Piku: Beyond Relationships

One of the many poignant moments from Piku

With internal assessments just over, my friends and I were looking for a breath of fresh air. And it came in form of Shoojit Sircar’s endearing and pensive drama-comedy ‘Piku’. To be frank, some of us in the gang were planning for Bombay Velvet. And since I don’t like typical Bollywood masala flicks, I decided to go with Piku. And God-oh god, what a sweet surprise it turned out to be. More importantly, it made me reconsider my relationship with my father as well.

Piku is the story of a Delhi-based Bengali family’s hypochondriac, self-centered, part-senile 70 year-old man, Bhaskor Bannerjee (Amitabh Bachchan), with the compulsively chronic condition of constipation and his firm, stubborn, annoyed daughter, Piku Bannerjee (Deepika Padukone) – who frequently quarrel over ‘motion’ issues of the former. t a slice-of-life movie which deals with how a daughter, extremely busy in her work life as an architect, is doubling up as her 70 year old father's babysitter. How she deals with her father's tantrums everyday which involves tackling his arch nemesis - constipation. Both have an unconditional love towards each other, but being stubborn and head-strong as individuals, they have a disagreement on most of the trivial issues with neither of them buckling down.

The film has a very realistic and candid quality, just like Shoojit Sircar’s previous “Vicky Donor. The direction is impeccable. The subtle relationship and mutual feelings that develop between Irrfan and Deepika are very well portrayed and the director has kept this relationship open ended. Kudos for avoiding a conclusion on that relation in a conventional way. You may notice that when the real-estate broker flies in from Kolkata, he has an airline tag on his bag. This shows the attention to detail by Sircar. Words cannot do justice to the performance put up by the cast. Amitabh's portrayal of Bhaskor Banerjee is sincerely endearing and irritating enough to do justice to the character. And to the champion who gets things done easily, nicely and effortlessly- Irrfan Khan. That one scene where he goes to pick the family in the morning when the driver opts to disappear, he sits quiet and Deepika comes out to sit in front seat. You can watch it again and again, no words exchanged but the viewer totally understands and gives a sarcastic laughter. And the surprise package includes the sweet Mausami Chatterjee, with her never get rude attitude and ready to reply character. The good old Raghubir Yadav as the wonderful family homeopathic doctor. Even Jisshu Sengupta as Syed was very apt for his role. However, the scene-stealer is Deepika Padukone, who has really come a long way as an actor, and delivers a neat, matured performance. She’s fire and ice. You’ll fall in love with her. I was reminded of my physics teacher back in school, Moushmi Chatterjee; a lady who could be almost be described as ‘Piku’. The portrayal of the Bengali family as a whole is extremely realistic. And I can tell you this because I have lived in a predominantly Bengali neighborhood in a city with a high population of Bengalis. My teachers in Carmel High were Bengali as well as the local tuitions (Prasanjeet & pramanik, anyone?). Hell, even my first crush, in grade III or IV, was a Bengali. :P

The Background Score by Anupam Roy is fresh and most appealing. For the first time in Bollywood, the songs were more than just noise, they actually meant to give solace, they take you to that world where you just want the lazy journey to continue forever, with people you love, with nothing to worry about. And finally, a few words about the director of photography. Kamaljeet Sir, you deserve an award for representing the cities of Kolkata and Delhi. Having lived in Kolkata for some time, I can assure you that it is one of the best depictions of the city in recent times (Kahaani as well). La Martiniere High, the Howrah Bridge and the ‘Jhaal-Mudi’ – Oh, the nostalgia. Mayer ghat bagbazaar, where I used to sit for hours waiting for a ferry to go across Kolkata.

A very rare release, and very highly recommended. Especially in such times, where every second piece of news we read is negative and heartbreaking. 'Piku' constantly brought a smile on my face for those 2 hours. It showed exactly the way love happens...in phases!!! It builds slowly, in conversations. It is filled with lots of humour which is bound to leave you in splits. It is a very endearing story of a father-daughter relationship and the message stands out strong. Its strong Bengali essence is also brought out very well. It is surely going to tickle your funny bone and one is assured to come out of the theatre with a big satisfied smile on the face. It doesn't matter to which age group you belong, you'll be able to connect with the movie in any manner possible. 

PS: This review will continue in the 2nd part, where I will talk about how it has influenced me and made me reconsider my bond with my father.