Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan in Paa
STARRING – Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Paresh Raval and Vidya Balan
Director – R Balakrishnan
Producer - Sunil Manchanda
Having ruled Bollywood for almost four decades, it may be extremely difficult for any film maker to make a film with Mr. Bachchan without it getting overshadowed by his larger than life persona. What director of Paa, R Balki has managed to do with a great success is that he has differentiated Amitabh Bachchan with his character of Auro in Paa. With Amitabh Bachchan portraying a boy, who is neither a child nor an adult to the utmost perfection, you tend to forget that you are actually seeing the legendary actor and just remember the character on the screen.
This is a very simple story told in an equally simple manner. But probably, it is right there where the film scores. It is not only a simple film, executed in a most wonderful way but with all actors giving a wonderful performance, makes it a treat to be watched.
Paa narrates the story of an intelligent 13 years old boy, Auro [Amitabh Bachchan] with an extremely rare genetic defect progeria, which makes him look five times older than he actually is. But irrespective of what his physical condition is, Auro enjoys his life to the fullest. He stays with his mother Vidya, (Vidya Balan) a gynaecologist and is totally unaware of his father until he meet Amol [Abhishek Bachchan], who is a full of ideals politician.
Paa looks at varied human relationships to their very depth. It not only shows a father-son relationship but also Auro relations with his mother and grandmother in the most wonderful way.
The initial one hour of the film which talks about Auro, his life and problems hooks you to the film. But, unfortunately Paa is not another Taare Zameen Par, which told the story of dyslexia from beginning to end without diverging from the message that they wanted to convey. Paa on the other hand loses its track when it starts talking about political rivalry.
But, the film tends to get back to track in the last hour. The sequences of emotional bonding and other scenes in the latter of the movie that talk of father-son relation make you feel as if you are watching a typical Hindi movie with a lot of emotion and rona-dhona. Apart from the father-son relation, there are some other scenes as well that touch you deep down your heart.
Yet, contrary to what you may think, Paa remains a film, which has a lot of fun in it. Some of the lighter moments in the film where Paa talks with his friends has been filmed beautifully and have their own significance in balancing the film.
The director R Balki needs to be complemented for not only getting you hooked to the film but showing the character of Auro in such a way that you tend to forget any drawback the film may have.
Of course, as it has been already said and written in great depth, the make-up man who has helped Amitabh Bachchan do his make-up needs a special mention for his remarkable job. The music of Ilaiyaraaja and .P.C. Sreeram’s cinematography are also extremely good and need to be complemented for their work.
This is one film that has been in the news from the time it started because of Mr. Bachchan’s portrayal of a 13-years-old boy. As expected, Mr. Bachchan has played his character so well that when his profile will be written, the character of Auro will get a special mention in it. Along with Mr. Bachchan, both Abhiskek Bachchan and Vidya Balan also have given superb performance in the film. Other actors like Paresh Rawal, Arundhati Naag and Jaya Bachchan have done justice to their respective roles
On a whole, Paa is a good film which will be remembered mainly three reasons. First a different story, second a remarkable performance by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and last but surely not the least for the fact that in times when most films have a massive budget of more than 100 crore. Paa is made from a meager 17 crore, which it will surely recover come what may.
Image Source: hindiway2movies
