Piku Movie Review

Shoojit Sircar has been on a bit of a hot streak recently with his films receiving both critical and commercial acclaim. So it wasn’t a surprise when he got on stars like Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan to sign up for his Kolkata based film titled ‘Piku’. Even though it doesn’t feel like a big film, the stakes are high. The trailer and song promos have evoked a feel good tone with some drama and humour thrown in. ‘Piku’ seems to be more in the vein of Vicky Donor than Madras Cafe. Is Shoojit able to continue his streak of giving us solid movies which quench the thirst of the audiences whilst also being profitable for the producers?

Story: Piku, as can be guessed from the title, is the story of Piku. And it revolves around her life and the people in her life – the chief players being Bhaskor Banerji (her father – Amitabh Bachchan), Rana (Irrfan) owner of a taxi rental service. Bhaskor is fixated with his bowel movements than a normal person should be and for an outsider looking at the lives of the Banerji family, can come across as irritating. Piku cares for him deeply and when a family emergency means that Bhaskor has to go to his hometown Kolkata, it is Rana who becomes embroidered in their family affairs and himself drives them to Kolkata. A health emergency puts things in perspective and we realize the value of family and aging parents through humour.

Review: Juhi Chaturvedi, who wrote the brilliant Vicky Donor has teamed up with Shoojit Sircar once again with Piku and delivers another classic film. Piku (the film), detailed to the highest degrees seen in Hindi films, is both heartwarming and heart-touching, and also extremely funny. We gaze at the lives of the Banerji family from an outsider’s perspective and we can identify with the familiar sights, sounds and can applaud the director and the writer for their applaudable script choices. Piku, should be acclaimed in the near future for evoking memories of yesteryear Hrishikesh Mukherjee films and also for its forward thinking. A Hindi film father being so open about his daughter’s sexual activity is a welcome departure from the nauseating one tone fathers we get to see in Bollywood. What makes Piku stand out is the brilliance of the moments that Shoojit captures and also for making the film fluid and never too dramatic.

Piku

Piku Movie Review

Kamaljeet Negi, the cinematographer, captures Kolkata with extreme care and sovereignty. He shows the city of Joy, in a way, perhaps, not seen till now in Hindi films. We won’t be surprised if tourism in Kolkata increases after Piku! The sets and production design are made up keeping the characters and the narrative in mind with very good detailing being evident in the CR Park house in Delhi and also the Kolkata house seen later on. The costume design is also very realistic. A job well done by the whole team.

The music of Piku has been given by the acclaimed Bengali film music composer Anupam Roy and his music makes Piku even better. The songs keep the Bengaliness of Piku intact and we wish these songs lasted longer than they did in the film. There’s a certain serenity about the sound of Piku (songs and background music).

Acting: Piku is held together by Deepika Padukone, who once again shines and takes a few more steps ahead of her contemporaries in Bollywood. She is splendid, staunch, and there’s a certain integrity in her character hardly seen in films now. Her expressions are terrific in what could be called the best performance of her career. Amitabh Bachchan, although very very good, could have toned down his Bengali diction (which was imperfect as it is) but in the end wins out hearts. He plots the trajectory of his character like only Amitabh Bachchan can. Irrfan Khan, the third wheel between the father and daughter, is astute once again. He knows his craft and delivers performances which suit the character, film after film. Therein lies his genius. And it is good to see him being cast opposite a commercial actress like Deepika Padukone. The other actors Moushumi Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, and Raghuvir Yadav are all splendid. The casting of Piku is another highlight of the film.

Conclusion: Piku maybe wholly about shit and talking about shit, but the quality of the film is anything but shitty. It is enlightening, heartwarming, funny and loveable. You will fall in love with the characters and the tone of the film. Piku is so good that we can’t think of any film which matches up to Piku other than Vicky Donor. If you are a lover of good cinema, if you are a Bengali, if you love to smile during your movies, then there’s no better film than Piku for you this week. A must must watch.

Rating: ★★★★½ 4.5 stars

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27 Comments

  • piku short review
    thumbs up
    1 excellent performance by amitabh ji,deepika and irfaan
    2 shoojits yet again superb direction
    3 excellent dialogues
    4 excellent father-daughter chemistry btwn big b and queen deepika
    5 superb screenplay with excellent humor
    6 good music
    7 superb cinematography and production value
    8 superb first half
    9 realism shown in the relationships in the film

    thumbs down
    1 2nd half drags to some extent
    2 climax should hv been more dramatic

    rating-8.25/10

    verdict-best film of the year.should become a big hit as every kind if audience will easily connect with the film

  • Will flop at the box office. DP is a good actress but shes average looking n annoying so i wont watch it.

