Piku
RELIANCE HOME VIDEO, Rs 399
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan, Jisshu Sengupta, Moushumi Chatterjee, Akshay Oberoi
Director and Choreographer: Shoojit Sircar
Piku is about parents and children. Particularly children taking care of their parents, as they watch them getting old and grumpy, but never coming to grips with that fact that one day they too will be in the same place. It’s about tolerance and understanding parents when they reach old age. The film not only hits on the bonding between parents and children, but is also about old memories, love for parents and looking after them when they get sick.
Piku is a quirky comedy about the relationship between an ageing father Bhashkor Banerji (Amitabh Bachchan) and his young daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone), living in a well-known Bengali colony of Delhi. Bhashkor depends on his daughter and vice-versa. Piku is an established architect, but cannot concentrate on her job due to her father’s health condition. Her career, love life and anything she wants to do is marred due to her father who keeps questioning her on what she is up to. Calls and messages to her office day in and day out kick the daylights out of the stressed-out Piku. Due to this, both are hot-headed and scream at each other all the time.
Upset at all the problems he faces with Piku, Bhashkor suggest they go for a short trip to native Calcutta. When Bhashkor tells Piku that he’d like to take a road trip from Delhi to Calcutta, Piku, considering his health, suggests that it would be easier to fly there. But Bhashkor won’t have it, and insists that they do it by road. Piku contacts the owner of a local cab company Rana (Irrfan Khan) to take them. Rana, who desists dealing with the hyperactive Piku, has no choice but to drive them personally since none of his drivers are willing to endure Piku or her eccentric father.
During this crazy road trip they learn to deal with each other’s moods and idiosyncrasies and it reveals more than Bhashkor’s bathroom habits! Rana joins in the arguments with the father-daughter and what follows is tirade laced with humour. The trip is an eye-opener for them, as they realize the importance of life, love, parenting and discovering that building relationships with children is important.
Amitabh Bachchan sails with a splendid performance in this wonderful movie. His Bengali accent is nothing short of pitch-perfect, and despite his age he still shines in every shot. Padukone gives off her best opposite the legendary actor, while Irfan gives a sterling performance as always.
Disc Two has about an hour of Special Features: Behind the Scenes and Deleted Scenes.
Verus Ferreira is a music journalist for over three decades. He is the author of The Great Music Quiz Book and The Great Rock Music Quiz Book and the founder of Musicunplugged.in
