What is it all about?
An amazingly sweet, powerfully moving and emotionally resonant adage on parent and parenting. Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Piku’ is nothing short of a cinematic triumph that finds the magnificent Mr. Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone working at the peak of their respective powers delivering a nuanced, thoroughly delightful and hauntingly beautiful family entertainer having multi dimensional look at the struggles and comforts of family bonds.
MSM Motion Pictures, Saraswati Entertainment, and Rising Sun Films Production rightly ‘shit’ the bloated masala papads we get every Friday for this sweet Rasgulla of a cinema dipped in the ‘Hajmola’ of satisfaction for a lip smacking, heartfelt relief.
The Story
An outstanding achievement in writing Juhi Chaturvedi (story, screenplay and dialogue) ‘sperms’ this comedy-drama brilliantly from Bashkor Banerji (Amitabh Bachchan) bowel movements creating instantly identifiable characters from our everyday life.
'Piku' (Deepika Padukone) father Bashkor Banerji (Amitabh Bachchan) - brutal and honest Bengali in Delhi is worried about his ‘potty’ all the time. Suffering from constipation and age Bhaskor is a seventy year old child obsessed with his health.
Piku as the responsible, independent and motherless daughter fulfills all the wishes of Bhaskor's including a road trip to Calcutta where Rana (owner of a car hire service) drives the emotion and the motion of this quirky enjoyable road journey that doesn,t bother about the destination but focuses on the journey the dynamics between the father and daughter, their understanding, their bonding, respect, love and care are observed wisely and well, with a tang of humour.
'Piku' has great significant individual moments like the one when Deepika says to Irrfan, ‘He is my father and whoever wants to marry me has to adopt him as well’.
What to look out for
This beautiful bitter sweet adage on parent and parenting has the capacity to take heart of any concerned parent and children. Amazingly characterized - the hallmark of Shoojit Sircar films (Vicky Donor,) the narration is realistic without any amount of manipulation.
As the audience takes their seat, Shooojit immediately transforms them into the house of Piku and make them witnesses to all the proceedings. You feel like staying with Piku, laughing, crying, enjoying along with them and not watching a film.
Its sheer brilliance of Shoojit and Juhi to make such a cinematic poetry from a waste like ‘shit’ ‘potty’ and give it layers of life, death and nirvana (moksha). 'Piku' triangle of triumph after writing and execution is completed by the actors. A case of perfect casting by Jogi.
In a rare and delightful match-up of performances all the actors are seen at their peak delivering a stand out performance.
Amitabh Bachchan is truly magnificent as the pot-bellied Bhashkor.. Playing a typical ‘brutal and honest’ Bengali, Amitabh Bachchan is a delight throughout. The icon is unmatched in this memorable performance post Paa and Black.
Deepika Padukone pitted against the biggest stalwarts doesn,t falters, go wrong even for a second. Exceptional and mesmerizing throughout - 'Piku' is Deepika’s most matured performance till date.
Irrfan is simply brilliant and flawless.
Supporting cast also adds to the pleasure - Moushumi Chatterjee (after a very long time) is fantastic, Raghuvir Yadav is excellent and Jishu Sengupta is wonderful.
Anupam Roy music is in sync with the mood of the film. Technicalities are well polished. Production values are first rate.
What not?
Irrfan’s family story is not clear. The second half is a bit stretched. Some more of Amitabh and Irrfan could have added more to the glory.
Conclusion: Shoojit Sircar’s 'Piku' is most essential, honest, engaging, delightful, touching adage on parent and parenting having the magnificent Mr. Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone working at the peak of their respective acting powers. A must for every concerned parent and children.
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