Paa - Movie Review

Note: Has a read-along clip like all the blogposts. Original, like all of them.

I liked many things about the movie - I disliked some. The many things that I liked have already been mentioned in the newspaper reviews. So, even if this review sounds very negative, I haven't disliked the movie as much as I make it sound in this review.

Cutting a long story short, Amitabh Bachhan has delivered a memorable performance in Paa. He is very endearing. Jaya Bachhan at the beginning is a good surprise. Though I really didn't understand why she was sharmaoing with the lihaaz of a naveli dulhan ('newly-wed' for my English medium reader friends) when she was taking names of the team members of the film. Vidya Balan also stands out as the mother. She is amazing in some scenes. The actor who plays the grandmother is very good too.

When I heard the songs for the first time, I thought the "mudi-udi-judi-kudi" series of songs were quite irritating. After watching the movie, the songs sound quite good and they are the kind of songs which you start liking after you have seen them in the context of the film. Paresh Rawal, I really did not quite notice him at all.

The first fifteen minutes are gripping - extremely entertaining. The speed drops towards the end and the climax is very predictable because it comes directly from Kal ho naa ho/Anand or many Ekta Kapoor serials. Overall, the movie is entertaining in parts.

Some dialogues that one will remember come from Auro - the ones like 'kisi ke personal emails nahi padhte...' or the dialogues between Auro and his friend Vishnu. Quite endearing. Some dialogues are outrageously funny. Btw, I thought people needed to be above 18 years of age to have an email address. Auro chats and shares his webcam on the internet - parental discretion ko pack karke maale pe rakh diya kya?

I have one question regarding the movie. Would the 'performance' and the film receive the attention it has had Auro not been a person battling progeria? Because according to me, the movie and its story would not have been any different if Auro had been a patient of some 'conventional' life threatening disease. So, do the story-makers bring in the progeria angle just to gain sympathy/attract attention because of the uniqueness? If it is either, I think it is not a very good thing to have done.

And it would not be a very good thing to happen if filmmakers keep unearthing newer/rarer physical/mental ailments just to repeat the (Bhansali's) Black-like charm.

Apart from this, I don't have any concerns about the movie. It may make a one-time good watch.

Aamhi secular jhaalot - We are secular now

Dedicated to a friend Priyanka Kulkarni who encouraged me to write a post in Marathi.

This one is among my very few attempts in Marathi. I do not belong to any political party, by the way.

I have also put stanza-wise English translation. But a poem is best read in the language it is written in.

शिवाजी महाराजांनी अफझल'खाना'चा वध केला

हे आता इतिहासाच्या पुस्तकात म्हणता येत नाही,

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

( We cannot say in history books now,

that Shivaji Maharaj killed Afzal'Khan'..

Because, we are secular now.. )

आम्ही भेद मानत नाही.. पण विसरून जातो..

की भेद ना 'मानण्या'तच भेदाच्या अस्तित्वाची स्वीकृती असते..

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

( We don't consider differences but forget,

That by not 'considering' differences, we are accepting their existence.

Because, we are secular now...)

मरणारा शेतकरी पाहून कंटाळून गेलोय...

राजपुत्राला cycle वरुन जाताना पाहण्यात दंग आहोत आम्ही....

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

(We are bored to see the dying farmer,

We are busy watching our prince riding a cycle.

Because, we are secular now..)

सूत-पुत्राला बाण मारण्यापासून रोखले गेले असेलही एकेकाळी..

आता आमच्या मुलांची हक्काची आयुधे हिसकावून घेतली जाऊ देतोय आम्ही..

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

(People may have stopped Soot-putra from shooting an arrow..

But now we are OK with people snatching away the arms that our children deserve,

Because, we are secular now..)

मूर्त्या आणि हाइवे-वरची होरडिंग्स पाहून आम्हाला फारसे काही वाटत नाही.

आम्हीही झुकून कुर्निसात्त करतो, तो हक्क आहे त्या परिवारचा

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

(Statues and hoardings on highway, we are fine with them,

We also bow in front of them, that family has that right on us..

Because, we are secular now)

आम्ही secular झालोत...

आम्ही फरक मानत नाही.

कारण तो फरक आता आम्हाला दिसतच नाही..

कारण.. आम्ही secular झालोत...

नव्हे, आम्ही aandhale झालोत..

(We are secular now,

We don't consider ourselves different,

Because we don't see the differences at all..

We are secular now,

Or perhaps, we are blind now.)