Piku

Movie Review (Hindi)

I enjoy movies directed by Shoojit Sircar. Especially because he teams up with an excellent scriptwriter, Juhi Chaturvedi, and voila! an excellent movie is created.

Piku has an interesting story and well defined characters. I have always appreciated Irrfan Khan's acting abilities. I find Amitabh Bachchan getting better with age. But the surprise package is Deepika Padukone. She was so much at ease, getting into the skin of Piku, that I really felt sorry for her and annoyed with her dad.

The humour built around the digestive tract was beyond compare and the toilet seat sitting on top of the car is something I am not likely to forget in a hurry. The last shot of Mr Bachchan touring Kolkata was a delight as was the huge ancestral house where the last scenes were shot.

But the movie is all about the journey from Delhi to Kolkata, Bhaskar Banerjee's (Amitabh) perception of life as it changes and Rana's (Irrfan) exasperation and growing fondness for Piku.

Looking forward to more such quirky though true to life stories...

Margarita With a Straw

Movie Review (Hindi)

This is a fairly simple coming of age story of a college going girl. Only tiny hitch -- she suffers from cerebral palsy. Now that tiny hitch is what makes the movie worth watching. Good thing I had read about Kalki Koechlin or I would want to know, since when did Bollywood audition young girls with cerebral palsy for roles in mainstream cinema. Whether this is mainstream is another question.

Director Shonali Bose has handled the actors so sensitively that every act seemed to evoke an emotional response. I asked myself, how many times have I given a thought to the real needs of  a person suffering from cerebral palsy? Answer - Never. That certainly does not mean they don't have a life as real as mine or that they are too mired with their disability.

I was really surprised that the censor board members for once decided to act like adults. Love the fact that young actors take the plunge with unorthodox roles. Both Kalki as Laila and Sayani as Khanum seemed quite comfortable in their roles as partners. Revathi who plays Kalki's mother is excellent as a loving parent, an angry parent, a forgiving and dying parent, all in one movie.

Here's to more Margaritas with or without straws!!