Piku has been widely advertised as a movie
about constipation. The advertisements and trailers all suggested that. Even
the pre-release interviews with the stars and the directors reinforced that the
movie is about constipation. In fact, the complete name of the movie is, Piku
-- Motion Se Hi Emotion. Now seriously, why would anyone -- anyone -- want to see a movie that is
about -- of all things -- constipation?
Obviously, none of this prior publicity was
attractive enough to draw me into the theatre. In fact, I honestly cannot think
of any person who would actually go to see the movie because of the story
suggested in the pre-release publicity (including the trailers). People would
think of and actually go to see the movie for the fantastic star cast of
Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan and Deepika padukone. It could be on or all the stars
that would draw a person into the theatre. The only reason I went to see it was
Deepika Padukone. That girl is outstanding. To me, she is the best thing to
have ever happened to Hindi films in over its hundred years.
But the movie itself was a surprise. Yes
there is a lot of talk around constipation and bowel movements. Yes, it seems
to be all about just constipation. But wait! That is just the in-your-face
theme of the movie.
In actuality, Piku is about the complicated
relationship between an aging/aged parent and an unmarried daughter. This is a
circumstance that changes equations immensely. The parent gets more and more irritating
and irascible. The parent becomes more and more selfish. The daughter struggles
to maintain a life and identity but gets sucked into the parent’s drama all the
time. She becomes a parent, an adult and a child all at the same time while
struggling to be a person as well. She gets irritated with the parent and makes
no bones about it. She carries her irritability over to all other aspects of
her life and personality. Yet there is a deep love and attachment with the
parent. She is as patient as she is irritable with the increasingly annoying
parent.
The director has written a lovely film with
very real characters. A theme that could have been morbid, moribund or just
plain yucky becomes witty, funny and very winsome being heart-warming and poignant
too. It is a sparkling film and not for a second in the 125 minutes of the movie’s
duration does interest wane. The movie is sweet, simple and thoroughly
endearing even while dealing with a hitherto unexplored relationship and its
nuances.
The story is simple and simply narrated.
Amitabh Bachchan as the hypochondriac father is very good. Irrfan, as the
person caught in the family drama is dependably competent. Deepika shines as
Piku. The supporting cast including Moushumi Chatterjee and Raghubir Yadav as
also superb. None of the actors seem to be ‘acting’ a role -- they all seem to
really be the characters that they are playing.
It is a must-watch for the performance, for
the story, for the treatment and above all for the glittering Deepika Padukone
who gets lovelier with every film and more polished as a performer with every
release.