BEHINDWOODS COLUMN

There are many films that hit the screens every Friday and these days, on other days too. But only a very few leave a lasting impression. One such film was the recently released Hindi flick Piku that featured the legendary Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone.

If someone asks you for the story of Piku, you actually will have to search for words to put it coherently. It is more about emotions that we feel in everyday lives but dismiss them off as trivial.

However, just for the sake of this write up, Piku (Deepika Padukone) is an architect managing her firm with a partner. She is single, motherless, living with a highly demanding seventy plus dad Bhashkor (Amitabh Bachchan) in Delhi. He is a hypochondriac, obsessed with his scatological issues and is overbearing to people around him; in short, a difficult old man to deal with. Rana (Irrfan) is a civil engineer but is forced to manage his late dad’s cab service company. Piku is Rana’s customer who uses his cabs regularly but is dissatisfied with his services.

When Bhashkor and Piku decide to take on a road trip to their ancestral home in Kolkata, Rana is forced to drive them up and the film is all about what happens before, during and after this road trip. 

Piku is about many things but on the surface, it is about the argumentative Amitabh Bachchan who is an eccentric, attention-seeking, selfish old man and his obsession about constipation. He is not keen about his daughter getting married and even proclaims to every prospective suitor that she is not a virgin and that she is financially independent and does not require a male mate. 

Piku is also about the very earthy Deepika Padukone who among all other things understands her father and handles him in her own way to let him know that he is taken care of. She is well-read, manages her household and also rooted. The two share a unique bond which to an outsider may come across as weird with their non-stop altercations.

The film is interesting and multidimensional. The immediate thought that struck me on getting out of the theatre was the possibilities of a remake of this in Tamil and the cast list.

The first fitting name to carry on Bhashkor’s role is undoubtedly Rajinikanth. I did not have any contenders for this. At a time when the man known for his style is said to team up with Ranjith for supposedly an ageing gangster’s role, Bhashkor’s character would be completely a new and refreshing one that the actor has never tried before. It would in fact provide the necessary fodder for his untapped histrionics. Rajini can bring about the various layers of Bhashkor with perfection. It would indeed be a treat for the audience. 

The next one is that of Irrfan’s role which requires someone who can hold his fort in a frame with Rajini and at the same time serve the character entirely. To me it is only Dhanush! He can carry off the role pretty effortlessly and would be believable as a Civil Engineer who is managing a cab business; someone who is sorted and can see through things; someone who can take an upper hand when needed. More than anything else, this would be a mother of all casting coups - to place the much accomplished dad-in-law and son-in-law in one film. This single factor alone could propel the film’s expectations manifold.