Paa -- Review

Film: “Paa”; Cast: Amitabh

Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal; Director: R. Balakrishnan - Watch ‘Paa’ for Amitabh and Vidya Balan’s performances.

The Paa Movie Review or in short story of Paa Movie or role of Amitabh Bachan in Paa are provided here. Paa, the Hindi bollywood movie has been released worldwide on December 4th, 2009. R.Balakrishnan is d

irector of the movie and it is produced by Sunil Manchanda under AB Corps banner. The movie revolves around the unique relationship between father and son that inspires human emotions in an amazing manner. The Paa Movie cast includes Amitabh & Abhishek Bachan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal and Arundhati Naag. The music is composed by Illaiyaraja.

Director R. Balki, who has also written the script and obviously loves to break paradigms-recall the age-defying romance of his debut film Cheeni Kum - has cast the 67-year-old Amitabh Bachchan as Auro.

This movie depicts a peculiar ailment i.e. Progeria -- a medical condition which leads to premature ageing of a child, is purely incidental, it doesn't change the course of the story or influence the actions of those who surround him.

As opposed to Aamir Khan's sensitive Taare Zameen Par, which presented some succinct points on the subject of dyslexia, Balakrishnan doesn't try to educate the viewer about Progeria's symptoms or impact. This, as it turns out, is a good thing, considering the narrative already has blobs of some unnecessary sub-plot to contend with.

Auro’s character is well-etched and Amitabh has certainly presented a new challenge for his colleagues by slipping under the skin of a 13-year-old with wrinkles, cataracts and no hair so convincingly. Not even once does his megastar image overshadow his character.

Amitabh’s make up is such that it doesn’t give him much room to use his facial muscles. Despite that he conveys every emotion he is going through and as the movie progresses one feels a connect with Auro.

In the performance department both

Amitabh and Vidya Balan, who plays his single mother, complement each other.

Vidya has given a power-packed performance as a woman who single-handedly raises her progeric child and try to give him a normal life — she is never shown over concerned or fussy. Amitabh and Abhishek’s scenes together are both funny and emotional.But the film has flaws too. Abhishek is portrayed as an ambitious young politician. Balki takes a pot shot at the media by showing that TV journalism is manipulated, but it doesn’t look convincing at all.

Jaya Bachchan is the surprise package of the film. She appears on the screen to introduce the cast and the crew.

Review

The first half of Paa moves beautifully.

Balki briskly takes us through the romance between Amol and Vidya, played by Vidya Balan, that leads to Auro. They meet in college. When she gets pregnant, he suggests an abortion because he is ambitious and not ready to shoulder the burden of a family.She dumps him, has the baby without telling him and raises it with the help of her mother.

Paa has been pitched as a father-son film but what works far better is the mother-son relationship. With a real tenderness, Balki establishes the love a mother has, even for this lumbering boodha baccha, as a character calls him.

After the superb make up it is very difficult to make out Amitabh Bachan’s character as AURO. Being a politician Abhishek Banchan is unaware of the fact that he has a son. Vidya's character has the least clarity but she manages to bring some heft to it.

The film unfortunately, isn't as smooth. The first half has a few jarring moments - at one point, we detour into Amol's political career, which leads to an unnecessary lecture on media responsibility - but mostly Balki keeps the plot on track.

Paa loses its flow. It loses its emotional momentum and starts to feel unnecessarily manipulative and lengthy. I found the other children in the film especially problematic.

But let's not mistaken Paa to be a rona-dhona movie. It's a positive film with funny/light moments in plenty. The conversation between Auro and his best friend, on various occasions, are superb. Also, not once does Paa show Auro as 'different'. He's one among the kids and there's no discrimination whatsoever, which is remarkable.

Director R. Balki should be saluted for thinking out of the box and writing the script and also for presenting Amitabh Bachchan like never before. Hats off to the make of Auro.

Paresh Rawal is effective. Arundhati Naag is amazing. So is the kid, Pratik, enacting the role of Auro's best buddy. His telephonic conversation with Auro is superb. Jaya Bachchan's presence is lovely. On the whole, Paa is an amazing experience. It makes you realize two things. One, the Hindi film industry is also capable of narrating fresh stories. Two, Amitabh Bachchan is truly the most accomplished actor this side of the Atlantic.

Talking from the business point of view, Paa has been made in a sensible and reasonable budget [approx. Rs. 17 crores, including P & A expenses], which should easily be recovered from multiplexes alone. In the final tally, here's a film that should win awards [for Auro] and also box-office rewards, given its low costs. A film that should strike a chord with every paa, maa... just about everyone with a heart!