Paa Movie Review

Paa is one of the most anticipated films of the year due to several reasons

  • Paa is directed by R Balki who directed the critically acclaimed Cheeni Kum (2007).
  • Amitabh Bachchan as Auro, suffering from a rare premature aging disease called Progeria.
  • Abhishek playing father and Vidya Balan mother to Amitabh Bachchan in the film.

With expecatations of a classic, Paa co-produced by Amitabh Bachchan’s home-production AB Corp on a budget of 14.75 crores, also stars Paresh Rawal and has music composed by Ilaiyaraja.

About Progeria

Progeria is a very rare (one in 8 million) genetic condition, with the most visible symptom being aggressive aging. The disease is terminal and those suffering from Progeria on an average live for about 12 – 13 years.

Other visible symptoms of the disease include wrinkled skin, fragile bodies with a large head, abnormal growth and loss of hair. Currently there are close to 100 known patients worldwide suffering from the disease and 10 of them are from India.

Story

Paa isn’t about the illness but more about a boy (Auro – Amitabh Bachchan) and his family. Auro is a 13 year old suffering from Progeria. Mentally he is his age but physically looks like a 70 year old man. He lives with his mother Vidya (Vidya Balan), who is a doctor. His father Amol (Abhishek Bachchan) is a politician. The movie is about their relationship, struggles, emotions and a lot more.

The review will be short, revealing much would kill your Paa experience. Wait for the more detailed “Best Scenes in Paa” article after the weekend.

Paa Review

Paa is a well written and directed film, with adequate amount of emotions, fun and fabulous performances. The second half is brilliant with enough in it to keep you hooked. But the film suffers from a comparatively weaker first half. The pre interval portions deal with Abhishek’s political career and his rivalries, not exactly what you expect while walking in with expectations of a touching father-son tale.

But the second half more than makes up for it and its this half that makes Paa a tremendously satisfying watch. Watch out for the tear-inducing sequences involving Auro and also those light hearted moments all of which are written, executed and performed to perfection.

The music is average. The ‘Mere Paa’ track is good. The makeup by (Domini Till, Christien Tinsley) deserve special mention for turning Bachchan into a realistic looking Progeria patient.

Coming to the performances, Amitabh Bachchan delivers inarguably the best performance of the year. While I would still rate Black a notch higher, Paa is pure brilliance from a legend who is by far the best actor in the industry. Abhishek Bachchan is good, and so are Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal. But the senior Bachchan’s character is such that it easily out shines the others.

Overall, Paa had potential to be a much better film than it turned out to be. Watch it for the powerful second half and an award worthy performance by the legendary Bachchan.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Box office

The business should be best at multiplexes and since the costs are low, Paa should recover its investment in a week or two. Universal acceptance like Taare Zameen Par is unlikely.

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232 Comments

  • Do u think Paa deserves 3.5 stars?? Be honest Indicine.. Pls rethink.. 4.5 for Kurbaan and 4 stars For Kaminey?? ?? Come on, dont tell Kurbaan and Kaminey are much better than Paa… I believe Paa is a legendary movie.. Something like Lagaan and Taare Zameen Par… One of the best in this decade.. I’m shocked at your rating.. :-(

  • Yes, we’ll add to it after the weekend. Details about the scenes we liked in the film and a lot more would be added after 2 or 3 days. Details on Music and makeup added.

    Watch this with a open mind without expectation levels too high and you should like it. :)

    Yashpal.. Taare was close to perfection, deserves more than 5 stars probably. Consistently good, never went off track and the performance by Darsheel made it even better.. In Paa the second half is excellent, first half wasn’t.. Hence the 3.5 rating, which is good.

  • doesn’t seem to be an entertaining movie. 3.5 is too high a rating. ddd is better . i can say even before watching paa

  • I still can never forget how Indicine gave 4.5 stars to such a thrash movie like Kurbaan… How can I evr trust these guys again? :)

  • “But the film suffers from a comparatively weaker first half”
    What do u mean by that?? Does Delhi college plot of Kurbaan convince you??

