It's been ages since I have proactively wanted to watch a Bollywood movie. Because lets face it, why in the hell would I want to pay to watch something that dumbs my brain down? I can do that at my home, sitting in front of the idiot box watching any Saas Bahu series (which by the way I hate) and get more senseless masala than any bollywood movie could show, without even paying. Who then could blame me for being a little surprised about the rave reviews that Piku has been generating ever since its release. Based on the reviews, I apprehensively decided to watch the movie and am so glad that I did! It's high time that Bollywood finally made a movie that made sense to everyone, that did not involve item numbers, scintillating skin show without a proper story and absurd comedy that no one laughs at. What a well written, well acted and well shot movie! Hats off to Shoojit Sarkar for conceptualizing such a story and bringing it to life.
Talking about bringing the story to life, for me, the person who steals the show is ofcourse Amitabh Bacchan, but then you tend to expect it of him after so many years of experience and thankfully he hasn't disappointed. His rendition of an aging yet modern intellectual Bengali father has been spot on. Deepika and Irfan khan do not disappoint either, Deepika plays an independent Bengali daughter, comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to speak her mind, which is how most Bengalis I know are. While Irfan Khan plays the owner of a cab agency which rents cabs to Deepika's agency and that's how the whole story is connected.
What I liked about the movie is how the movie talks on issues like women empowerment without really being feminist or preaching. Honestly am sure most of us women who are 25 and above, including me, face the 'marriage' problem at home. However accomplished we are, whether we are senior managers, entrepreneurs or CEO's and even if we are earning well and supporting ourselves comfortably, for our parents we are not accomplished till we bag ourselves a successful, rich and 'khandaani' husband. And by 'bag' I mean through arranged marriage, not through love marriage. That's the final goal for many parents! And it's not just for us women. Men face this problem too, albiet a bit late. So they get 5-6 years more than us to bag a 'sundar, sushil and gharelu' wife and again through arranged marriage. Woe begone if you choose to find a wife/ husband for yourself and rob them of their right and only chance (if you are the only son/daughter) of finding a wife/ husband for you. Am sure, there must be many progressive families where this is not the case and love marriage and marrying late isn't frowned upon, but sadly my family isn't one of them.
And for all such families (including my own), I suggest that they watch Piku. Rather than showing the usual Bollywood drama, what the movie instead does is, it portrays the story of a typical yet progressive Indian family going about their day to day lives. Generally, in a typical Indian family, after the mother's death, any father's goal in life would be to see his daughter accomplished and settled with a good husband and kids. But in this movie, the father is hell bent on not letting his daughter marry, so much so that he goes on to foil his daughter's attempts to date by telling the guy who's hitting on her about her previous physical relationships. Which again is a nice surprise as any talk about physical relationships in a typical Indian family is generally frowned upon and suppressed. The reason for the father's attempts to foil his daughter's dating attempts are even more surprising - because he doesn't want his daughter to marry at all! This is the first time am seeing any parent want such a thing for his child. However, the reason for the father's actions are quite noble, it's because he believes that generally marriage brings women down, that it doesn't allow women to progress and it doesn't let woman to reach their full potential. This is mostly because women become dependent on their husbands, they allow themselves to be domesticated and do not think about their careers. He further goes on to cite lives of Rani Lakshmibai, Annie Besant etc as examples of how women should explore their full potential in life. Wonderful thoughts indeed! So when we have someone like Amitabh Bacchan propagating to the general audience that women should not let others bring them down and they have equal if not more potential and rights than their husbands, it strikes the bulls eye in people's minds. It sets an example for every parent on parenting. Further it does not take sides or belittle men.
The second thing that the movie does is, it portrays the nuances of a father daughter relationship in a dysfunctional family rather beautifully. The frustrations faced by Piku because of her father's antics in trying to get her attention, the psychology behind Piku's father's various made-up maladies, their love for each other and the protectiveness they feel towards each other in spite of everything has been beautifully shown. Again the movie stresses on the social issue of children abandoning their parents when they get old by showing how Piku puts her father's care before her marriage, how she says that it doesn't matter if her caring for her father for the next 10-20 years more means that she is going to remain a spinster. She stands by her decision of not marrying by stating that if she is to marry, her husband will just have to accept the fact that her father is going to live with them, even if he's difficult to live with. Such thinking amongst children is rare nowadays. Today, people are so busy in their career and their own nuclear family life that they tend to ignore their old parents who they forget have cared for them and are partly the reason for their success.
