finds out about this and suggests
they pretend that it is lost. However, Farookh
hears them talking and discovers the truth.
Rage flashes in his eyes as he declares that
they won’t be going to the wedding today.
Insia realizes her mother is in
trouble and takes the blame herself.
But nothing she says stops him. He slaps his
wife and orders the kids to go inside the room.
Insia holds Guddu in her arms and cries,
unable to hear her mother’s screams.
A while later, the noise stops and
she runs outside to see her mother
on the floor but Farookh is still
not done with her. To stop him,
Insia throws her laptop off the
balcony and begs for his forgiveness.
The mother and daughter watch the broken
laptop, seeing all their dreams and hopes
crush in front of their eyes. For the
next few days, they do not talk to anyone.
Chintan notices Insia’s strange
behavior and cheers her up at school.
A few days later, Farookh
returns home with sweets.
He reveals that he is being transferred
to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and is taking
the entire family. He has even arranged
Insia’s marriage to the son of a friend.
Insia is completely against moving to Riyadh,
let alone getting married at fifteen.
She is especially mad at her mother
because Najma knew Farookh was
planning this but she never told Insia.
Later, Insia is watching the TV when she hears
the news about the music producer Shakti.
He just divorced his wife who has the
best divorce lawyer in the country.
If Insia does a favor for Shakti, he might hook
her up with the lawyer who will help her mother.
The following day, she asks Chintan for his
phone and calls the producer. He is ready to
send her a ticket to Mumbai the next day. Insia
is skeptical because she has never been away from
home without her parents. She feels better when
Chintan promises to arrange everything for her.
The next morning, she packs a Burqa to school
and receives the plane ticket from Chintan
who has printed it out. Upon reaching school,
they sneak out through the window and jump off
a wall. Insia thanks him before running away.
She boards the plane on her own for the
first time in her life. At Mumbai airport,
a sketchy man claims that he is there
to pick her up. Despite being afraid,
she goes with him and reaches the studio
where Shakti and his team are waiting for her.
He welcomes her wholeheartedly,
a complete opposite of how he is
portrayed in the media. However, the song he
wants her to sing is out of her comfort zone.
It is an upbeat song that has many
innuendos where she has to moan.
Shakti sees her struggling and understands she
is not the one for the job but Insia retaliates.
She says that the song sounds like a lewd
version of a song that was supposed to be
about love. Shakti is shocked at
the comment because she is right.
He wrote the song ten years ago and it
was originally supposed to be a melodic
RnB. But since the producers nowadays want party
songs, he modified the lyrics to fit their tastes.
He is ready to fight the producers if Insia
is willing to sing it in its original form.
She agrees and sings beautifully. By the end of
the song, everyone in the studio applauds her.
A while later, Shakti is driving her to the
airport and telling her about the payment. But
Insia stops him, saying that she doesn’t want his
money but his help. She wants to meet his wife’s
divorce lawyer for her mother. Initially, Shakti
doesn’t want to take her to the woman because she
hates him. But on seeing that Insia is desperate,
he arranges an appointment for next week.
Insia returns home by the end of the day
without anyone suspecting her. The next week,
she flies to Mumbai again with Chintan’s help.
Shakti brings her to the lawyer’s office.
Insia tells her everything about
her parents and begs for help.
The woman gives her a file of papers and
asks her to bring her mother’s signature.
If she signs them and goes to the
police, Farookh will be arrested.
From then on, they can not only sue him for
violence but also get a divorce settlement.
In the evening, Insia returns home and tells her
mother about the papers in excitement. But Najma
doesn’t reciprocate it. She is shocked that her
daughter has been flying to a different city.
Moreover, Insia never asked
Namja if she wanted a divorce
like her father never asked her
if she wanted to get married.
Namja feels like everyone makes decisions
for her and she doesn’t own her life anymore.
Insia calls her mother a coward for
not speaking up for their lives.
She stops talking to her, positive
that Najma is at fault for everything.
Then one afternoon, Insia’s aunt calls
her evil for disrespecting her mother.
She reveals that when Najma was pregnant
with her, Farookh wanted to abort the baby.
Najma was beaten and taken to the hospital but
she ran away. She only returned after ten months
with an infant and promised that she would
abort if she got pregnant with a girl again.
Thankfully, she did not, but Insia calling her a
coward could not be further away from the truth.
After finding out what Namja has been through,
Insia is ready to do whatever she says. She
deletes her youtube channel from a cyber cafe
and prepares herself to move to a new country.
Shakti calls her several times and offers
help. He is ready to call the police and child
protective services for her but Insia has made
her decision. Her song is released in a few days
and it creates a sensation. It charts number one
on all platforms, making her an actual celebrity.
Najma is proud of her daughter and is disheartened
that she has to give up on her dreams.
Then, on the last day of school, Insia and
Chintan talk for a long time. In the end,
they say the last goodbyes and separate.
After returning home, the family leaves
for the airport with their luggage.
The first flight they have to take is to Mumbai
and then to Saudi Arabia. At Mumbai airport,
a problem arises because the
luggage is a bit too heavy.
Farookh orders Insia to throw her
guitar away and she does as told.
But then, Najma speaks against her husband
for the first time. She says that they should
keep the guitar because it is Insia’s most prized
possession. An enraged Farookh raises his hand but
she orders him to stop. Taking a long breath, she
says that if he hits her, she will have no choice
but to go to the police. And if he is arrested for
violence, he is sure to lose his job. The better
option for him would be to fly to Saudi on his
own because she and her children are not going.
Farookh is left speechless. He
tries to convince her otherwise but
she brings out the divorce papers and sighs
them. As Insia walks her kids outside,
he follows her behind, begging her to listen. But
in the end, they leave and he has to fly alone.
After that, the family goes to the national
entertainment award where Insia has been nominated
for best singer. Unfortunately, she doesn’t
win the award but is called to the stage as
an honorary guest. While walking to the stage,
she takes her Burqa off, not afraid for anyone
anymore. In the end, she gives a heartfelt speech
about her mother and the movie ends as they hug.
Thank you.
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