Plot:

13-year-old Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) lives with his mother Dr Vidya. Auro suffers from Progeria, who physically looks and functions like a 65 year old but is mentally stable for his age. Auro was born when his mother, Vidya (Vidya Balan) a medical student who after an affair with a political science student, Amol Atre (Abhishek Bachchan) gets pregnant. The film tells the story as to how Auro rediscovers his relation with his father years after he was born.

Overall synopsis:

Auro, lives with his mother Dr. Vidya, a gynecologist a single mother who is bringing up Auro all alone, when suddenly his biological father Amol Atre suddenly meets Auro at his school’s annual function and awards him for his artistic excellence. Then Dr. Vidya remembers the time when she had an affair with Amol Atre whom she met in college. She remembers Amol Atre had suggested her to have an abortion after she became pregnant, as he is ambitious and not ready to start a family. But Vidya after consulting her mother Bum (Arundhati Nag), who had brought her up all alone after her husband’s death; decided against it, and goes ahead with pregnancy. This results in the couple being alienated for years. When her child is born, she’s shattered to know that her newborn is suffering from Progeria, a rare disease that causes a child to age 5 times faster; and her child is likely to have a life-span of only 13 years. Meanwhile growing up with Dr. Vidya, now a gynecologist with all the comforts needed; Auro who possesses dry humor with a lot of witty one-liners up his sleeves, forms a cosy relationship with his mother always ribbing each another, but still longs for his father. His life takes a turn when his father Amol turns up, and tries to cope up with his son for the lost time. In the climax finally the father son duo manage to convince Dr. Vidya to finally walk down the alter with Amol Atre.

Performances:

At 67 years of age, Amitabh Bachchan is simply magnificent performing as a child who is physically in his 60s but mentally is still a teen; which makes Amitabh Bachchan due for awards and accolades for his portrayal of Auro. Vidya Balan as a proud, independent single mother and successful gynaecologist has tried to redo her role of single mother, similar to what she did in ‘Hey Babyy’. She is brilliant portraying myriad reaction with equal ease. Abhishek Bachchan as a do-gooder politician has also given fine performance, who at the start is not sure about himself but ultimately becoming a surefooted politician who never agrees with his opportunistic politician father. Paresh Rawal is pleasant in his special appearance, as an opportunistic politician and has done justice to his role. Acting by some of the children’s is especially Pratik Katare as Auro’s schoolmate Vishnu with his one-liners is very good. Arundhati Nag as the grandmother is excellent. No one has over acted and tried to keep the acting as close to natural and simple

Technical Values:

Amitabh Bachchan’s make up by Christien Tinsley of ‘Nutty Professor II: The Klumps’, ‘Memoirs Of A Geisha’ and ‘I Am Legend’ fame and Dominie Till of ‘Lord Of The Rings’ trilogy is simple outstanding, literally making him unrecognizable. Amitabh Bachchan’s make up as such is the main attraction the movie; also his oversized dresses are worth a mention. It may be known that Amitabh Bachchan had to sit for 5 hours to wear the prosthetic make-up for 6 hours of shooting, and 2 hours to take it off. The make up has made the scintillating performance by Amitabh Bachchan look more truthful. Cinematography by P C Sreeram, editing by Anil Naidu, and music by Illayaraja are all top notch. Vidya Balan who has been rapped a lot for her fashion sense looks good in her saris. Abhishek Bachchan is as usual good looking even in his politicians grab.

Conclusion:

‘Paa’ is not like ‘Black’ (2005) and nowhere close to ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (2008) and is certainly not inspired from Francis Ford Coppola film ‘Jack’(1996) where Hollywood superstar Robin Williams played a character who had a similar aging disorder. Direction by R Balki is intelligent and visually arresting, who has used the child’s disorder as a backdrop for the dramatization of the story in simple and subtle manner. The director has made an effort to make the film less melodramatic touching issues ranging from politics, media, and motherhood without preaching. Though, ‘Paa’ has been touted as a father-son film, its more of a film from the perspective of mother-son relationship. All in all ‘Paa’ is a must watch for its cinematic brilliance.