Paa Movie Reviews. Taran Adarsh 4 stars. Post all. - Page 2

Review : Paa
(Drama)

Auro, the protagonist of Paa, is a smart 12-year-old boy who has progeria - a rare, horribly disfiguring disease that accelerates aging and will kill Auro by the time he hits his teens.

Director R. Balki, who has also written the script and obviously loves to break paradigms-recall the age-defying romance of his debut film Cheeni Kum - has cast the 67-year-old Amitabh Bachchan as Auro.

Balki has also cast Abhishek, as Amol, Auro's father. But happily, Paa is much more than this gimmicky role reversal. It's tender and moving, and equally, clumsy and melodramatic, especially in the second half but Paa is worth a trip to the theatre.

The first half of Paa moves beautifully.

Balki briskly takes us through the romance between Amol and Vidya, played by Vidya Balan, that leads to Auro. They meet in college. When she gets pregnant, he suggests an abortion because he is ambitious and not ready to shoulder the burden of a family.

She dumps him, has the baby without telling him and raises it with the help of her mother.

Paa has been pitched as a father-son film but what works far better is the mother-son relationship. With a real tenderness, Balki establishes the love a mother has, even for this lumbering boodha baccha, as a character calls him.

But Balki's real triumph as a writer is the character of Auro. There is no trace of self-pity about him. He's witty, charming and pretty acidic when he wants to be. He calls his grandmother Bum because she has a big one.

Unrecognizable under mounds of make-up, Amitabh Bachchan is astounding as Auro. His height is a bit jarring but his slouching shoulders and mischievous eyes more than make up for it. There isn't a discordant note in this performance. Abhishek is also nicely understated as the idealistic politician who finds out, too late, that he has a son. Vidya's character has the least clarity but she manages to bring some heft to it.

The film unfortunately, isn't as smooth. The first half has a few jarring moments - at one point, we detour into Amol's political career, which leads to an unnecessary lecture on media responsibility - but mostly Balki keeps the plot on track.

But then, just like it did in Cheeni Kum, the curse of the second half strikes.

Paa loses its flow. It loses its emotional momentum and starts to feel unnecessarily manipulative and lengthy. I found the other children in the film especially problematic.

Like Sexy, the cancer-stricken girl in Cheeni Kum, Auro's friends are overtly precocious and beyond a point, false. Balki also can't seem to leave well enough alone. Auro's mere presence is tragic.

The sadness of his situation doesn't need underlining but Balki doesn't want to take any chances and he yanks up the melodrama. After Auro's death, as his parents weep, a background song goes: Meri Maa Teri Hai Mere Baad.

These are sizeable bumps but Paa neutralizes them with strong performances, some crackling writing and its ambition.

Clearly Balki and the Bachchans, who have also produced the film, want to push the envelope for Hindi cinema.

Various news reports have suggested that Paa is copied from Francis Ford Coppola's Jack but apart from progeria-stricken protagonists, the films have little in common.

In fact, Paa is better than Jack. I recommend that you make time for it.

http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_Review.aspx?id=459

Filmfare review
http://www.filmfare.com/articles/paa-269.html
Director: R Balki
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal and Arundhati Naag
Quick Take: Take tissue boxes to see this one!

The adman turned film director of Cheeni Kam brings Amitabh Bachchan back on the screen once again with his Paa. And this time he puts the audience through such an emotional wringer that you end up using a whole boxful of tissues. The question you ask when you settle down into the first fifteen minutes of the film is, 'Are you going to be able to eat popcorn when you watch the film?' Laced with many moments of genuine humour, the film deals with a rare genetic disorder called Progeria where the child rapidly ages and dies by the age of 13-14.

Vidya (Vidya Balan, stunning in her designer sarees) and Amol Arte (Abhishek Bachchan, simply stupendous) romance in foreign climes (lovingly shot) and Amol reacts as any ambitious young man would when he realises that Vidya is pregnant. But Vidya returns to India to become a gynaecologist and a single mother to Auro, who is afflicted with Progeria. Vidya's support system is her mother superbly played by Arundhati Naag. Amol in turn becomes a Member of Parliament keen to remove corruption in politics. Auro has a chance encounter with Amol and the two strike a friendship that is very touchingly portrayed. The audience is maneuvered emotionally because we share Vidya and Auro's secret and Amol does not know he is 'dad'. You cry, you laugh, you smile at the scenes where Auro interacts with other kids on screen knowing full well that you are being manipulated. Abhishek Bachchan shines in his restrained performance as a young politician and inadvertent dad, but you wish the political track weren't so stretched. But he makes the neta look - the white linen kurta pajama - look so sexy, you don't mind the stretch at all.

The Amitabh Bachchan we know and love is covered up literally, in prosthetics and bad teeth and although your conscience doesn't let you admit it, the many closeups are a tad creepy (and the constant reminder that he might die any minute ensures that you do not eat popcorn). But if you look hard, you will find in Auro's eyes reasons why Amitabh Bachchan has legions of fans. Auro's connection with the schoolkids make you smile and so do dialogue like 'Google se bachkar kahan jaayega'. The angry young man set a trend of giving his audience the best, the most memorable deathbed scenes, but you wish they'd shorten this one. Oh yes, and ten on ten to Jaya Bachchan who reads the start credits. More manipulation, but we're willing because we like seeing her on screen.

Masand's Movie Review: Paa a heart-felt mother-son story

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan

Director: R Balakrishnan

Like most kids his age, Auro doesn't want his friends to see his mum dropping him off at school. He's not very fond of girls, and most of his jokes involve the potty and what you place on it. In fact, he seems so obsessed with that particular body part he's nicknamed his grandma 'Bum', because she's got a big one.

