Taran Adarsh -
Can you ever imagine watching an Amitabh Bachchan film and not watching Amitabh Bachchan in it? Seems impossible, isn't it? The towering persona and the rich baritone just cannot be overlooked. But R. Balki transforms the legendary actor into Auro, replaces the rich baritone with the voice of an adolescent [who's neither grown up, nor a kid] and taps the hitherto untapped talent of the icon.
Trust me, 10 minutes into the film and you forget you're watching Amitabh Bachchan. For, Auro takes over the moment he is introduced to the viewer.
PAA is a simple film told in the most simplistic manner and that's one of the prime reasons why this film works big time. The emotions would've fallen flat had the writing been sub-standard or the execution of the material been humdrum or the actors been inferior. But, thankfully, PAA scores in all three departments, although it must be said that the entire slum redevelopment episode is a complete put-off.
Yet, all said and done, PAA is an outstanding film. A film for every paa, every maa... for everyone with a heart. Take a bow, Auro!
Auro [Amitabh Bachchan] is an intelligent, witty 13-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing. He suffers from progeria. Mentally, he is 13, very normal, but physically he looks five times older.
Inspite of his condition, Auro is a happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya [Vidya Balan], a gynaecologist, but is completely clueless of his father's identity. Till he meets him, Amol [Abhishek Bachchan], who is a full of ideals politician.
Okay, let's not disrespect Balki by calling PAA a rip-off of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON or JACK. It's not! PAA looks at the varied relationships so minutely. It may've been publicized as a father-son film, but the women - mother and granny - play equally pivotal parts.
The first hour of PAA grips you in patches. The introduction of Auro is brilliant, but the moment the story focuses on the politician and his arch rival's sub-plot, it goes off-track. Sure, there are some interesting sequences, but the impact isn't mesmeric.
But the post-interval portions take the film to dizzy heights and camouflages the defects. The father-son bonding and the penultimate 25 minutes raise the bar. The emotional quotient is tremendous. Get ready to overhear a lot of sniffs and see a lot of moist eyes once the lights are switched on.
Read more from HERE
Nikhat Kazmi -
ReplyDeleteAuro says a `Boo' -- and a mighty big one -- to all us skeptics out here who had begun to doubt his ability to entertain after duds like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, God Tussi Great Ho, Aladin...For, it's not any and every 67-year-old actor who can enter the shoes of a pre-adolescent, without looking and sounding awkward and silly. Amitabh Bachchan not only captures the essence of the gawky, geeky, god-he's-different teenager with great skill, he creates a whole new benchmark for an actor to experiment, innovate ad reinvent himself when the career graph seems to plateau. The actor looks different (almost unrecognisable as E.T.'s country cousin), talks different (with a slight nasal twang), moves different (an awkward shuffle that breaks into the Auro dance) and emotes different (mostly through his be-spectacled eyes). End result? Paa is an experience that works, only because it is so different.
The film opens with a somewhat static and diffused first half that lights up intermittently, when Auro is around. Wonder why it takes so long to come to the point....Having been given an award in school by the young, upcoming, friendly neighbourhood neta (Abhishek Bachchan), Auro sends single mom, Vidya Balan into flashback mode. That's because the neta fathered her child and left her to tackle the unwanted pregnancy because he wanted to change the world. Vidya, the archetypal woman of substance, not only carried her pregnancy through, she lovingly nurtured her child after discovering he had a genetic disorder that was causing him to age prematurely. Between them, Vidya and her mother (impressive Arundhati Naag) built a loving and normal world around the young boy who loved King Kong, computers, mirchi and hated kichdi. Trouble begins when Auro unknowingly befriends his dad and requests him for a visit to Rashtrapati Bhawan. Time for some home truths to be told, confessions to be made, repentance to be done and wrongs to be righted. Before time runs out...
More from HERE
Khalid Mohammad liked a film - that too a Bachchan film? Hallelujah!
ReplyDeleteOn the whole, Paa is a beautiful film which will appeal to the city audience mainly. Its novelty and Amitabh’s performance are its tour de force. Although it has taken a slow start, positive word of mouth will ensure that collections in good cinemas of the big cities pick up.AB Corp, Reliance Big Pictures and MAD Entertainment’s Paa is an unusual story of a 13-year-old child, Auro (Amitabh Bachchan), who is suffering from progeria. Although Auro is a school-going kid, he ages very fast due to a genetic disorder, making him look like a 60-year-old.
ReplyDeleteFilm street Journal