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Even if Abhishek Bachchan and R. Balki chose to unnecessarily hyperventilate against the media in one scene of Paa, the fourth estate gave the film a standing ovation at the end of a press screening in Mumbai. Wish the Bachchans had watched that unstinted gesture of appreciation. Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par was probably the last time a film got that kind of response from the media.
Amitabh Bachchan’s delightful, sweet-funny-moving return to his childhood was precisely what this column talked about last Sunday — throw the actor a real challenge and watch him, even at 67, go at it with a twinkle in his eye.
At the premiere of Paa, Amitabh had thoughtfully divided his star guests into two groups. Those that fell into Shah Rukh Khan’s coterie — Karan Johar, Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan — were put in one hall while Aamir Khan’s aficionados like Rajkumar Hirani and Vinod Chopra watched it in another. Of course, the third Khan, Salman didn’t figure anywhere. Aamir Khan’s entry was so awaited that the screening was delayed until he arrived. And once he was in, the hosts (the Bachchans, Balki, Vidya Balan and the ubiquitous Amar Singh) even disbanded their welcome committee and walked away from the entrance.
Ram Gopal Varma, who takes pride in announcing that he is too rebelliously different to attend marriages, parties or premieres, makes an exception for the Bachchans. After happily attending the Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding, he was there once again for the premiere of Paa. Naturally, he’s still got to release Rann, an Amitabh Bachchan starrer, which makes him just as conventional as any film industry man.
With Shabana Azmi missing, guess who Javed Akhtar sat with at the well-attended premiere? Ex-wife Honey Irani!
There were two things that worked behind-the-scenes for Paa. One was that the Bachchans were careful not to overkill before release. You didn’t have Auro, the 12-year-old struck by progeria, staring at you out of every magazine cover. That way he retained his freshness and turned out to be more lovable than ET. Perhaps that’s what a maker confident of his product should be doing in these times when overhype can sometimes repulse instead of romancing the viewer.
The second factor in favour of Paa is something we’ve discussed ad nauseam in this column — the budget. Amitabh Bachchan has been giving his son complete credit for keeping the cost of Paa under Rs 15 crore. It is a reasonable, easy-to-recover amount unlike the recent Akshay Kumar starrer, De Dana Dan, which cost nearly Rs 70 crore to make. Akshay has again done himself in by foolishly believing that the more he inflates the budget of a film, the bigger the star he is. After overlooking the scream-decibel performances of all the actors, Pritam’s tepid music and the profusion of characters, De Dana Dan still had enough chuckles to sail home comfortably like Malaamal Weekly, if only it had been made like a Priyadarshan film — on a budget of less than Rs 20 crore.
While Amitabh’s Auro should fetch him all the best actor awards for 2009 (hope Reid & Taylor can rustle up enough suits for him), there are two comparisons that must be made. One is with Hrithik Roshan who played the mentally challenged Rohit in Koi Mil Gaya. In that film it was still Hrithik we saw playing a retard. But as Auro, except for that extremely expressive pair of eyes, Amitabh Bachchan disappeared, along with his famous baritone.
Which brings us to the second comparison which is with Amitabh Bachchan himself. Years ago, when his turn as the kohl-lined don in Agneepath failed, Bachchan had been miffed that he’d changed his voice for the role but met with disaster. He had been angry because for years he had been criticised for repeating his angry young man act and when he tried to be different, he was lambasted for it. But trading his wonderful baritone for an irritating rasp in Agneepath, and that too for no apparent reason, was hardly what one could accept as challengingly different. But yes Amit, moulding your deep, sexy throat to suit a bright and happy 12-year-old is what we’d call a real challenge. A challenge you have met with aplomb.
Hey, did you hear that Himesh Reshammiya was so impressed after watching Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, that he said wonderstruck, “Sometimes you hear of god-given perfection. That’s what Ranbir has — he is simply, amazingly perfect. He has everything in the perfect proportions to make a perfect actor. I’ll watch the film again only to see Ranbir.” That compliment cannot be returned to Himesh for Radio as he has everything in disastrous proportions to make a perfectly unsuitable actor. This is one radio you wish you could switch off forever.
