You have to give it to Deepika Padukone! Sandwiched between
two stalwarts, Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan, she struck out and carved for
herself to be acknowledged as a remarkable actress with an unforgettable role
as Piku, in the film by the same name, directed by Soojit Sarkar.
Depicted as they come, a serious Bengali girl who is an
Architect in Delhi, Piku is single, unmarried yet and a care giver to her 70
year old father, Bhaskor Banerjee, played by Amitabh Bachchan. Bhaskor is
inflicted with a condition often a problem with aging people called
constipation. Had it remained at that, it would have been fine but it has the
Bengali twist to it, that being, constipation has become an obsession with the
senior. From morning to night, breakfast to dinner, all conversations are
around constipation!
Poor Piku! Needless to say, she is in the thick of having to listen to it and handle her father’s bowel condition, day in and day out. Being a dutiful daughter, she does not show resentment although a war of words ensues every now and then between the two.
Poor Piku! Needless to say, she is in the thick of having to listen to it and handle her father’s bowel condition, day in and day out. Being a dutiful daughter, she does not show resentment although a war of words ensues every now and then between the two.
Syed Afroz played by
Jisshu Sengupta is a good friend, although her Boss too at work and Piku and he
could have made a good partnership, had Bhaskor not played dirty, like most
Bengali single, to be read, widowed/widower father was not so selfish. He
wanted Piku only to himself.
In the meantime, it is decided that the family house in
Kolkata must be sold and Piku and Bhaskor, set off on a long journey to Kolkata
by car! Bhaskor is mortally afraid of both Plane and Train, because, he is
paranoid that his bowels which are already so reluctant will now create havoc
for him.
Come Rana Chaudhary played by Irrfan Khan, the man who is a
Civil Engineer but has had to settle to his father’s business of running a taxi
service, after being cheated in the Gulf, by taking a job there, but made to do
something else. He returned as soon as he could and then, took up his father’s
business.
Through the long and quintessential journey from Delhi to
Kolkata, Bhaskor and Piku get fond of him and find that even after arriving at
Kolkata, they are averse to leaving him. But Rana must return soon to be
followed by Piku - alone.
Having given up the idea of selling the Kolkata house,
Bhaskor overdoes his fun moments in Kolkata and leaves all of a sudden for his
swargloka, happy as a lark, having had his full measure of fun and also having
then forgotten all about his constipation.
Deepika returns to Delhi and its business as usual, with a
difference! A game of badminton between Piku and Irrfan is indicative of things
to come, in future, perhaps!
This review will remain incomplete with the mention of Chaubi
Mashi, played by Moushumi Chatterjee, who is Piku’s maternal aunt, always
visiting the family and never stopping to deride Bhaskor Bannerjee, Amitabh
Bachchan, her brother-in-law in the film for causing the early death of her
sister, by his constant idiosyncrasies.
I give 4 STAR to the film if you are to look at it from the
Bengali point of view. It does a wonderful job! But if you are to look at the
larger mass, I would give it only 2 STAR, because, unless you knew Bangla and
their absolute eccentricities, it would be a film that could not have been
watched at all!
Having said that, the director missed out on another Bengali
idiosyncrasy, that being gorom joler
kulkucchi – a warm water gargle. But
then that may be in the making of Piku II.
OMG!
Cast
Amitabh Bachchan as Bhashkor Banerjee
Deepika Padukone as Piku Banerjee[5]
Irrfan Khan as Rana Chaudhary
Moushumi Chatterjee as Chaubi Mashi
Balendra Singh as Budhan
Raghuvir Yadav as Dr. Srivastava
Jisshu Sengupta as Syed Afroz
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury as Nabendu
Akshay Oberoi in a cameo
