I love "Paa"

Awesome! It’s that kind of a movie, which dishes out loads of laughter with a garnish of emotional scenes. Children specially seemed to love the antics of Auro, the kid suffering from progeria, played to perfection by Amitabh. And we thought he had done it all!

The most positive part of the movie is that Auro, though grossly different from his other classmates, is wholeheartedly and maturely accepted by teachers and students alike. I wish this could be a reality in this world, where biases based on color, caste, sex, beauty, economical status and about everything under the sun is so common. I dreaded pimples on my face, in fear of being outcast in school! The love and care meted out to Auro by everybody, is so heartwarming that I hope it opens up a new trend of accepting the uncommon or the unfortunate few in our daily life.

Post “Parineeta” I hated Vidya Balan for all her movies. I guess now she has realized that she is not the glamdoll that she attempted to play in some “better-to-be-forgotten” movies. She was good in Bhool Bhullaiya, and even better in Paa. I simply loved her performance! A saree clad, single mother who shuffles between being a gynecologist and a picture perfect mother. Vidya has given a power-packed performance as a mother to a progeric child who tries her best to give him a normal life. The strongest point in the movie is that she is never shown over concerned or fussy. Thank god Karan Johar didn’t do this movie! We would have to bear 5 songs on mother-son relationship and a 45 minute climax with Amitabh speaking for 40 minutes!

Abhishek Bachchan is good, not extraordinary. However if you try to think of someone else who would’ve played the part better, you wouldn’t be successful. Please don’t even think of Shahrukh, he is the best with Karan Johar. Abhishek plays a superhero (fictitious character with super powers!) in the film. He is shown as an uncorrupt and “love my nation politician.” Paresh Raval plays his dad. Even I could’ve played it. I guess it is one of the silliest and simplest roles of his career. Most of his dialogues revolve around convincing baby Bachhan to get married. There was once funny incident. In one scene he asks Abhishek, “Are you Gay?” The whole theatre burst out laughing, but not for this dialogue. A small girl in the theatre asked “Momma what is Gay?”

A special mention goes to the kid who has played Vishnu, Auro’s best friend in the movie. He is a laughter riot.

Amitabh has excelled all his previous performances by playing 12 year old Auro. Not once does his image overpower the character Auro. His one-liners are truly hilarious and the chemistry with his grandmother is very sweet. His body language and behaviorism is so much like a school boy, that as the movie progresses you forget that you are watching Amitabh. R. Balkrishnan (Balki) has been a brave and exceptional director for picking up a great subject and taking on this wonderful father-son duo. Watching Abhishek play Amitabh’s father surely added to the magic. Balki has conveyed the message about the disease in an exceptionally smooth manner.

I loved Paa for the father-son, mother-daughter, mother-son relationships portrayed, for the school-life shown, for the never give-up human spirit, for the music and for Auro. I loved the movie for Amitabh. The hours of daily effort of BigB and the makeup team in preparing Auro has paid-of well.

Paa is a landmark in Indian cinema and will be one of the movies fondly remembered ever after.