Piku

Shoojit Sircar reigns supreme as his latest offering 'Piku', is a hugely entertaining, simple & sweet film, that also has some amazing performances working for it. Here's a film that has humor, emotions & the pace, one expected from it.

'Piku' examines the life of a father & daughter, along-with a dry-humored car-hiring company owner/chauffeur.

'Piku' is about relationships & responsibility. The narrative wonderfully narrates the relationship of an overbearing, constipated father & his hard-working daughter. Even the part of the car-hiring company owner is so nicely written. In fact, the diversity between its primary characters is what makes 'Piku' such an absorbing watch. There are moments when you laugh-out-loud & there are times when your heart just melts. You feel for the characters & that kind of connect, is a huge bonus for any film.

While the first-hour builds-up the structure of the film with some hilarious moments, the second-hour shifts into the emotional zone, especially in the penultimate portions. 'Piku' is a lovely blend of humor & emotions.

Juhi Chaturvedi's Screenplay is first-class. She has created a world of difficult, diverse minds with precision. A Special Mention for the fantastic dialogue all through. Shoojit Sircar's Direction is excellent. Sircar is only getting better & better with every film. He's undoubtedly, among the most precious filmmakers working in the Hindi Film Industry today! Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are superb. Music & Background Score by Anupam Roy is wonderful.

Performance-Wise: 'Piku' is enriched by amazing performances. Deepika Padukone is at her natural best as Piku, the daughter of a selfish father, who's torn between responsibility & her own ambitions. Deepika is believable & affecting throughout. Amitabh Bachchan, as the selfish & constipated old-man, is outstanding. Right from speaking Bengali with the correct dialect, to delivering some of the spiciest lines, the legend doesn't seem to miss a single beat. Irrfan is fabulous. He's given some of the film's best moments & the talented actor only elevates those moments with his superior act. Moushumi Chatterjee is flawless. Its so nice to see the veteran back after a hiatus. Raghuvir Yadav & Jishu Sengupta lend able support.

On the whole, 'Piku' is one enjoyable ride! Go, have a good time! Recommended!

The film begins with a soothing sitar recital in the titles and then the film straight away steps on to the 3rd gear in its first sequence itself showcasing the father-daughter having a tensed, high pitched conversation. The few other key characters in the script get quickly introduced in the next 20 minutes with fast intercuts between its short scenes and the progression never really gives you some time even to look at your mobile phone (following the routine habit). In the middle PIKU turns into a road movie with the team of four (Amitabh, Deepika, Irrfan and the servant) deciding to go to Kolkatta via road (car) from Delhi and then the city of joy greets you well with another impressive Bengali couple strongly demanding your attention with their noticeable act. Its final moments make you feel the pain of separation with moist eyes and the climax leaves you thinking on an indecisive note, probably shying away from having a routine, predictable end.

Based on a unique and unusual plot about constipation, PIKU is certainly not an easy film to make as it doesn't have any descriptive storyline and it more or less remains predictable too once its basic premise gets revealed in the initial moments. The topic of toiler humour is quite difficult to express in dialogues being spoken on dinner tables but Juhi does it superbly establishing the loving relationship between the old age father and his daughter in the early thirties. The sequences keep delivering many enjoyable moments and good laughs regularly till the finale and one doesn't feel tired at all watching only 4-5 characters in the entire film simply conversing with each other on the topic of constipation. In other words, the film has no conflict as such (as it was there in VICKY DONOR) but Sircar still successfully manages to make it all fun and nothing boring or dragging with an amazing ease reminding you of the classic films from Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee.

An intelligent film made straight from the heart, PIKU fearlessly talks about many serious issues in a comical mode such as old age ailment, the lonely life of a widower or a widow when their grown up kids are willing to start their own family, the attention seeking nature of old people and the nostalgia they like to keep living in remembering the gone era. It focuses on a weird, over-indulgent father who feels no shame in telling a stranger that his young daughter is not a virgin and a visibly frustrated but caring daughter who only has the topic of constipation to talk about on the phone even when she is sitting in a restaurant on a dinner date.

Besides the best part of the film turns out to be its particular scenes and dialogues dealing with Bengali language, culture and the city of Kolkatta, making it a visual treat to enjoy along with the touching relationships developing between its various characters. Musically, PIKU has few average but soothing numbers from singer- songwriter-composer Anupam Roy (his debut Hindi project) perfectly suiting the mood of the film. Plus the beautiful cinematography, crisp editing (though too quick at times) and casual costumes designed quite authentically establish an instant connection with the viewer enhancing its overall impact.

Moving into performances, though the film has two towering male personalities having their own distinctive screen presence known to all, the film still completely belongs to Deepika Padukone alone as conveyed by the title PIKU that happens to be her nickname (the original name not mentioned anywhere). The actress truly gives another career best performance as the young, casual, middle class, working girl (with minimal make-up) who has twinkling eyes, killer looks and an adorable controlled grin that slowly makes you fall in love as the film proceeds further.

Amitabh Bachchan as Banerjee is a sheer delight to watch and that too minus his baritone voice in an eccentric kind of character conversing in an enjoyable Bengali tone. He is simply outstanding slipping into a different body of an old man annoyed of his own non- existing or self-assumed diseases. And I really doubt we have any other actor around who could be giving these kinds of performances at the age of 70. Completing the trio, Irrfan Khan as expected plays the travel agency owner with an incredible perfection. The way he calls out his drivers to take up different duties and his entertaining interactions with Amitabh Bachchan on the road trip generate a good laugh in the theatres.

