Paa

<p>Auro is an intelligent and witty 12-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic disorder called . Mentally he is twelve and very normal, but physically he looks five times older. In spite of his condition, Auro is a very happy boy. He lives with his mother, Vidya, who is a . Meanwhile, Amol Arte is a young, flamboyant . 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; however, Vidya conceals this from him. Amol meets Auro when he visits Auro’s school as a chief guest. He comes on the occasion of a competition on the “visionary of India.” Amol decides Auro is the winner, impressed by the white globe he made. But being seen with such a prominent politician, Auro is found by the media. The next day, the media tries to enter his school. Auro, annoyed at this, sends him an email, which says, “I hate you.” Amol reads it and obtains a restraining order from the High Court stating that nobody can disturb him without permission. Auro, relieved, tells him of his desire to visit the president’s house. But due to Amol’s political issues, he fails to show up on the appointed day. Auro, however, loses confidence in him but later agrees to go to Delhi with him, although he now knows that Amol is his father. Though Amol does not know that Auro is his son, he takes him to Delhi to see the president’s house. Auro says that he still needs to forgive Amol for his first mistake (not accepting him), but he doesn’t tell him what it is. On his 13th birthday, he is in the hospital, and he tells his father that he, Auro, is his father’s mistake. Auro tries to get his mother and father back together, but Vidya resists, still hurt by the fact that Amol wanted her to have an abortion when they first found out she was pregnant. Amol realizes his mistake though and proposes to Vidya, as he is still in love with her. He stays by Auro’s side when he finds out that Auro is his son. Auro’s health begins to deteriorate as he reaches his 13th birthday, his physical defects catching up. However, he is finally able to reunite his mother and father once again as Vidya gives in to her feelings for Amol and her motherly love for Auro. They perform the first wedding rites in the hospital in front of their dying son, implying that they will do the rest later. Auro, succumbing to his disease, says his last words, “Maa,” to Vidya and “Paa,” to Amol before dying with a satisfied smile. The movie ends in the rain with Vidya mourning Auro’s death as Amol comforts her. The film had playing the role of a child who is suffering from , a genetic disorder which leads to the quick acceleration of the ageing process in children. , Amitabh’s real-life son, played the role of his father. was the only choice for the mother’s role. , the wife of late actor-director was asked to play the role of Vidya’s mother (Bachchan’s maternal grandmother). Most of the parts were shot in and some parts of the film were shot in the UK and . A small portion of the filming was done at Cambridge and Oxford. The clock of Corpus Christi College and the courtyard of St. John’s College in Cambridge and Brasenose Lane and Radcliffe Square in Oxford have been shown in a song sequence. The film was also shot in , Malaysia. The was actually one of the typical Malaysian schools. One of the notable things in the movie was Amitabh’s prosthetic make-up. It was done by Hollywood’s (famous for his work in , and other films) and Dominie Till of fame. There was a plan to make a sequel named , but Balki stopped it. In the words of Balki, “My main aim was not to make a film on . My main motive behind making was to reverse the roles of Amitabh and Abhishek. I decided to do something like this because once I was with both of them and I saw Abhishek behaving in a very matured manner and Amitabh, behaving as a kid. It was then that this idea struck me.” was ‘s first venture into producing films for his family company AB Corp. Ltd. Abhishek not only was one of the lead actors in , but was the main hands-on producer in charge of the film’s budget, marketing, and the entire production of the film. It took hours for to put on his makeup and to take it off. The soundtrack was composed by veteran composer , who reused many of his own Tamil songs. The lyrics were penned by . “Halke Se Bole” is based on the song “Putham Pudhu Kaalai” from his 1980 film . “Gumm Summ Gumm” is based on the song “Sangathil Padatha” which Ilaiyaraaja had composed for the 1982 film . The song “Mere Paa” is based on his song “Kaatru Vizhi”, from ‘s film . The song has an eclectic mix of Irish and Tamil folk music, both seamlessly fused to create a soothing melody that appears as a leitmotif, in the film’s theme music. A critic from wrote that ” is primarily a platform for Auro to steal your heart away. He does. And no, he isn’t a desi “. A critic from wrote that “This would-be tearjerker without the musical numbers of typical Bollywood fare is for die-hard Amitabh Bachchan fans only”. A critic from wrote that “A film that should strike a chord with every paa, maa… just about everyone with a heart!”</p>