    Before going to any conclusion. Firstly i’m not a big fan of any Bachchan. Secondly i also liked Kurbaan but 4.5 is too much when u give a movie like Paa just 3.5

  • Yashpal, No. You just cannot compare the two. Kurbaan was a thriller, Paa isn’t.

    Now all this Kurbaan rating criticism, is because the film wasn’t successful at the box office. We stand by our rating for Kurbaan, we loved the film on first watch. Simple as that.

  • Blue music was average.. Amitabh Bachchan was bad in Jhoom Barabar – Aag.. You cant be dishonest just because the music was composed by a legend, or a certain poor performance was by a veteran..

  • I never told that Kurbaan wasn’t successful at the box office so your rating is wrong. What i’m telling is Paa is better than Kurbaan on any day.. For instance, if anybody is willing to watch only one film among kurbaan and paa this weekend . Would u recommend Kurbaan??

  • Read my comment again Indicine Team.
    I told
    “This is absolute insult to great music given by Ilaiyaraja”
    I never told
    “This is absolute insult to music given by great Ilaiyaraja.”

  • amish , gum sum song comes in 2nd half not not compleete may be just for 1 min. just mukhda not full song.
    thx indicine at this time ur review is similar to me. not very much diffrence like last two releases ddd and kurbaan.
    u also noticed those things which i noticed.

  • Okay, we didn’t like the music much. Rating for the music album would be 3, above average..

    We watch almost every film 2 – 3 times and would love to re-rate some of them. Looking back some ratings sound outright stupid. Some of the cons of putting up a review as soon as possible is, we hardly get time to analyze it completely. For instance, I didn’t like Rang De Basanti and Gulaal (Anurag Kashyap directed film) on first watch. But after watching these films for the second – third time and grasping the finer nuances, loved it.

    Anyway, what’s your Top 4 for the year?

  • Happy to see that u have given a thought to re-rate. Before re-rating or anything like that, the best thing would be watching Paa again with ur ENTIRE team. Then give a detailed review on sunday after discussion in your team( Not Ordering :-) But give it a serious thought)
    Believe me, you’ll love this movie..

  • paa is not up to the level 2 is good and about kurbaan 4.5 is really wrong. i wasted my time watching this movie and the majority will agree. waiting for 3 idiots now. DDD is ok, very entertaining movie, i love it.

  • Best films of this year would be
    1. Paa (Awesome) 5 stars
    2. Kaminey (Very Good) 4 stars
    2. Wake Up Sid ( Very good ) 4 stars
    3. Kurbaan ( Good ) 3.5 stars
    4. APKGK (Good) 3 stars

    PS: But i have high expectations from Rocket Singh & 3 Idiots

  • You watched Paa? 5 stars? What about the first half? Do post your review..

    Yes, watching Paa again tomorrow and hopefully once again with friends from the industry during the weekend. The last 30 mins were brilliant, for someone who doesn’t cry while watching films.. Paa, TZP were exceptions :)

  • I completely agree on the review given by Indiacine for PAA….. From my side also it’s 3.5/5…

    1st half certainly ruined it…

    As far top 5 movies for this Year it would be like this as far my choice goes :

    1. 3 IDIOTS (I know movie has not released but it will the BEST OF 2009, I may be wrong but its my
    gut feeling)

    2. New York(Very good 4/5)

    3. London Dreams(Good-Very good 3.5/5)

    4. Paa (Good-Very good 3.5/5)

    5. Kurbaan (Good 3/5)

    I am relly surprised by Yashpal who thinks AJAB was a good movie :o

  • Wake Up Sid, Kurbaan, Kaminey, Paa.. Loved New York on first watch, but not so much now. More like 3 stars.

    And its INDI-CINE full version of which would be Indian Cinema (four alphabets of each word is how we decided on the title). Bollywood sounds cheap, as cheap as a Hollywood rip off.

  • let me spoil your party by just saying that these south indian formula based films hardly work for us ..the music being so pathetisc and the use o flute gives it avery south indian touch which we dont like abhishek bacchhan i universally disliked for his looks .. this film is a loser a day or two is what it will last,, the germ is lifted from the curious case of benjamin button .. as if the makers thought we will not come to know.. there is not enough record on progeria a s they die very young not even 10 yrs!!!

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