Paa (2009)

Powerful

Fresh and Exciting

Admirable film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Paa is a lovely offbeat emotional movie revolving around a character suffering from an extremely rare disease of Progeria (rapid aging of the human body). R Balki's presentation of the story and Paa is very sincere and thoughtful. PROS of Paa1 - No cheap melodrama 2 - Sensitively handled story 3 - Positive portrayal of a progeria-afflicted Auro who is fun-loving and very intelligent 4 -Strong female characters in Vidya Balan & Arundhati Nag5 - Soulful music by the great IlayarajaCONS of Paa1. Auro is supposed to be 12-year old but Amitabh Bachchan is just too tall for that (obviously his casting was deliberate…only to attract more eyeballs no matter how unrealistic it is)2. Abhishek Bachchan is supposed to be a new age politician who wants to see a new India; but, strangely, in a scene he is shown to wish away the corrupt practice of a govt. employee with the logic that if he has given 50 lakh bribes for the job he has to "recover" it (How strange! Or did I miss out on something?)3. When Auro dies in the hospital Vidya is just standing by his bedside and mourning (it'd have been more appropriate if she had rested her head on his body and wept)4. After Auro's death Vidya and Abhishek are sitting outdoor on a staircase consoling each other, while it is raining (How Strange! How odd! What significance does this rain hold?)PS: Felt extremely sad when I read that the cute Taruni Sachdev (Auro's classmate) had died in a plane crash in 2012, in Nepal. I kept on looking at her photos as if I'd lost my own daughter. A sweet life was cut short even before it could develop wings to fly high. Taruni, where ever you are now, you will always be remembered by your near and dear ones, and esp. ME.

There is nothing in this movie which can be enjoyed or admired. The reason i'm going with 2 stars for this movie is only for Amitabh Bachchan's role. I have to be really honest about the movie when it comes to the script. Its totally a big disappointment. Guess what, Vidya Bhalan is a Doctor in this movie and she does an intercourse with Abisheik Bachchan without any security. Where she does her doctorate in this movie without knowing the basis which results to birth of Amitabh. If Amitabh hasn't got any role for this movie then its an absolute flop. No story, No great performance, just waste of time. Don't even recommend your enemies to watch this movie by the way, time is very precious, don't waste it...

After strong recommendations, reviews and mass approvals for this movie, I was slightly disappointed after watching it. No doubt Amitabh Bachhan's (AB) performance was brilliant - largely attributed to his make up and the lisp to talk like a 12 year old. What was disappointing was that the movie lacked emotion. The movie was staged around a 12 year old boy suffering from this rare disease - Progeria, but it failed to give it's central theme more depth and understanding of the character. The boy's life is shown to be perfectly normal, school life is superb with a lot of friends and no social stigma whatsoever. Traditionally you will see this flaw in some other Balki directed movies as well - "Cheeni Kum" wherein you have this extremely happy cancer suffering girl "Sexy". The whole personification of some of his characters lack reality and seem to be overtly precocious. By the end it seemed just like any other Bollywood flick with the only difference being a child born with Progeria.Maybe I was benchmarking the movie to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and in comparison the movie definitely failed. Also, in comparison to the movie "Taare Zameen Pe" which was staged around the central theme of Dyslexia where the character was an 8 year old boy, Paa was not a comparison. While it was a novel idea and a great performance by AB, I felt the movie could have been so much better for the 2.5 hours time that it ran for. Poor dialogues and average music did not make things any better. The great thing was the movie did not waste its time on showing the early romance between Vidya Balan and Abhishek Bachaan, which ideally should have given more time to focus on the central character- 12 year old boy. It should have focused more on challenges faced by the boy, his emotions, his understanding of the disease and the world as seen from his vision.In all, the movie lacks to integrate and have a unified central theme. The only take away from the movie is the brilliant make up done for AB and his performance which truly has no parallel. For only that, I recommend you make time for it and watch.

Before watching the movie, i had really low expectations from this one. I didn't know who the director was. But the movie was superb and one of the best by Big b in recent times. I had expected the movie to be very emotional like Taare zameen par and coming from Mr Balki whom hardly anybody knows the expectations were really low. Mr Balki proved me wrong. The movie touches your heart as TZP. One good thing about the movie was auros character was consistent through out. Amitabh is so effortless in his portrayal of auro. The story starts slow but keep you hooked till the end. Abhishek is first class and looks like he has mastered the supporting roles. Vidhya balan looks so damn pretty in this mature role. Arundhathi nag is natural ( superb ). I would recommend everyone to watch it..