At the danger of sounding preachy, these two reasons are exactly why everyone should watch the movie. The movie has a little something for everyone to take away. And by showing real life instances which happen in every family in a humorous way, the movie does not even preach! As such, every parent and every child should watch this movie and take inspiration from Piku and her father and hopefully change their mindset and thinking about marriage and about caring for their old parents. Also here's hoping that this trend of intellectual movies in Bollywood continues and we get to see more such movies rather than the usual song and dance sequences that we have been used to and are now bored of.
Talking about bringing the story to life, for me, the person who steals the show is ofcourse Amitabh Bacchan, but then you tend to expect it of him after so many years of experience and thankfully he hasn't disappointed. His rendition of an aging yet modern intellectual Bengali father has been spot on. Deepika and Irfan khan do not disappoint either, Deepika plays an independent Bengali daughter, comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to speak her mind, which is how most Bengalis I know are. While Irfan Khan plays the owner of a cab agency which rents cabs to Deepika's agency and that's how the whole story is connected.
What I liked about the movie is how the movie talks on issues like women empowerment without really being feminist or preaching. Honestly am sure most of us women who are 25 and above, including me, face the 'marriage' problem at home. However accomplished we are, whether we are senior managers, entrepreneurs or CEO's and even if we are earning well and supporting ourselves comfortably, for our parents we are not accomplished till we bag ourselves a successful, rich and 'khandaani' husband. And by 'bag' I mean through arranged marriage, not through love marriage. That's the final goal for many parents! And it's not just for us women. Men face this problem too, albiet a bit late. So they get 5-6 years more than us to bag a 'sundar, sushil and gharelu' wife and again through arranged marriage. Woe begone if you choose to find a wife/ husband for yourself and rob them of their right and only chance (if you are the only son/daughter) of finding a wife/ husband for you. Am sure, there must be many progressive families where this is not the case and love marriage and marrying late isn't frowned upon, but sadly my family isn't one of them.
And for all such families (including my own), I suggest that they watch Piku. Rather than showing the usual Bollywood drama, what the movie instead does is, it portrays the story of a typical yet progressive Indian family going about their day to day lives. Generally, in a typical Indian family, after the mother's death, any father's goal in life would be to see his daughter accomplished and settled with a good husband and kids. But in this movie, the father is hell bent on not letting his daughter marry, so much so that he goes on to foil his daughter's attempts to date by telling the guy who's hitting on her about her previous physical relationships. Which again is a nice surprise as any talk about physical relationships in a typical Indian family is generally frowned upon and suppressed. The reason for the father's attempts to foil his daughter's dating attempts are even more surprising - because he doesn't want his daughter to marry at all! This is the first time am seeing any parent want such a thing for his child. However, the reason for the father's actions are quite noble, it's because he believes that generally marriage brings women down, that it doesn't allow women to progress and it doesn't let woman to reach their full potential. This is mostly because women become dependent on their husbands, they allow themselves to be domesticated and do not think about their careers. He further goes on to cite lives of Rani Lakshmibai, Annie Besant etc as examples of how women should explore their full potential in life. Wonderful thoughts indeed! So when we have someone like Amitabh Bacchan propagating to the general audience that women should not let others bring them down and they have equal if not more potential and rights than their husbands, it strikes the bulls eye in people's minds. It sets an example for every parent on parenting. Further it does not take sides or belittle men.
The second thing that the movie does is, it portrays the nuances of a father daughter relationship in a dysfunctional family rather beautifully. The frustrations faced by Piku because of her father's antics in trying to get her attention, the psychology behind Piku's father's various made-up maladies, their love for each other and the protectiveness they feel towards each other in spite of everything has been beautifully shown. Again the movie stresses on the social issue of children abandoning their parents when they get old by showing how Piku puts her father's care before her marriage, how she says that it doesn't matter if her caring for her father for the next 10-20 years more means that she is going to remain a spinster. She stands by her decision of not marrying by stating that if she is to marry, her husband will just have to accept the fact that her father is going to live with them, even if he's difficult to live with. Such thinking amongst children is rare nowadays. Today, people are so busy in their career and their own nuclear family life that they tend to ignore their old parents who they forget have cared for them and are partly the reason for their success.
At the danger of sounding preachy, these two reasons are exactly why everyone should watch the movie. The movie has a little something for everyone to take away. And by showing real life instances which happen in every family in a humorous way, the movie does not even preach! As such, every parent and every child should watch this movie and take inspiration from Piku and her father and hopefully change their mindset and thinking about marriage and about caring for their old parents. Also here's hoping that this trend of intellectual movies in Bollywood continues and we get to see more such movies rather than the usual song and dance sequences that we have been used to and are now bored of.
