The Reinvention of Amitabh Bachchhan: the endearing ‘Paa’

Last weekend I saw one of the most heart-warming movies in the recent times: the enchanting yet entertaining ‘Paa’. I chose it over ‘Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year’ so that my three-year old daughter can connect with it thereby making our movie-going experience pleasurable. Off late, my movie-going experiences have been increasingly classified with endless trips to washroom or purchases of Popcorn and Coke – my daughter’s ways of getting my attention. But, as I hoped, ‘Paa’ was different; and not only because my daughter didn’t need to go to the washroom so often. She laughed with Auro, danced the monkey dance and even felt sad and worried for him every time he was shown hospitalised.

Then again, it would be wrong to say that ‘Paa’ is a movie for the kids. It is most assuredly for people of all ages. For who would not enjoy the antics of the ailing yet full of life Auro. Auro touches your heart right from his introduction scene. It is truly an amazing performance from the biggest living legend of Indian Cinema, the one and only Amitabh Bachchhan. As Auro, he monkey dances his way in the hearts of the people just as smoothly as he glides in the ranks of actors essaying most challenging roles and yet excelling. The others in this rank may be both seasoned actors with born acting instincts (like Anupam Kher in Saraansh and Sansar, Sridevi in Sadma, Anil Kapoor in Eeshwar, Meenakshi Sheshadri in Damini, Om Puri in Ardh Satya and Kamal Haasan in Appu Raja and Hey Ram) and new age actors with practiced perfection (like Hrithik Roshan in Koi Mil Gaya and Lakshya, Rani Mukerjee in Black, Aamir Khan in Ghajini, Manoj Bajpai in Satya, Preity Zinta in Kya Kehna, Sangharsh and Kal ho na ho and Vidya Balan in Parineeta); yet, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Mr. Bachchhan towers over most of them.

‘Paa’ is truly a re-invention of Amitabh Bachchhan. His performance is mind-blowing. A lot has been written, said and discussed about his difficult make-up which turns him from a 67 yr old man to 12 yr kid suffering from ‘Progeria’. However, that very make-up could have marred his performance as it restricts in emoting on screen. The lack of facial expression was more than made up by the very appropriate body language, the lisping speech through skewed teeth and the acquisition of mannerisms befitting a 12 yr old. One does wonder though why a 12 yr old is mouthing dialogues more suitable for a 7 or 8 yr old (some fascination for ‘potty’). ‘Paa’ would have turned out to be an average fare with no fascinating storyline had it not been for Amitabh Bachchhan.

This is not only a career best performance from Mr. Bachchhan, it is also going to be his most revered and remembered performance. Surprisingly, his face doesn’t even once come to your mind as long as Auro is there on the screen. This is worth a mention that Amitabh Bachchhan proves that his presence can be so entertaining in his virtual absence.

Last heard, Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchhan are likely to enter ‘Guinness World Records’ as the first father duo to appear in a movie in role reversal performances. Now, that’s some achievement as well. Bravo!