Singapore
Somewhere in Mahesh Bhatt's 1987 release, ‘Kaash’, Dimple Kapadia lets out a heart-rending scream when her teenage son passes away. She is joined in a similar show of grief by her husband played by Jackie Shroff. It is a high melodrama moment, and Bhatt pulls it off well enough, but in the end it is loud, a tad over the top and almost rudely demanding of the audience’s sympathy. Refreshingly, for a similarly themed film, we are spared such moments in R.Balki’s ‘Paa’.
Nothing new about the story at all, but it’s the treatment that’s wonderfully disarming. Balki’s fascination with terminally ill children continues in this ‘dying-kid-reunites-the-
Amitabh Bachchan’s Auro is indeed the star of the film. With a new face, a new voice and a twinkling sense of humor, Bachchan’s Auro is as sensitive as he is precocious and the film’s writers leave all the best lines for him. And they work almost every time. Its Auro’s world that’s so enchanting, so much so that the film could have been entirely about his life, his school friends and his aspirations and worked just as well. But then they all say we need a plot.
So we have the parents Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan,then both students, who find themselves at crossroads in their relationship,when they realize that they have a kid on the way. However, papa wants to be a cool politician and suggests abortion. Mama predictably tells papa not to preach and exits stage left from his life, saying,‘I’m keeping my baby.’ Baby grows up to be Auro, and accidentally meets his father at a school function, thereby unwittingly paving the way for his long estranged parents to reunite. Weirdly enough, for a film advertised as a father son story, it’s actually the boy’s relationship with the ladies in his house, his mother and his grandmother that are more endearing to watch. Bachchan shares crackling chemistry with both Balan and Naag, as well as with the child actor who plays his best friend Vishnu.
But this isn't a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination.
Abhishek Bachchan’s political machinations are distracting after a point and screen time devoted to his battle with the media is wholly unnecessary. An uneven Paresh Rawal, as Auro’s grandfather doesn’t add anything to the proceedings apart from a couple of funny one-liners.
Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s music, while soothing, could have been used to make more of an impact, the violin laden background score notwithstanding.
Cheerful, poignant, sensitive and intelligent, ‘Paa’ is great fun.
Nothing new about the story at all, but it’s the treatment that’s wonderfully disarming. Balki’s fascination with terminally ill children continues in this ‘dying-kid-reunites-the-
Amitabh Bachchan’s Auro is indeed the star of the film. With a new face, a new voice and a twinkling sense of humor, Bachchan’s Auro is as sensitive as he is precocious and the film’s writers leave all the best lines for him. And they work almost every time. Its Auro’s world that’s so enchanting, so much so that the film could have been entirely about his life, his school friends and his aspirations and worked just as well. But then they all say we need a plot.
So we have the parents Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan,then both students, who find themselves at crossroads in their relationship,when they realize that they have a kid on the way. However, papa wants to be a cool politician and suggests abortion. Mama predictably tells papa not to preach and exits stage left from his life, saying,‘I’m keeping my baby.’ Baby grows up to be Auro, and accidentally meets his father at a school function, thereby unwittingly paving the way for his long estranged parents to reunite. Weirdly enough, for a film advertised as a father son story, it’s actually the boy’s relationship with the ladies in his house, his mother and his grandmother that are more endearing to watch. Bachchan shares crackling chemistry with both Balan and Naag, as well as with the child actor who plays his best friend Vishnu.
But this isn't a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination.
Abhishek Bachchan’s political machinations are distracting after a point and screen time devoted to his battle with the media is wholly unnecessary. An uneven Paresh Rawal, as Auro’s grandfather doesn’t add anything to the proceedings apart from a couple of funny one-liners.
Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s music, while soothing, could have been used to make more of an impact, the violin laden background score notwithstanding.
Cheerful, poignant, sensitive and intelligent, ‘Paa’ is great fun.
Paa is fun, no doubt but I believe as a responsible director Balki was expected to do some quality research before he indulged into making film on such a serious and pathetic disease called Progeria. It has been found that the average height of Progeria patients is not more than 3 feet 6 inches, while balki gets 6 feet someone Bachchan to play the Progeric Auro. The patients of Progeria are extremely delicate and fragile and have serious problems in movement since two important signs of progeria are stiffness of joint and hip dislocation. Bachchan is not only seen dancing and playing but also on the back of AB baby. That's pretty interesting. Perhaps balki is showing some news hopes to the world of medicine. Its 'must watch' for all the doctors specializing in this disease.
ReplyDeleteI understand Naag is quite an ultra modern mother (in law), but her reaction towards Abhishek while he calls up at her residence to talk to Auro, is pretty unbelievable. Not even an iota of enrage or grievance is evident in her expressions (for hurting her own daughter) while she converses with the Bachchan junior. I believe she was much overwhelmed and at awe with the fact that her grandson has a good rapport with the most dashing and famous politician of the time.
All in all a good entertainer with some humorous dialogues but definitely not a movie to go crazy about. It can give you some good laugh and may make you shed a few drops of tears at the end, but definitely not a movie you would think about after coming out of the theatre.