Pikku Hindi Movie Review

Back to back Amitabh portrayals of a septuagenarian makes for interesting reading in the context that Ashok Kumar apart there is hardly a mainstream lead actor who still has films written for him. Shoojit Sarcar (Vicky donor and Madras Café) ensures that he is not treading familiar territory and surely has something not just different but interesting to savour.
Potty humour can put you off. Not this time though. The entire exercise by the film maker dealing with shit and constipation and consistently reverting to the rear and the stomach syndrome is weaved however with a touch of class. The script itself manoeuvres a unchartered territory. It is film filled with moments and one liners that do not hurt your sensitivity and ensure that your funny bone is tickled sufficiently. It eschews the predictable, formulistic treatment both in presenting relationships and viewing situations.
The story line is simple in fact almost non-existent. It deals with a hypochondriac septuagenarian Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh) who not just refuses to see matrimony in the life of his daughter Pikku (Deepika Padukone) but brazenly and selfishly ensures she remains a spinster. Pikku engages her official travel agent on a road trip from Delhi to Kolkotta. Driving them on the road trip is the owner of the taxi service Rana Chaudary (Irrfan Khan). Even the irritant daughter and the moody father keep their little squabbles. Tossed between the twosome is the victim of time and circumstances Rana. How he swaggers between the two is the script.
The film is filled with amazing moments: take the tale when the father and daughter find a knife in the boot of the car and a small little fight ensues as to who should throw it out; the episode when Bhaskor wakes up in the journey and notices that Pikku is driving the car and would insist that Rana should be back on the wheels; the intrusive efficacy of the caring aunt (Moushmi Chaterjee); the moments when Bhaskor sees reason in the suggestions that come albeit tongue in cheek from Rana as antidotes to constipation and you know that the film maker works on niceties and hates to enlarge the little niceties to dramatic statements.
Specific mention must be made about the fluidity of the script. Juhi Chaturvedi ensures that this road film does not exhaust you more so since humour in itself can be exhausting. Kamaljeet Negi scripts the tale with his camera. From the camera you know that they have moved from Delhi to Benares and from Benares to Hoogly. A fine statement in restraint and in keeping with the larger canvas so subltly and artistly carved out by Shoojit Sorcar.
The ever dependent Irfan Khan shows why he is such a reliable actor. He is constantly on a leash with his emotions and ensures that at no point in time he over scores the others in the frame. Big B is back to his King Lear days and thankfully revisits his form in the post Shamitabh outing. He is amazing. Notice how unabashedly he looks into the eye to make the most atrocious statements about the challenges at the potty and how he takes the mortal questions of life and death with spirit. The film however belongs to Deepika Padukone. The film singularly announces her arrival as an actor. Notice how she can cry without weeping, how she can hold on to her dignity even within the framework of a commercial film and navigating for a good part the role that a typical Hindi film heroine is called upon to perform. She plays an important role that in the context of our cinema can well be a water shed. She does it without much ado and yet makes an impact. Hopefully there is less of Happy New Year and more of this variety for her.
The bad stomach notwithstanding, this is a journey worth taking. Do not forget to pack your funny bone to the theatre this weekend. You do not get an opportunity too often to laugh in a film without having to laugh at some one or something.

Rating : 3.5 stars.
– : hardly anything.
+ : Crew / cast and treatment. L. Ravichander.