Amithabh Bachchan is flawless acting in Paa. But why make him look like extra terrestrial. There was a point in the movie where there were explaining the disease that his character is suffering - Progeria. In the movie itself, when the doctor is explaining, none of the images depicted them as abnormal heads. The children just looked old, why does fiction take undue advantage of medical science.
Sr. Bachchan who plays the character called Auro, I would not be surprised, if we have dolls being sold in Shoppers Stop, Big Bazaar, very soon. But one thing for sure, whenever Auro is in front of the screen, he just lightens up the moment.
This movie it seems like Bachchan Sr. is passing the baton to Bachchan Jr. It is high time, he does that. There is no competition amongst each other, but then there are a only a very few movies of AB Baby that are actually good. Naach, Guru, Sarkar, Sarkar Raaj and now this. Abhishek Bachchan is good political MP; no, this is not an oxymoron, it is the character. To that extent that you can actually see his voter's mark on his middle finger in the movie.
Simple Story. The 12/13/14 year old child suffers from Progeria and the disease brings the parent together. Three different occasions, when the age of Auro has been mentioned differently by different characters. One sincere request, stop comparing the movie to Benjamin Button, it is not! It was actually Robin Williams who was suffering the same disease in the movie Jack. It is not actually the original concept. The execution there are just too many cuts, that too very fast ones. The cuts becomes irritating towards the end. (Reference to Jack on IMDb) Songs are well intertwined and the lyrics bring an amazing soothing effect to the whole scene, last time this feeling seeped into the heart, mind, body and soul, during Taare Zameen Par. Hichki, Hichki and Mere Paa is simple and nice and my favourites.
The movie has its moments, but it just doesn't make you cry. The performance reminds you of Amitabh Bachchan in Black, but then that it was different, that was acting. In Black, when he was smiling, you were laughing, when he was upset, everyone in the theatre had tears in their eyes. Here, he just falls a little short of the getting the audience moved.
The other characters that needs mention is bum, grandmother to Auro played by Arundhati Nag (theatre personality, wife of Anant Nag). She was simply level headed, strong character. She was when faced with moral questions, she would be you take a stand, and you will have my support - that was brilliant. At the same time, the relationship between Paresh Rawal (Dad to Amol Atre) and Abhishek Bachchan does not come out that impactful. But individually there were sound.
Google being subtly being endorsed by Auro. (Tweet) Public Relations angle to the story, creative people need to stop treating like media as you can buy them. It isn't like this always, please do not under-estimate the media as your pawn. The movie does bring out the current affairs element in the movie through redevelopment issues and media being used to create a hype on this.
In short, it is a complete worth it paisa wasool movie for Amithabh Bachchan. I would like to highlight, even though Auro is cute it is not for the kid viewing at the same time.
