The Story’s Ordinariness is its Beauty
Modern movie-goers have seen it all: superheroes who fly from rooftops, ghosts who haunt and possess people, and ordinary human beings who behave like gods. This backdrop of sorts is what makes movies like Piku so beautiful.
The movie tells the story of a successful Bengali architect, Piku, played by Deepika Padukone, who lives in Delhi with her seventy-year-old father, Bhaskor Banerjee, played by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Piku belongs to that sub-30 age group in which she has plenty of things to concentrate on: developing her career, which she is very serious about; marriage, the inevitable concern of most Indian women her age, and, most importantly, her old hypochondriac father. Bhaskor Banerjee is very vocally concerned about his health, especially about his usually-clogged digestive system. Old and anxious yet delightfully child-like, Bhaskor is no treat to live with but is the love of Piku’s life. It’s a classic case of can’t live with him, can’t live without him.
With his digestive troubles, Bhaskor’s demand to go on a road trip to Calcutta stumps Piku completely. But she gets help from an unusual quarter when the alluring Rana, played by Irrfan Khan, offers to drive both of them from Delhi to Calcutta. What ensues is a tale that most can and cannot relate to.
Piku is Our Story
The beauty of Piku is that many women in our part of the world – the Indian subcontinent – can relate to it so perfectly. Independent working women like Piku who do or don’t have a family to support, are increasing by the dozens all around us. Again, the fact that movie-goers are being bombarded with movies that have absolutely nothing to do with our lives – or anybody’s lives, for that matter – make such “ordinary” films feel like a breath of fresh air – and the source of that tear that wells inside our eyes. Kudos to Juhi Chaturvedi for not jumping on the sensationalist bandwagon and coming up with a story that truly feels like home.
The Acting: Amitabh Eclipses the Brilliant Deepika and Irrfan
When one is acting alongside arguably the best actor and actress of the contemporary Hindi cinema, it takes a lot to steal the show when you are a seventy-two-year-old who can’t make flying kicks to save his life. It’s something that only the legendary Amitabh Bachchan can pull off: and with amazing style.
His role gives him a lot of ammunition to fire such a remarkable performance with. The character of Bhaskor Banerjee is one of a kind; someone who is created once in decades. He is annoying yet adorable; old and eccentric yet lively like a child. It was important for the movie for Bhaskor’s role to be played to absolute perfection, and whom better to trust it with other than the masterful Big B. There are many Pikus and Ranas played by a plethora of actors on the big screen, but a Bhaskor Banerjee is hard to come by.
Feminist Hindi Cinema
After movies like Fashion, Mardani, Mary Qom and Queen, Piku is another addition to the list of feminist movies that the Hindi cinema has come up with off late. Unlike most of these movies, though, Piku has many facets to it. Deepika Padukone’s role’s multi-faceted nature rubs off onto the film, making it more wholesome than most female-centric movies produced by Bollywood.
It is good to see Bollywood not only emulating but also outdoing Hollywood in its creation of female protagonists – a feat for which movie-makers, script writers and actresses all deserve a big congratulations.
Watch it for All that it Offers
There are many things that Piku offers to its audience: a beautifully simple storyline, good direction, outstanding acting and a feeling of warmth that a mundane life brings with it. If you’re like the many Bollywood movie watchers who are tired of odd storylines that are not remotely similar to the drudge we call life, then Piku is one for you. If, on the other hand, you go to the cinema to be entertained and to watch larger-than-life characters perform acts that are not humanly possible, then Piku is not one for you. Unless of course you see superheroes in the film’s three ordinary protagonists – people who are just like you and me, and yet, so much more; common people who are larger-than-life. Let Piku prove the truth in this paradox.
Modern movie-goers have seen it all: superheroes who fly from rooftops, ghosts who haunt and possess people, and ordinary human beings who behave like gods. This backdrop of sorts is what makes movies like Piku so beautiful.
The movie tells the story of a successful Bengali architect, Piku, played by Deepika Padukone, who lives in Delhi with her seventy-year-old father, Bhaskor Banerjee, played by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Piku belongs to that sub-30 age group in which she has plenty of things to concentrate on: developing her career, which she is very serious about; marriage, the inevitable concern of most Indian women her age, and, most importantly, her old hypochondriac father. Bhaskor Banerjee is very vocally concerned about his health, especially about his usually-clogged digestive system. Old and anxious yet delightfully child-like, Bhaskor is no treat to live with but is the love of Piku’s life. It’s a classic case of can’t live with him, can’t live without him.
With his digestive troubles, Bhaskor’s demand to go on a road trip to Calcutta stumps Piku completely. But she gets help from an unusual quarter when the alluring Rana, played by Irrfan Khan, offers to drive both of them from Delhi to Calcutta. What ensues is a tale that most can and cannot relate to.
Piku is Our Story
The beauty of Piku is that many women in our part of the world – the Indian subcontinent – can relate to it so perfectly. Independent working women like Piku who do or don’t have a family to support, are increasing by the dozens all around us. Again, the fact that movie-goers are being bombarded with movies that have absolutely nothing to do with our lives – or anybody’s lives, for that matter – make such “ordinary” films feel like a breath of fresh air – and the source of that tear that wells inside our eyes. Kudos to Juhi Chaturvedi for not jumping on the sensationalist bandwagon and coming up with a story that truly feels like home.
The Acting: Amitabh Eclipses the Brilliant Deepika and Irrfan
When one is acting alongside arguably the best actor and actress of the contemporary Hindi cinema, it takes a lot to steal the show when you are a seventy-two-year-old who can’t make flying kicks to save his life. It’s something that only the legendary Amitabh Bachchan can pull off: and with amazing style.
His role gives him a lot of ammunition to fire such a remarkable performance with. The character of Bhaskor Banerjee is one of a kind; someone who is created once in decades. He is annoying yet adorable; old and eccentric yet lively like a child. It was important for the movie for Bhaskor’s role to be played to absolute perfection, and whom better to trust it with other than the masterful Big B. There are many Pikus and Ranas played by a plethora of actors on the big screen, but a Bhaskor Banerjee is hard to come by.
Feminist Hindi Cinema
After movies like Fashion, Mardani, Mary Qom and Queen, Piku is another addition to the list of feminist movies that the Hindi cinema has come up with off late. Unlike most of these movies, though, Piku has many facets to it. Deepika Padukone’s role’s multi-faceted nature rubs off onto the film, making it more wholesome than most female-centric movies produced by Bollywood.
It is good to see Bollywood not only emulating but also outdoing Hollywood in its creation of female protagonists – a feat for which movie-makers, script writers and actresses all deserve a big congratulations.
Watch it for All that it Offers
There are many things that Piku offers to its audience: a beautifully simple storyline, good direction, outstanding acting and a feeling of warmth that a mundane life brings with it. If you’re like the many Bollywood movie watchers who are tired of odd storylines that are not remotely similar to the drudge we call life, then Piku is one for you. If, on the other hand, you go to the cinema to be entertained and to watch larger-than-life characters perform acts that are not humanly possible, then Piku is not one for you. Unless of course you see superheroes in the film’s three ordinary protagonists – people who are just like you and me, and yet, so much more; common people who are larger-than-life. Let Piku prove the truth in this paradox.