Auro, of course, is the protagonist of director R Balki's Paa. He's your average mischievous 12-year-old, except for the fact that he has progeria, a rare medical condition that accelerates the ageing process. So although he's only stepping into his teens, Auro has the body of a 65-year-old.

In what can be best described as a casting masterstroke, Amitabh Bachchan steps into the (relatively) small shoes of Auro. Contrary to what the film's marketing conveys, Paa is actually a mother-son story. Vidya Balan plays single-mum Vidya, who raises Auro with some help from her mother, after dumping her selfish boyfriend in college, when he suggests an abortion. Amol (played by Abhishek Bachchan) is not ready for marriage; he is keen to follow his father into politics.

Years later, Amol, who is now a Member of Parliament, accidentally meets Auro at a school event, both oblivious to the fact that they are father and son.

Much in the same vein as the director's previous film Cheeni Kum, the first half of Paa unfolds breezily, with witty dialogue and clever scenes used effectively to establish the characters and their relationships. Steering clear of pity, even in delicate scenes, Balki avoids the obvious pitfalls that come with stories about characters suffering from grim conditions.

There is however, one major speed-bump before intermission, a track in which the young politician Amol launches into a verbal attack on the media. It sticks out in the film because that scenario is so amateurishly scripted and comes off looking embarrassingly self-righteous.

There are more problems in the film's second half when the tone suddenly turns exceedingly manipulative, and several scenes are stretched unnecessarily like the one in a Delhi metro where Auro questions Amol about the futility of having bodyguards.

Despite these hiccups, Paa is ultimately an engaging film because of its largely original writing. One of the best scenes in the film is a hilarious telephone conversation between Auro and a classmate of his, in which the latter explains just how frustrated he is with his father. Most scenes, in fact, between Auro and his buddies at school are a pleasure to watch because of the natural performances Balki is able to derive from his child actors.

Of the cast Arundhati Naag is endearingly warm as Auro's feisty grandmum, and Pratik Katare gets his timing spot-on as Auro's best friend Vishnu. Abhishek Bachchan is a tad smug as the new-gen politician, and tries a little too hard to force the 'coolness' down our throats.

In the end, Paa belongs to mother and son. Vidya Balan delivers her best work since Parineeta, emerging the emotional soul of this film with a graceful, restrained performance that she constructs with minimal help from the script. She strikes up a warm maternal chemistry with Auro and her scenes with him are the film's most heart-felt.

The centerpiece of the action, of course, is Amitabh Bachchan. Under that excellent prosthetic make-up, his baritone replaced by a childish squeaky voice, Bachchan becomes Auro. There is no trace of the legendary 68-year-old star; what you get is a pitch-perfect performance as a gawky but spirited teenager.

PC Sreeram's dazzling cinematography and Illayraja's soothing score help make up for many of the script's flaws, and ultimately contribute to making Paa an easy, enjoyable watch.

I'm going with three out of five for director R Balki's Paa. Few filmmakers stick their necks out to tell difficult and different stories in these days of mindless entertainers making potloads of money. For their intentions alone, the makers of Paa deserve a thumbs-up.

Rating: 3 / 5

"In the end, Paa belongs to mother and son. Vidya Balan delivers her best work since Parineeta, emerging the emotional soul of this film with a graceful, restrained performance that she constructs with minimal help from the script. She strikes up a warm maternal chemistry with Auro and her scenes with him are the film's most heart-felt."

Yay for Vidya. I am glad that she shines!

Sometimes there are just some films with such simplicity and purity that they resonate long after the credits are rolling. Paa is one such film, from the opening scene where school children display their vision of India to the final scene of the climax, one can't help reveling in the uplifting message of love, love and love in the film.

5 Reasons you MUST meet Auro:

1. Amitabh Bachchan. What can I really say here..he is the best of the best of the best of the best! He plays a 13 year-old inflicted with progeria so effectively that at one point my PIC (partner-in-crime) turned to me and said "Wow, how do they make his eyes look so old with all those little marks and that greyness? Oh my god I forgot its Amitabh Bachchan underneath all that makeup!"

2. Abhishek Bachchan. No doubt he is his father's son and has inherited his acting repertoire genetically but Jr AB REALLY owns the film. He is subtle, charismatic and so flawless as the politician Amol Arte its lovely to watch him on screen.

3. Vidya Balan is such a delight as Maa. Flowing through her scenes in Sabyasachi sarees as she loves and spoils Auro, works as a Gynecologist and takes care of her mother, you come to realize that in the perfect role, VB shines like the sun!

4.



The Music




5. Auro's bff Pratik. He's the studious one with the glasses who wants to be a dancer. The exchange between Pratik and Auro on the phone is so precious (and priceless)!

So what you waiting for?!?!

4 mirchies/5.

So hows the movie doing at BO ?

Not very good, but Abhishek seems really happy on twitter.

Paa First Day Business

Saturday 5th December 2009 13.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

Paa grossed a poor 2 crore nett on day one. Mumbai circuit was relatively than other circuits better due to presence of premium multiplexes but collections were still much below expectations. The aprrox first day circuit breakdowns are as follows.

Mumbai -80 lakhs
Delhi/UP - 40 lakhs
East Punjab - 15 lakhs
West Bengal - 10 lakhs
CP Berar - 5 lakhs
CI - 5 lakhs
Rajasthan - 8 lakhs
Nizam - 9 lakhs
Mysore - 12 lakhs
Others - 10 lakhs




The wait is now to see if it can show a big jump in collections on Saturday and Sunday due to positive reports. The weekend will finish in the 7.50 crore nett region if the film has a normal Saturday and Sunday from its Friday business levels.

I am so happy for Vidya Balan! She deserves all the adulation...the girl is a fine actress.

It's a shame to see how a movie like PAA is doing average while senseless movies are doing great at the BO. Utterly disappointing and very saddened by the audience