Genre : Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : R. Balki
Cast : Amitabh Bachhan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Arundhati Nag
Kid rating : PG
PAA : GIMMICKY CASTING DIMINISHES FILM !
The film is about a progeria inflicted, precocious child Auro, who finds out about his absentee father. Amitabh Bachhan plays the child, and Abhishek the father (that is the touted USP of this movie – although I can’t agree). Vidya Balan played the mother of the child Auro. Watching the promos for this film, before it’s release, and seeing the hype and the build-up because it was Amitabh playing Auro, I wasn’t at all sure about the quality of the film. It’s difficult looking at Auro, to see Amitabh in him, due to the prosthetic makeup, but I “knew” that it was him underneath all that. And that, frankly weird-ed me out.
This is not a long tale, nor does it span any great time – it is more anecdotal, beginning at the time Auro gets to meet his father, although neither one of them is aware of the relationship. Auro’s friendship with his father grows, and when he comes to know the truth, he does his best to bring his parents together, while he has the time.
Abhishek plays a righteous young politician, out to clean up the political system. Paresh Rawal plays his not so righteous father. Vidya Balan is Amol’s girlfriend at college. The pair split up when she gets pregnant, because Amol wants her to terminate the pregnancy, while she doesn’t. Hence Auro. Fatherless.
Now, at the time the film begins, Auro is a gangly, almost teenager, showing the effects of progeria. Newcomers at his school are taken aback by his appearance, but everyone else in his world – friends, family and teachers love him for what he is, a smart-alecky, precocious kid. And while the smart-aleckiness of Auro’s character is endearing and the dialogues slick and snappy (remember “Cheeni Kum” ?), I’m still put-off that Bachhan Sr. plays the child. While Bachhan is a fine enough actor in the right director’s hands, when roles of this kind are handed to him as obeisance, I find it a little abhorrent (and stuff like this just adds to it). This takes away, in my mind, from the actual focus, and lands the spotlight squarely on THE BACHHAN, instead of the character. Would there be such a hype about the film if Amitabh hadn’t played Auro ?
R. Balki directs this film with finesse, but the pace was too slow. Events happened, progressing minutely, interspersed with some sharp, witty dialogue, and that was pretty much how it went. Yes, the characters have been developed; I most appreciated Balan’s character, as a strongly etched woman, who becomes an unwed mother, sans traditional means of support. Her mother’s role (played by Arundhati Nag) is also well-done. Abhishek is adequate. And Amitabh – yes, he probably followed director’s orders to a T, but because I found the casting so gimmicky, I could not empathize with his character at all. When Auro entered the frame, call me biased, all I could see was Amitabh in makeup.
And when you can’t sympathize with the central character of the film, the one around whom that little on-screen world is built, what does it do for your movie-watching experience ? Exactly. That is how I feel about this film.
Auro’s music is nothing to get excited about; one song in particular reminded me of the title track from the film Anjali (Telugu). But yes, the film is clean, and comes across as a film of quality. It’s a pity then that the casting is gimmicky, well done this could have been a truly moving film.
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