The Hindustani: Paa

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Big B wins National Award for ‘Paa’

Amitabh Bachchan’s turn as Auro, a child suffering from progeria, in ‘Paa’ has won him his third National Award for Best Actor. And the first person to congratulate him on the triumph was his real-life son and movie dad Abhishek Bachchan.

Abhishek, who played Big B’s father in ‘Paa’ posted on his Twitter page, “I'm a very proud father today!!!!! My son just won the national award for his performance in PAA!!!!!!” He added later, "So excuse me for a while going off to do the monkey dance!!!!! Auro, auro, auro!!!!!!"

And the good wishes started flowing in from the rest of B'wood too.

Bipasha Basu said, "Congratulations to SrBachchan fr the most deserving national award fr PAA. Celebrations!"

Shilpa Shetty added, Well deserved National award, not that you need an award to reiterate your greatness as an actor:)"

And Arshad Warsi posted on Twitter, "Congratulation to the greatest actor this side of the hemisphere... We love you."

Big B had won the Best Actor National Award earlier for 'Agneepath' (1991) and 'Black' (2006). He had also picked up the Best Newcomer National Award for his performance in his debut 'Saat Hindustani' (1970).

So the win for ‘Paa’ makes it Best Actor National Award number three for Amitabh Bachchan, and with this he has caught up with Southern superstars Mammooty and Kamal Hassan who have each won the National Award thrice.

'Paa' also won the Award for Best Feature Film (Hindi) and got Arundhati Nag the award for Best Supporting actress. She played Big B's character's grandma in the movie.

Apart from 'Paa', '3 Idiots' also won big at the National Awards for 2009. The Aamir Khan starrer took home the award for Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Lyrics for Swanand Kirkire for the song 'Behti hawa sa tha woh'.

List of National Award winners this year:

Best Actor - Amitabh Bachchan for 'Paa'

Best Actress - Ananya Chatterjee for 'Abohoman' (Bengali)

Best Supporting Actor - Farooque Shaikh for 'Lahore'

Best Supporting Actress - Arundhati Nag for 'Paa'

Best Director - Raju Hirani for '3 Idiots' and Rituparno Ghosh for 'Abhoman' (Bengali)

Best Debut Director - Sanjay Puran Singh for 'Lahore'

Best Music: Amit Trivedi for 'Dev D'

Best Lyrics - Swanand Kirkire - 'Behti hawa sa tha woh' from '3 Idiots'

Best Producer - Vidhu Vinod Chopra for '3 Idiots'

Best Feature Film (Hindi) - 'Paa'

Best Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment - '3 Idiots'

Best Film on Social Issues - 'Well Done Abba'

Best National Integration Film - 'Delhi 6'

Best Feature Film (Marathi) – 'Natarang'

Best Feature Film (Bengali) - 'Abohoman'

Best Feature Film (Overall) - 'Kutty Srank' (Malayalam)

Best Special Effects - Kamal Kannan for Magadheera

(Telugu)

Best Child Artists - Jiva, Anba Karasu for 'Pasanga' (Tamil)

Best Kids Film - Ottani Pati and Keshu

Special Jury Award - Editor Sreekar Prasad

Watch: Paa and 3 Idiots a hit at Star Screen Awards

Star Screen Awards was not only about 3 Idiots, which mostly grabbed all the awards but also about Paa for which BigB received the best actor award.

B.O. update: 'Paa' starts slow, picks up, 'Radio' is dull

The two new releases, PAA and RADIO, started on a slow note on Friday. PAA, of course, had a better start, with the film opening to a 30% response at several plexes. The occupancy picked up by noon shows and the film was in the 60% + range towards the evening shows at plexes of major centres.

The advantage with PAA is, the film is carrying excellent reports and a jump in business is expected on Saturday and Sunday. One will have to wait for the Saturday and Sunday figures to ascertain the jump in collections.

On the other hand, RADIO had a poor start at the ticket window. The opening collections were 10% to 15%, while the reports are weak.

Paa - Movie Review

Can you ever imagine watching an Amitabh Bachchan film and not watching Amitabh Bachchan in it? Seems impossible, isn't it? The towering persona and the rich baritone just cannot be overlooked. But R. Balki transforms the legendary actor into Auro, replaces the rich baritone with the voice of an adolescent [who's neither grown up, nor a kid] and taps the hitherto untapped talent of the icon.

Trust me, 10 minutes into the film and you forget you're watching Amitabh Bachchan. For, Auro takes over the moment he is introduced to the viewer.

PAA is a simple film told in the most simplistic manner and that's one of the prime reasons why this film works big time. The emotions would've fallen flat had the writing been sub-standard or the execution of the material been humdrum or the actors been inferior. But, thankfully, PAA scores in all three departments, although it must be said that the entire slum redevelopment episode is a complete put-off.

