Still Smiling

Mylan is now on a fortnight-long road trip across India to promote the film through discussions about cleft lip surgeries. “Winning the Oscar was like a warm embrace and I am determined to put the glow of the award into action. I feel it is my responsibility to spread the social message behind the film to a wider audience,” says Mylan,biting into her sandwich at The Park,turning away from the camera when we request her to pose.

Dressed casually in a satin top and capris,Mylan calls her initiative a “social hard-selling drive”. “The best way to convince an urban and educated audience about cleft lip deformities is to screen the film in a theatre,” she adds. The last time she took a similar road trip was in the US in 2000 for her Emmy-nominated film Lost Boys of Sudan. “ Lost Boys.. raised over a million dollars for Sudanese refugee education funds. Though two weeks is too short to quantify the monetary impact of Smile Pinki,I intend to set the ball rolling,” she explains. In the past few days,she has discussed issues related to cleft lips with a variety of people,from corporate honchos to socialites in Mumbai,Chennai and Bangalore .

Mylan has coordinated her five-city tour with the film with Dr Subodh Kumar from the Smile Train project. The film has premiered in Mumbai,Chennai and Bangalore and will be screened for a week at PVR Plaza ,Connaught Place ,from October 23.

The trip also gave Mylan a chance to catch up with Pinki Sonkar and another child actor Gutroo for the first time after the Oscar awards ceremony. “It was great to see Pinki doing well in school. She is the reason I am here and I am glad that I could bring some light in her life,” says Mylan,who will visit Varanasi soon to screen the film at Pinki’s village.

Then,she will leave for Brazil to complete her next film on race discrimination in South America . There are no plans for another film on India .