Review: Paa

Verdict: Great

"K" Rating: 4 /5
Watch: Theater/DVD

Rarely does one across a heartwarming story like Paa. The protagonist Auro is a 12-year old who suffers with a rare genetic disorder Progeria, which makes him age 5 times faster. Its an encaptivating journey into the the world of happy go lucky Auro who by chance meets his politician father and ends up reuniting his parents. Even though the movie has been pitched as a "father-son" story the mother-son relationship works even better. R.Balki (director of Cheeni kam) should be applauded for tactfully making a happy, enrapturing film filled with plenty of tongue in cheek humor even with a terminal disease backdrop.

Five minutes into the movie one fogets that Auro's character is actually essayed by Amitabh Bachchan with mounds of makeup and prosthetics.Paa is a new chapter for Abhishek Bachchan who looks fantastic with his clean shaven, understated yet ambitious young politician avatar. Vidaya Balan is her usual best in her spirited and traditional looking role. Illaiyaraja's music is a breath of fresh air "Mudi Mudi Ittefaq se" ( which has about 3 versions) is good.

Paa is not without its share of hiccups namely an unnecessary lecture on media responsibility, Auro's ultra smart friends or the very filmy drama towards the end. However these are greatly overshadowed by the innocence of the characters and a beautiful storyline. Scenes like when Auro finds out he is born out of wedlock and learns the identity of his father, his dilemma on revealing this information to the man himself are pulchritudinous! This movie is definately not Jack or Curious case of Benjamin Button but in a league of its own/

Initially for some audience sections the promos and the media hype of the movie did not spark interest however with word of mouth publicity this movie is sure to catch on!