Yet, all said and done, PAA is an outstanding film. A film for every paa, every maa... for everyone with a heart. Take a bow, Auro!

Auro [Amitabh Bachchan] is an intelligent, witty 13-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing. He suffers from progeria. Mentally, he is 13, very normal, but physically he looks five times older.

Inspite of his condition, Auro is a happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya [Vidya Balan], a gynaecologist, but is completely clueless of his father's identity. Till he meets him, Amol [Abhishek Bachchan], who is a full of ideals politician.

Okay, let's not disrespect Balki by calling PAA a rip-off of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON or JACK. It's not! PAA looks at the varied relationships so minutely. It may've been publicized as a father-son film, but the women - mother and granny - play equally pivotal parts.

The first hour of PAA grips you in patches. The introduction of Auro is brilliant, but the moment the story focuses on the politician and his arch rival's sub-plot, it goes off-track. Sure, there are some interesting sequences, but the impact isn't mesmeric.

But the post-interval portions take the film to dizzy heights and camouflages the defects. The father-son bonding and the penultimate 25 minutes raise the bar. The emotional quotient is tremendous. Get ready to overhear a lot of sniffs and see a lot of moist eyes once the lights are switched on.

Note the two sequences in the climax, when Auro reveals what his father's first mistake was and the pheras towards the end. Also recall the scene when the girl Auro detests for a certain reason shows up with a sketch of Auro. It moves you completely.

But let's not mistaken PAA to be a rona-dhona movie. It's a positive film with funny/light moments in plenty. The conversation between Auro and his best friend, on various occasions, are superb. Also, not once does PAA show Auro as 'different'. He's one among the kids and there's no discrimination whatsoever, which is remarkable.

Director R. Balki deserves a salute for thinking out of the box and also presenting Amitabh Bachchan like never before. The writing may be erratic, but his handling of the emotional moments is exemplary. Note this, he would be a force to reckon with after PAA. Ilaiyaraaja's music is soothing. P.C. Sreeram's cinematography is incredible.

It would be a blunder if one missed out the contribution of the makeup artists. Transforming the veteran actor into a kid must've been an arduous task and Christien Tinsley and Domini Till deserve to be complimented for making Auro look so real.

Now to the performances! No amount of praise, no amount of adjectives and personifications would do justice to Amitabh Bachchan's performance as Auro. Sure, the icon has enthralled us with superlative performances in his four-decade career, but PAA is something else. The icon keeps surprising you at regular intervals and PAA is one of those beautiful surprises, which will remain etched in your memory forever.

That doesn't mean that the remaining performances get dwarfed by Auro. Sure, PAA belongs to Auro, but not once does Abhishek Bachchan dither from his position or seems inferior. This is the hallmark of a tremendous actor, which Abhishek is. Vidya is another surprise of PAA. She takes giant strides as an actor and proves yet again that given the right roles, she can match up to the best in the business.

Paresh Rawal is effective. Arundhati Naag is amazing. So is the kid, Pratik, enacting the role of Auro's best buddy. His telephonic conversation with Auro is superb. Jaya Bachchan's presence is lovely.

On the whole, PAA is an amazing experience. It makes you realize two things. One, the Hindi film industry is also capable of narrating fresh stories. Two, Amitabh Bachchan is truly the most accomplished actor this side of the Atlantic.

Talking from the business point of view, PAA has been made in a sensible and reasonable budget [approx. Rs. 17 crores, including P & A expenses], which should easily be recovered from multiplexes alone.

In the final tally, here's a film that should win awards [for Auro] and also box-office rewards, given its low costs. A film that should strike a chord with every paa, maa... just about everyone with a heart!

Bollywood Celebrities at Paa Movie Premiere

I can tell my kids Big B was my first child

‘Paa’ is a very special movie for Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan, who is playing Amitabh Bachchan's mother in her forthcoming movie "Paa", says that now she can proudly tell everyone that the 67-year-old megastar was her first child.

"After this role, I can proudly tell my children and grandchildren that Big B was my first child. Not even in my wildest dreams had I thought of playing mother to the living legend of the industry," said Vidya Balan.

"It was a humbling experience to work with Bachchanji. This is a very special movie for me," she added.

Balan is paired with Abhishek Bachchan in "Paa", which is an emotional story of a father-son relationship. Amitabh will be seen as Abhishek's 13-year-old son Auro who is suffering from a rare disease progeria, which accelerates ageing.

The film is schedule for a Dec 4 release.

Amitabh invites Aamir for a meeting today

They’ll discuss marketing strategies for 'Paa', '3 Idiots'

Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are leaving no stone unturned to promote their upcoming films "Paa" and "3 Idiots" respectively - the two are meeting today (Nov 15) to discuss marketing gimmicks for both the films.