In the supporting cast, that always has been the highlight of a Shoojit Sircar film we have the return of Moushumi Chatterjee on screen as the talkative Mausi who is delightful talking with Amitabh Bachchan about his dead wife, her sister. Raghuvir Yadav makes a decent impact as the friendly doctor and then the actors playing the Bengali couple, Irrfan's family and the accompanying servant, all remain fairly entertaining in their respective roles, particularly the servant.

Having praised the film whole heartedly, I still found PIKU as a project majorly made only to entertain its audiences (and not enlighten them), focusing less on the drama and emotional aspect of the relationships that happened to be the key element of films of Hrishi Da and Basu Da. Music being the soul of our Hindi films, the melody was once again missing though the lyrics were right there expressing it fine. Moreover it simply touches many sensitive issues of life but avoids getting into them in details fearing the viewer's loss of interest.

Having said that, with PIKU as one of the best films of 2015, Hindi film-makers do expand their vision of mainstream cinema exploring new ideas undoubtedly and therefore the film deserves to be seen as a must supporting the progressive move.

Director Mr. #SoojitSircar has done wonderful job. He was very clear about the emotions of every character. He has taken far ahead the script by his visualization. Writer #JuhiChaturvedi breaks the all taught grammar of a script but still succeeded to posses its soul. Hats off to her. She had just an idea on the name of story but she developed this beautifully which was not an easy work. Screenplay is good. Dialogues are sweet and witty. Writing and direction are so gelled that it is hard to believe that actually that is written by two persons. Both were creatively tuned on the same note. This film is a great example that good rapport of writer and director can even carry a very thin subject to an entertaining flick. All characters are very real. You start believing them very soon. Love scenes are realistic, unusual but project the correct emotions. Film is slow but you still enjoy it throughout like home made food. You will be wearing smile and sometimes burst in laughter too. Brilliant performance by all actors is icing on the cake. One can watch any film just for Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. He is par excellence. Deepika Padukone is one of very fine actor, who can carry very glamorous character as well as hard core real, authentic and girl next door role with ease and conviction. Irrfan Khan is fabulous. Moushumi Chatterjee and Raghuvir Yadav are very good. Music by Anupam Roy and lyrics by Manoj Yadav and Anupam Roy are impressive.

Shoojit Sircar's film strives for excellence in cinema focusing on human relationship, strong bonding between characters and acting style which approximates real life and is relatively free of contrivance and device. Piku was a nice dramady with mind blowing performance by Amitabh Bachchan , Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan who vehemently carried the film on their shoulder.

Piku tells the story of old-aged, suffering from constipation who travels with his daughter on a memorable road trip from Delhi to Calcutta to visit their ancestral home.

From critical acclaim films like Yahaan, Vicky Donor and Madras Cafe, Shoojit Sircar explores an untouched area which I guess no other Indian filmmaker has attempted before and gives a heart-warming and sweet father-daughter relationship which is sure to be enriched in your memory after you leave theater. The tagline " Motion se hi Emotion" makes sense here as the entire movie talks about the constipation, bowel movement and even the color of the poop which Sircar does succeeds to bring humor without making it look bad. The scene where Irrfan Khan describes the benefit of Indian toilets over the Western one will certainly bring down the house, the constant nagging between father and daughter over the bowel movement is not dragging and will keep you entertained. The script written by Juhi Chaturvedi is refreshing and yet convincing. Art direction is magnificent capturing the essence of Delhi and Calcutta. Cinematography is stunning, capturing the beauty of India's highway all the way from Delhi to Banaras to Calcutta. Dialogues are funny. Music is tuneful which gels well with the mood of the film. Coming to performances, the film completely belongs to Amitabh, Deepika and Irrfan. Amitabh Bacchan once again proves his versatility. Deepika Padukone surprises with her simple and yet so powerful role. She is natural and makes her acting so easy as it is a cup of tea for her. Irrfan Khan is just perfect fit for his role. The actor is outstanding and you love him for that. On the flip side, the ending could have been bit more convincing and impacting.

Piku promises and delivers what it was shown in the trailer – Brilliant. I am happy with the way Bollywood directors are doing things differently and thinking out of the box. This one is sure to keep you entertained. Excellent 4.5/5

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Wow...! I expect this level of expression from Bollywood. In the midst of nonsense and illogical movies, comes a piece of powerful and sentimental love,emotion and drama. It is based on a Father - Daughter relationship which people may call weird but, in fact it is depiction of situations of all old and sick parents in the world, specially India. Why should u watch it ? Because Bachchan Sir has given us a memorable and subjective touch through his acting as Piku's father. It shows how a daughter never forgets her duties even when his father irritates her by impulsive and relentless behavior. It shows how a man accepts death happily. It shows love is not a treaty. It takes us to a life changing journey from Delhi to Calcutta by road ! Just exchange of thoughts and love sprouts from strangest of places with strangest of people no matter what are the circumstances. Irfan is as expected, Deepika fits to the role, Amitabh sir is unforgettable.