Movie Review: Paa

THIS Paa NEEDS A Maa

PAA

*ing Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan & Vidya Balan

Lyrics: Swanand Kirkire

Music: Illiyaraja

Writer & Director: R Balki

There are 2 great performances in Paa and no, it is not Amitabh or Abhishek I’m talking about here. But more on that later.

As most of you may already know this movie is about Progeria, which after dyslexia & tsunami should be the new word for eager middle class Indians to drop at parties with that familiar propensity to be a Mr. know-it-all.

Anyway the director Balki in only his second film (after the underrated Cheeni Kum) shows that he is a very very good writer above all else. The wit and humour he is able to extract from everyday conversation in very reminiscent of Cheeni Kum. Remember the scene where after being wooed by an older man, Tabu asks him to run across a park and run back. And when a panting Amitabh asks the reason behind it she smilingly says “I just wanted to be sure you still have the energy for sex.”

And sex (pre-marital and un-protected) is what the couple in Paa have, which leads to a demand for an abortion + anger = single motherhood and all that jazz...

Anyway Paa also has some very funny lines which are woven so well into the conversation that you can only wish directors like Priyadarshan and David Dhawan would pay attention and pick up a few tips. Comedy without being silly or corny or slap-stick or crude. What a bloody relief.

But then Balki does have his drawbacks too. There is a completely unnecessary and high-pitched rant at the media involving Abhishek as the yuppie M.P. with a segment at Doordarshan that looks so amateur and silly that you wonder how this fool ever got elected in the first place. His look seems to have been modeled on Rahul Gandhi but his maturity and behaviour on Laloo Yadav. Such a waste.

Performance wise, Abhishek doesn’t have much to do in the movie and what little is required of him he delivers.

Now while the Indian media have been going gaga over Amitabh’s performance it should be worth noting that while it is certainly very very good, it isn’t great by any standard. In Bollywood we are cursed with so much of crap that Mediocrity sometimes gets mistaken for Genius.

The boy, Auro is supposed to be about 12 and while he acts like one, he sometimes talks like a much older man. It maybe to get the story moving or to inject some humour but clearly some things he says and does are not what a normal 12 year old would say or do. Progeria I checked (googled) accelerates the physical ageing of the person but certainly not his mental maturity.

But like always we do tend to favour any kind of work which involves a physical handicap. Hollywood stars have known it for years and Bollywood seems to be catching up too. It’s to Amitabh’s credit that Auro stops just short of being gimmicky but as far as portrayals of children go, I’d give higher marks to Hrithik in Koi Mil Gaya.

Now coming to the 2 best performances I spoke about in the beginning.

First of all its Vidya Balan in what must be her best performance since Parineeta. Infact I’d rate it even higher coz there the script was tailor made for her. Here her character graph is sketchy at best. She essentially has a 2 dimensional role to play. Jilted Lover & Doting Mother.
So it is to her entire credit that she fleshes out the character so well that instead of the Father-Son movie that this movie’s tag line suggests it is, it instead becomes more of a warm and touching mother-son story. Whenever she is with Auro you can literally feel the maternal love coming out of every pore. And she is supported here by the very touchingly real portrayal of an adoring grandmother by the lady called BUM (I didn’t get her name) who I last remember seeing in Dil Se.

The other great performance is by Jaya Bachchan. Clearly a doting mother and for Abhishek’s first movie as producer, she comes on screen for about 2 minutes and does nothing but sit down and read out the credits. So it’s like..... “Costume Designer. Sabyasachi Mukherjee. Music Director. Illayaraja. Lyrics. Swanand Kirkire”..... and so on but then again it is to her immense talent as an actress that she makes that interesting with just that little smile here and a nod there. What a great actress.

And just for her and Vidya, this movie would have been so much better off being call Maa instead.

The Paa is a bumbling fool. But Maa, as always is all heart.

Afterall, Tujhe Sab Hai Pata Hai Na Maa…..

Certainly worth a watch.


Luv

Vishal