PIKU – Entertaining all the way!

  By Shilpa Desai Goel

I don’t usually get a chance to see movies when they are new, but had heard a lot of good things about the movie-Piku, even though some said the “constipation” gets to you! Since I don’t trust others’ judgment about things, especially movies, I went to see Piku. Consider me biased but, as always, Amitabh Bachchan did not fail me. Excellent acting of all three main characters interspersed with other life-drawn characters, makes it worth watching despite the ‘constipated’ dialogues. Bachchan, as Bhashkor, a stubborn, constantly constipated, opinionated old father floors us yet again.  Deepika Padukone, as Piku – the title character, in her subtle yet infuriated acting, as the daughter who is annoyed by her demanding father but cannot leave him even to get married, shows how she can act with her silence. Her love for her father forces her to be with him, tirelessly taking care of his whims while quarreling with him. Irrfan Khan, as the owner of the taxi service company Deepika employs taxis from, plays his character of Rana Choudhary with ease. His soft corner for Piku makes him force Bhashkor-Amitabh, see a few home truths about his daughter’s love for him. The constipation issue, despite being grossly funny many times, is in a way very relevant to Bhashkor. As long he denies himself and the ones he loves all enjoyable things in life, he is constipated, in mind and body. But Irrfan points out a few ways of getting out of it and directs Amitabh to use different methods to relieve himself. With this Bhashkor is a changed man. Smooth yet incidental storyline with real life characters makes it entertaining all the way. A Sunday well spent!

Shilpa Desai Goel is from Baroda, Gujarat, India. She holds a PhD in English Literature from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. She has taught English Literature at M. S. University of Baroda and also worked as a Research Associate for the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. She has been on a very long hiatus from her teaching and researching, to set up home in the suburbs of Boston with her husband, Aditya and to care for her three lovely children. Shilpa is an active school and community volunteer and loves spending time with her family. She has dabbled in review writing of various genres of art and is now trying her hand at writing reviews for one of her passions, watching movies, both Bollywood and Hollywood.