"Paa" is releasing on Dec 4, while "3 Idiots" hits the screens on Dec 25.

"Aamir comes over Sunday at my initiative to discuss a few promotional points for our respective films. It is always a joy to meet him... We have always spent time together discussing various topics of common interest and yes films is one of them. Let’s see how things go," Amitabh posted on his blog on Saturday.

Aamir, who excels at promotional gimmicks for his movies, has so far had live chat with fans on the internet, reportedly got in touch with them through social-networking websites and even launched the music of the film online.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, "3 Idiots" has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller "Five Point Someone", it stars R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor apart from Aamir.

Big B too is promoting "Paa", in which he plays a 13-year-old suffering from the disease progeria that causes premature ageing. He says his fans often come to visit him on Sundays and that he plans to "give hand outs autographed by me or maybe by Auro".

"There is a unique way in which the promotion for 'Paa' is scheduled over the radio and soon you shall all be in a position to witness it...," he wrote.

"Talks have now been initiated for the premiere to be held in not one, not two, but three centres. And we are diligently working on a London-Dubai-Mumbai destination... The logistics and the mechanics are being worked out and hopefully there will be some news soon," he added.

Directed by R. Balakrishnan, "Paa" stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan as Amitabh's parents.

Big B plays good son to AB junior

Amitabh Bachchan plays Abhishek Bachchan’s 13 year old son Auro in Balki’s Paa affected by a rare abnormality marked by premature aging

Abhishek Bachchan is all praise for real-life dad Amitabh Bachchan who is bound to leave audiences in awe with his performance in Paa. Director Balki who earlier directed Amitabh Bachchan in Cheeni Kum with Tabu got the idea of Paa after researching over the disease Progeria and also a certain day when he saw both father – son bonding, ‘The idea came when I walked into Amitji’s office one day and found Abhishek there in a very mature mould. I was completely fascinated seeing a sombre Abhishek and a playful Amitji who was lounging around. The scene I saw made it seem like Abhishek was the elder and Amitji was the son.’

Balki did intense research on the topic and said, ‘I read extensively about it and learned that there are only 40-odd cases of children across the world who are afflicted with this disease. It matched the concept I had in mind. So in a way I found the concept first and then went looking for a disease to match it. Not the other way around.’ Abhishek spoke of his experience during the shoot saying, ‘Paa was an unique experience, in fact the unique nature of this role was the reason I chose to do the film. The film gave me the opportunity to see how real life role reversal works. When Balki first spoke to me about the film and the concept he had in mind, I told him immediately, ‘I am on!’ It is not every day that you get to play your father’s father. It was great working together and he was a good son!’ Balki signs off saying, ‘The film’s USP is that it will be the only time when you get to see a son playing his dad’s dad and also the one time when you get to see a father playing his son’s son.’

Paa - First Look

Paa, Amitabh Bachchan,Abhishek Bachchan,Vidya Balan,Paresh Rawal

Paa - The movie, storyline and photos

Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) is an intelligent, witty 13 yr old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing.

He suffers from a progeria like syndrome. Mentally he is 13, very normal, but physically he looks 5 times older. In spite of his condition, Auro is a very happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya (Vidya Balan), who is a gynaecologist.

Amol Arte (Abhishek Bachchan), is young, progressive and a full of ideals, politician. He is out to prove to the world that 'politics' is not a bad word. He is a man with a mission. Auro is Amol's son.

Introducing 12 year-old Bachchan

66 year-old Amitabh Bachchan plays a 12 year-old for the first time in R Balki’s Paa. He will be introduced as a debutant in the opening title of the film.

Director R Balki made the decision as he believes (rightly so) that it is the first time Amitabh Bachchan is playing a 12 year-old and. The Cheeni Kum director said that if there is anyone in India who (possibly) hasn’t seen Bachchan before will not recognize him at all. His character is simply called Auro in the film.

The actor is a school of acting in himself. He was so involved in the film that became the character even when the cameras went off. He looked and behaved like an ill-behaved 12 year-old on the sets. As Auro, he threw tantrums and was hard to control or to discipline. He would run around the place and not sit still till people gave in to his demands.

What’s more is that his character Auro has only 4-5 teeth and that’s because he is addicted to chocolates and ages in reverse. Amitabh Bachchan has been advised not to eat chocolates because of his health issues but he didn’t let that come in the way of his role. He used to relish chocolates on the sets of the film. The reason Auro is a chocolate addict is because he suffers from Progeria and chocolates aides the metabolism of people suffering from this condition.

Balki says that the veteran actor has delivered the finest performance of his career as a 12 year-old and deserves not only the best acting award but also the awards in the child and debutant actor categories.

The Hindustani