Bollywood: Don't 'Paass' on one of the year's best

Dec 8 2009 Uxbridge Gazette

Devansh Patel discovers Paa is a thoughtful and moving but still entertaining film with a stand-out performance from its lead.

THIS features the Indian industry's first ever role reversal - a real-life father and son switching roles. Amitabh Bachchan plays a 13-year-old, and son Abhishek plays his dad. What more could drag you to the nearest cinema and buy a ticket to a film titled Paa? The answer is - simplicity with a touch of laughter and emotion.

Paa is the story of Auro, who suffers from Progeria, a rare genetic condition which causes him to age five times faster than a normal child. Although he is physically ageing, mentally, Auro functions like a normal teenager.

He is brought up by his mother Vidya (Vidya Balan), who is a gynaecologist, and grandmother who, surprisingly, is called Bum by Auro. Why? Auro says: "Because she has a big bum."

If there is one person who isn't a part of his life, it is his father. Enter Amol (Abhishek Bachchan) who is a young and dynamic member of parliament.

Unaware that Auro is his son, Amol is invited to Auro's school as a guest to present an award to the finest creativity shown by a student.

A blank white globe with no map impresses Amol. He wants to know the name of the kid behind this thought-provoking idea. It had to be Auro.

During a flashback the film shows you the fast-paced romance of Amol and Vidya in Cambridge, where they both were pursuing their political and medical careers.

After a while, Vidya informs Amol that she is pregnant. The soon-to-be politician isn't happy and advises her to abort the baby.

Vidya leaves for India and settles down with her mother and the lovers go separate ways.

Back to the present, and Auro isn't impressed with political figures. He thinks they are a bunch of liars. And it stands true when he is disappointed by an unkept promise made by Amol that he will take him to see the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the president of India.

What follows is an inspiring, uplifting, fun-filled and a tear-jerking journey of Auro, Amol and Vidya's reunion.

The result is an astounding performance that clearly shows Amitabh Bachchan's dedication to the art of acting.

His work is honest, insightful, and compassionate, and Paa may very well be the film that finally gets him that shining black statuette (the Filmfare award) back, which he rightly deserves.

Paa is a solid film with clear intentions - to thoughtfully entertain. If you walk out of Paa and are not moved then you are missing a little soul.

Here, as Auro, Bachchan glitters, with a sweet smile, a light touch, a sense of joy and adventure in the way he lives his life.

What makes Paa interesting is that there is no sorrow for Auro. He is happy even when he knows that he isn't going to live long.

He has the best of friends in school who play cricket, do their 'monkey dance' and have random opinions on fatherhood, politicians and the subjects they study in school. Paa is enlivening and unusually effervescent.

Balki, the director, needs a special mention. His second venture is a winner all the way. He directs Paa with zest and zing leaving the audiences fresh until the credits roll. The screenplay is filled with one-liners from all the characters and the dialogue is intellectual and funny.

In fact, the film moves at such an electrifying pace that editing becomes the only department where the film falters. But that is just a mere spot on a canvas filled with refreshing colours.

Auro's private life - his relationships with his mother, grandmother, father, and friends - comes across as realistic.

The film is as much a joy to watch as it seems it was to make. It's filled with so much vitality, charged by Balki's inner conviction to bring this story to the screen, that one comes away admiring the film-making while feeling deeply touched by the fiery life at the film's centre.

Music maestro Illayaraja weaves his magic once again. The background score keeps playing in your head like an after-shock.

More than the soundtrack, it is the background score which comes out as a winner.

Amol is versatile and indefatigable, and he is hell-bent on cleaning the corrupt system. But underneath a responsible politician lies an equally responsible person.

What defines a parent? Is it the amount of intellectual maturity displayed or the level of love given? Such is the question posed in the climax of Paa.

Vidya Balan is a surprise, as to play a mother to Amitabh Bachchan is more difficult than to play his wife. It requires maturity, affection, responsibility, commitment and an undying love towards your child. All of which is reflected in Vidya's performance.

It's her finest work since she made her debut, a class act. Paresh Rawal and Arundhati Naag enact their roles superbly. To everyone: please get prepared to view the miraculous gift of a performance Amitabh Bachchan delivers in Paa - a gift to his profession, to his audience, but, most of all, to himself.

There is no Amitabh Bachchan in this film - no sense of an actor acting since there is no ego, no self-awareness, no flamboyance... nothing. There is only the child he portrays, and it's a performance worth viewing a thousand times.

A performance so strong that you want to touch the actors' feet and say, 'We're blessed'.

Full of both passion and purpose, Paa is clearly one of the year's best films.

Go along not just to see an actor at the top of his game, but to witness an uplifting and an inspiring story. It will be one of the highest grossers in the overseas market this year.