Paa (2009)

Sorry, this movie sucks

It is a performances centric movie

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Before watching the movie, i had really low expectations from this one. I didn't know who the director was. But the movie was superb and one of the best by Big b in recent times. I had expected the movie to be very emotional like Taare zameen par and coming from Mr Balki whom hardly anybody knows the expectations were really low. Mr Balki proved me wrong. The movie touches your heart as TZP. One good thing about the movie was auros character was consistent through out. Amitabh is so effortless in his portrayal of auro. The story starts slow but keep you hooked till the end. Abhishek is first class and looks like he has mastered the supporting roles. Vidhya balan looks so damn pretty in this mature role. Arundhathi nag is natural ( superb ). I would recommend everyone to watch it..

I have never heard of R. Balki or watched his previous film. This film was an experience in lot of senses. This movie is akin to "Elephant Man" who lived in England and suffered myriad of agony, albeit those times there was no genetic studies. There were few incredible scenes that melted the die-hards. Same token, there were few scenes that could have been written with more depth. The one scene-when Auro first comes to know about his father-the way the photo is shown and the emotion displayed and the time traversed is not in tune with the rest of the emotionally tugging scenes. The trick camera work that makes a Big man into a little person is amazing. Techinically, Indian Cinema has marveled but it was the story and screenplay that lacked behind. The story is very poignant and the actors excel in portraying. Amitab is an Icon who was born to act, but the best acting belongs to Vidya Balan as "Dr.Vidya". I have seen better acting from Abishek. Good movies have few things in common-they are written and produced by the same person. Balki's dialogs are good but too many references to a four letter word was not necessary and the point about pollution could have been made by other means. The movie is good when a story is well told and good references made to moral bankrupt(the couple consulting Dr.Viday for abortion-with there sole reason being too busy to have a child.) Suffice to say we need more movies like "Paa" and less movies like "Kurbaan" "Three Idiots" just to name a few. Rotten actors like Aamir Khan should be kicked out of the industry since their sole purpose is to enrich themselves at the expense of the unsuspecting audience. This movie should be an Oscar Nominee and a not a demeaning crap like "Lagaan".

Predictable from start to finish. Mr. B -I respectfully submit, its time for you to retire- your acting was the pits and overshadowed the decent attempts made by Vidya Balan who at least came across as realistic and authentic. Will Indian directors stop being pedantic to the narcissism and nepotism that rules bollywood. Any one of India's other non-commercial actors could have given this a better chance with good direction. . If this movie was any effort to mimic the extremely tasteful and artistic and profoundly rendered work of Taarey Zameen Par (thank you Aamir Khan for bringing back taste to bollywood cinema), then this venture failed miserably. The story line was stretched over unnecessary scenes and got lost in the antics of the poorly depicted supposed 13-year old with pregoria. The monkey theme and suit and subsequent gestures were repeated so many times, I wanted to scream. Amitabh Bachan was neither convincing nor real in the kid's role and I wish insight and discrimination had taken over in a feeble attempt at trying to be a character in this movie. The movie was predictable from the second scene. As soon as I saw Ms. Bachan (Jaya Bhaduri)painfully recounting through the credits (I wanted her to STOP so badly by the second one), I could see who was pulling power and purse strings all the way around. It was clear that amateurs were pulled in to produce and direct and shoot this movie. The camera work was choppy and all over the place. The feeble angle and distance shots trying to render Amitabh as a 13 year old among his student peers or mother was pathetic. Vidya and her mother Bum were solid performances and realistic. The themes of pregnancy outside of marriage, single-mother raising a disabled/prodigious/limited life child was the only thing applaudable. All other efforts failed miserably. The tragic scenes were just overstretched and unnecessary. The movie goes on unceremoniously forever. Abhishek Bachan playing the new-style politician pulls so many one-off bravado cowboy like moves in his artful campaign as a true-to- the wire corrupt but the end justifies the means politician to raise awareness among the masses, it started to border on the ridiculous. He got so much TV Time without advertisements to pander to the masses-really? The only redeeming quality was the prosthetic work and makeup- even though the rest of the body didn't quite match the head work for the supposed kid role played by the 70+ year old Amitabh Bachan. Where was the director's vision in this movie. The simple story line could have succeeded with a goal and much needed brevity. The last line from the inevitable hospital scene was coming and I could scream again for the boring predictability of it all. Overall, D for effort and B+ for makeup and B+ t Vidya Balan and her mother's character. The overall work was pathetic and not recommended. What a waste of money. And Anil Ambani of Reliance industries contributed to this venture. I'm surprised that his business skills couldn't see this sleeper coming a mile-off. Please support the non-commercial ventures- there are multiple talents writers, creative directors and others in India and they don't all pander to the Bachan family to succeed in the movie industry.

1. Poor Poor Script. I couldn't find the theme, the concept behind the "story". I felt as if a story is made fit to showcase the greatness of the actors.2. Unnecessary sub-plots. The story drifts from the actual subject so much that I got confused what the director wanted to show. In a movie dealing with progeria and father-son relationship why spend 30 minutes or more showing the media-politician imbroglio. What makes 'Taare Zameen Par' a better movie of that genre is that not a single moment in the movie drifts away from the main subject.3. Missing the meaning of tagline's worth. There was no father-son relationship that was highlighted. Hence 'father-son son-father' thingy was just a marketing gimmick.4. Songs. Not the music or melody of them, but where they are placed. Especially the 'Hichiki' song was put at a point where I least expected it.5. The very reason why the movie was made. In an interview R Balki, the director of the movie, had boasted that when he was in the office of Amitabh Bachchan one day he saw the banter between Abhishek and his father as the role reversal. And hence he wanted to cast the real father-son duo as reel son-father. When he heard about the disease Progeria, he shouted 'Eureka'. In my opinion, it is a very poor way to conceive a movie. May be that is the reason for the poor script.You might argue this as one of the best performances of Amitabh. Of course, he acts well that's why he is so great and I am one of his biggest fans. But one thing we must not forget that it is not that great actors make great movies. It is the great movies that make the actors great.(Originally posted at weirdo-on-movies.blogspot.com/)