On the Trail of Mani (Baradwaj Rangan on PAA)

[Thanks to mansi!]

EXCERPT:

“‘EVER SINCE R BALKI BEGAN TO CROW about his stunt casting – father becoming son, son becoming father – I’ve harboured apprehensions about Paa, and the self-congratulatory trailers didn’t exactly help. From Amitabh Bachchan’s creepy-crawly laugh (after he announces the film’s title, or calls out to his paa, or perhaps both) to the supposedly life-affirming, heart-warming, throat-lump-inducing “monkey dance,” everything pointed towards syrupy disaster. . . . The major miracle of Paa is that this concern is rendered blithely redundant. It appeared, at first, just another cutesy gimmick that the promos proclaimed “introducing Amitabh Bachchan” – but sometimes, it seems, there is truth in advertising. This isn’t the great declamator whose baritone echoes through our cranial crannies even when we’re not watching his films, and neither is this the sickeningly overfamiliar patriarch with the white goatee. The actor comes up with a beautifully modulated physical performance, with his long limbs in oversized clothes suggesting just the right touch of adolescent gangliness – but that’s simply half the story. The real stars of Paa are the makeup magicians, who, through prosthetics, transform a superstar we’ve known and loved for over three decades into a complete newcomer. The film would not have worked if we’d seen Amitabh Bachchan. It works because we see Auro, the character, with a face that resembles a mummified light bulb, highlighted by tributaries of veins, strange teeth and a stranger voice. . . .”

Read the complete piece HERE.