  • Films I enjoyed this year
    1 piku
    2 baby
    3 byomkesh
    4 badlapur
    5 hunterr
    6 nh10

  • Will try to catch it,reviews are super impressive n also the fact that i loved both previous films of Shoojit- madras cafe n vicky donor!

  • Watched Gabbar is back last evening,enjoyed it thoroughly being an akki.Akki just nailed it as Gabbar.There was whisteling n clapping at most of the dialogues.
    Definitely a good entertainer..one can enjoy with family!!

  • im sure ARJUN KAPOOR FAN WRITING REVIEW WITHOUT WATCHING MOVIE….lolz
    so mr Sarkar is garenty of gud movies…

  • Top rating does not help a movie at box office. See, baby had best positive rating, indicine gave 3.5 to gabbar…..
    Hope it get hit status…

  • im sure with salmaan khan drama being on the whole day .. the collections must be dismal.

    big b is not a saleable star anymore .. him in his usual show of humour is sickening..

    bhatterbox chatterjee is also not suited .. it seems that sgoojit was hell nent on taking his bengali gag from vicky donor forward..

    i cant imagine watching this movie and i dont think anybody is

  • super and high class acting by big b,deepika and one of the best in our bollywood none other than irfan ….
    short review.
    what’s good:
    Acting.
    humour.
    Emotion.
    Dialogue.
    Cinematography.
    Music.
    And offcource the gem Direction.

    What’s bad:
    Not major but the second half was little lame.Otherwise acting was marvellous.
    Soojit Sircar is the finest director in our country.He proves it again after hilarious rom-com Vicky donnor and Thrilling movie Madras cafe.
    My review about piku :
    4 out of 5 stars.Go and watch if you want Something different bollywood movies.

  • I will nvr ever watch a movie of Deepika . her expressions nd Face annoys me . She just look good in ramleela .
    on other hand sunny Leone is there KKLH nd she iz 300% times Better then her .

  • @ megha…
    we all know ur BRAINLESS GIRL amitabh hater…u moron jst go watch any amitabh movie his expression his command im the scene…only person who was best actor as well as biggest star in his era.. watch deewar each scene is masterpiece.. watch baagban his expressn of helpless guy..n agnipath coolie kaliya angree young man..wat a range…watch hum he plays furious tiger n calm family man… forget acting in his age people dnt evn knw wats going around…dnt show how DUMB U R…WITH SUCH CONSISTANCY..

  • Piku getting superb reviews and I hope it won’t flop, at least should be a success. I am a hater of deepika padukon, never liked her but I appreciate the fact that when she comes at top she tried to do different cinema like Finding fanny and Piku.Great work.

  • Some fools are still compairing movies with box office collection
    grow up guys good movies are not made for record breaking collection .. They will be remember after 10-20 years also while many off you will forget movies like kick dabangg etc … Can u remember the first day collection of sholay , DDLJ , KHNH , mughal e azam ….. But these movies will be remember forever

    anyway watched piku and it is superb my rating 9/10

  • Its really a torture , please don’t think of watching it.
    No logic no ending… I am thinking how Deepika and Amitabh agreed for such useless roles.

    cant imagine, it was such a movie.

  • the problem with indicine is that it wants to be counted amongst the top literatti when reviewing the film the likes of times of india and not hindustan times which keeps the rating low..

    i believe indicine has a purpose.. they want the betterment of indian cinema not in the craft >>!!! but in the collections..

    that is why they like all films they see ..baby piku gabbar ..anything and everything .. small lowely films they dont bother..
    here too even though the film is bad constant hamming ..not a single hummable song ..not even a gripping tale to be told yet they are at it again.. fooling the masses..
    even for once they havent spoken bad about a big starcast film .. yet to see them giving an honest opinion..

    how can collections of this movie match with what indicine had predicted when on the day of release there was salman khan drama being played out on tv??

    nobody was going to watch piku leaving their tv sets?? didnt come into the evaluation oc indicine then>> but just to keep theor prediction app alive they patted themselves and made some cooked up figures bringing it close to what they feel was the target..!!!

  • nvr compare love & gud movies wid money bcoz money comes & goes but love & gud movies always remains in our mind & heart…..khub bhalo movie PIKU…very nyc movie

  • Not at all a good movie..No story..No depth…No proper ending..
    i just watched it..
    last worst movie i watched was of the same actress FInding Fanny..
    This is second worst of her..
    Sorry to say but Over acting from Shri amitabh bachan…
    Irfan khan is the best part..
    Scores best in his acting…

  • watched it today,no wonder the film is a “sucess” amitabh is awesome..forget the haters comment they do not want amitabh films to be a hit….PIKU brilliant film with superb acting…thats what actor has to do..amitabh has done it

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