Victory of makeup artist over actors!. Review on Paa

Finally I got to see Paa on its premiere show on Star Plus last week.  Boy, am I glad that I did not spend a fortune to see this movie in a cinema!  The free TV show was the best format to see this fairly insipid movie that has received absolutely undeserving accolades.

We have started treating Amitabh in Bollywood, the way Sachin is treated in Cricket.  Nothing he does can be termed as wrong.  He is the holy cow of Bollywood!  But I beg to differ.  This role did not deserve either a "Best Actor Award" or "Best Jodi Award" that was given by an overzealous jury in a couple of the usual suspects of Awards.

What exactly is so special about Auro?  He is a grotosque, ugly and gangly lad of 14 concealing a 65+ year Amitabh.  With a mask like that, how does one discern the emotions?  All that Amitabh had to do to portray his emotions was to draw doggie looks with his eyes and speak in an obscure semi-childish manner which was pretty difficult to understand in the first few minutes of the movie.

Vidya Balan's role was tailor made to win an award as it portrayed a single mother bringing up a special needs child all by herself in a poor mansion equipped with all the latest gadgetry,  driving around in a poor brand new Honda Accord and having a full time mom to help do the domestic chores.  My heart went out to her for the troubles that she was going through to get her filmfare best actress award!

Abhishek's portrayal of a'honest' MP is a dream that every Indian has about what a politician should be.  He was a cross between Rahul/Rajiv Gandhi, Murli Deora, Arun Jaitley, Shashi Tharoor and the rest of the suave brigade that has charmed the Indian voter from time to time.

To conclude, this is a well meaning movie that could have been far more effective if enacted by lesser known actors as this would have taken the glamor impact away and left the audience truly involved with the travails of a single mom rearing a child with a rare disease in the knowledge that he is destined to die an untimely death.

While admiring Amitabh for his fantastic patience in sitting through hours of makeup as well as appreciating the artistry of the make up specialist, I find no merit in their having gone through these pains.  Would have been easier to find an adolescent to do this role at perhaps a fraction of the cost!