Paa is not taking a serious look at Progeria, as Taare Zameen Par did with Dyslexia, rather it is just used as a backdrop for a wondrous story based on human relationships. Storyteller R. Balki doesn’t rely on the persona of (legendary) Amitabh Bachchan for his movie, but taps the rarely tapped talent of the legend so much so that many people will agree that Paa is Amitabh’s finest performance in his looong bollywood career. When the titles start rolling, Jaya Bachchan aptly says “introducing Amitabh Bachchan…”, because this one is different from other Amitabh Bachchan Movies – you, neither, see the magnanimous Persona of the 1980’s Angry Young Man nor his deep voice. You simply witness a 13 year teen suffering from Progeria: Auro with a squeaky voice .
The plot is simple: a 13 year old Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) unites his Estranged parents Amol Arte (Abhishek Bachchan) – Young MP, and Vidya (Vidya Balan) – A gynecologist. While studying in Cambridge University, Amol and Vidya fall in love. When Vidya gets Pregnant, Amol asks her to abort as he doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage and does not want children. He is very ambitious and wants to make a career in politics and change the general perception that the Politics is dirty. Vidya dumps him and with her mother’s (Arundhati Naag) consent gives birth to Auro, who is then diagnosed with Progeria – a rare genetic disorder that results in premature aging and, consequently, the patient’s life-span is no more than mere 13-14 years. Amol is not savvy to these developments and thinks that Vidya had aborted.
Unaware of their relation, Amol and Auro meet for the first time on the 50th anniversary of Auro’s school where Amol awards Auro The Visionary award. Media follows Amol in the school, where Auro and his disease becomes a hot topic for the media. To protect Auro from media glare, his principal asks Vidya to pick and drop Auro to school, which like all teens becomes a source of embarrassment for him. An embarrased and furious, Auro mails Amol about the incident, who in turn takes the restraining order from the court, so that Auro can live his life normally without media glare. Also Amol promises Auro to take him to Rashtrapati Bhavan. By the time they leave for Rashtrapati Bhavan, Auro find outs that Amol is his father and how Amol finds out that Auro is his son, what happens to Auro, and how Amol and Vidya reunite forms the rest of the story.
Auro and his friend Vishnu’s telephonic conversation is humorous, scenes between Auro and the girl he detests are hilarious, infact every scene involving Auro is fantastic whether comic or touching. There are no superlatives to describe Amitabh Bachchan’s performance. Vidya Balan acted brilliantly. Rest of the cast played their part well. It’s a simple and sensitive story told in a light-hearted way, so not much of rona-dhona. Balki’s direction needs to be lauded. Witty One liners by Auro are humorous. The prosthetic makeup by Christien Tinsley and Dominie Till removes every trace of Amitabh Bachchan from Auro and gives him an entirely new identity.
There are few flaws in the movie – like too much dragging of political career of Amol. the initial scenes involving the Pre-marital Relation, Break up and Vidya’s mother accepting Vidya as a single mother, might be indicative of an insane-modern India, but do not make much sense. In the first half, Auro is pushed to the background, which is unfair to the audience, who are there to watch Amitabh in action.
These flaws are not even a spot on Auro’s performance. Just watch it, it’s a sensitive story told in light way and brightened by Auro’s performance.
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