“Aye Piku!” – in the voice of Amitabh Bachchan – that’s how the Sony TV Piku Movie premiere promotions went – every 15 minutes of movie followed by a commercial break which had snippets from the making of Piku – some uncut scenes – and of course ads.
I had missed watching this movie in theatre when it had released – but made it sure to watch the TV premiere on the Independence Day weekend. And yes, it was worth it.
The initial 15 minutes of the movie with snappy dialogues exchanged between Piku (Deepika Padukhone) and Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) reminded me of my arguments with my mother. Any single educated working professional independent girl – of 28 plus years old – staying in her parent’s house in a cosmopolitan city in India, of course with her parent/s, will relate to the Piku character. So did I.
The theme throughout the movie is constipation – but is it just the bowel constipation which the director – Shoojit Sircar, and writer – Juhi Chaturvedi, of the movie are pointing at or is it beyond that? I felt it was beyond that.
Yes, when a person is constipated – then he/she becomes cranky all day and that crankiness somehow makes the atmosphere around cranky and other people in and around that atmosphere also get affected on this crankiness – means they get affected of his/her constipation.
It is simple – like those algebra things we did in school.
If c= constipation and e = crankiness and if c = e means Constipation = Crankiness.
There is a dialogue were the character Bhaskor says – “Insaan ka emotion uske motion se juda hota hai.” (A man’s emotion is connected with his bowel motions.)
This statement is quite true. If bowel constipation can create so much of an issue then imagine what mental constipation can?
Again in one dialogue with gestures Chaubi Mashi Moushumi Chatterjee) says Bhaskor that your constipation is not in your stomach but in your head.
Constipation means a high level of constraint or restriction. If you apply this definition to your thoughts and your opinions and if they happen to be constraint imagine the pressure you create on yourself and on the people around you. And if you happen to be a senior person with power, you tend to put more of this ugly pressure on all those junior to you. Worst scenario is – when you have a society full of people with mentally constipated people, means you are actually living in a terrifying cranky constraint constipated atmosphere.
Yes, I think that is what movie in a way somehow indicates and even if it doesn’t I still got this idea after watching the movie because in more than one way we are surrounded by people who have such thought restrictions – not necessary they are our seniors or parents- they can be people whom you have grown up with – your friends, your peers – and their influence may not be positive but negative, pessimistic to the level where it can break you.
You are a woman, you are educated, you are working and financially independent yet dependent due to the baggage of the constricting thoughts you carry or you are made to carry—in short you are still caged. Sixty nine years of Independence and counting – but we are yet to get independence from the heavy baggage of constipated thoughts.
One day of living life as suggested by the character Rana Chaudhary (Irrfan Khan) without any restrictions solves Bhaskor’s major life problem – but wasn’t it too late for him to realize?
The movie has amazing outstanding performances by, of course, the Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan and Moushumi Chatterjee. Piku is a beautiful movie – and in my opinion not just applicable to Bengali families but to many other families, communities and individuals in our country.
…Ashu Bolar
PANORAMAA 