Piku

<p>Piku Banerjee ( ) is a 30-year-old who resides in , along with her 70-year-old father, Bhashkor Banerjee ( ). The Bhashkor has problems with chronic and traces the root of every problem to his movements. His habits often lead to arguments between Piku, the servants and Piku’s maternal aunt, Chhobi Mashi ( ), who often visits them. Piku loves her father and, as her mother has died, takes good care of him, but at the same time, also gets extremely irritated with him because of his . Bhashkor has several done, but everything comes out to be normal, severely disappointing him. Ignoring Piku’s vehement objections, he has also recently fired the for stealing , a charge that the maid opposes, and this is the fifth maid that Bhashkor has fired in the last two months. Moreover, Bhashkor is also opposed to the institution of and wants Piku to take care of him to satisfy her maternal urge. He states that marriage is a decision, and that he wanted Piku’s late mother to be independent, but she wasted her life in the service of him. Bhashkor also criticises Chhobi Maashi for marrying thrice and states that her own daughter, Eisha ( ), was never a priority for her. Piku’s , Sayyed Afroze ( ), is a good friend of business owner Rana Chaudhary ( ), whose taxi Piku always uses to commute to her workplace, but is notorious for being a very difficult customer. Regularly stressed both by her work and by her father’s finicky behaviour, Piku criticises the taxi with excessive backseat driving, due to which they lose focus and cause several . As no taxi driver at Rana’s company wants to take Piku’s duty, Rana complains to Sayyed but Piku brushes both of them off, offended by Rana’s rude nature, and tells Sayyed that she is taking a break from the office. When Piku goes for a date with Aniket ( ), Bhashkor keeps interrupting her, claiming that he has a , and makes such a fuss that Piku has to call his regular doctor, Dr. Srivastava ( ), and talk about Bhashkor’s texture and temperature, causing Aniket to lose all appetite. Bhashkor also has a bit too much to at Chhobi Mashi’s party and later dances at home, which results in his dropping and him being put on , leaving Piku distraught. Elsewhere, Rana has his own family problems with his widowed mother and sister. Rana’s sister stole her mother-in-law’s and gave it to her mother, due to which her husband abandoned her along with their baby. Bhashkor’s relative, Nabendu ( ), arrives from to secure his consent to sell their ancestral home named Champakunj there. Nabendu tells that a is interested in the land and is willing to pay top rates, but Bhashkor objects vehemently and decides to visit Kolkata to stop the deal. Piku has to comply in accompanying him, since she cannot let him travel alone after the recent health scare. Bhashkor cannot travel by due to his problem and even refuses to travel by as he receives constipation due to all the rhythmic movement. Bhashkor decides to travel by road, so that he can stop wherever he wants for and receive some going in his body, but none of Rana’s taxi drivers are willing to endure Piku or her father. Disappointed with the taxi company, Piku tries to book a flight to Kolkata, but Rana personally arrives at their home to take the family to Kolkata himself, without informing his mother and sister about the trip. Rana is puzzled when he finds loads of being loaded onto the car along with a for Bhashkor. During the to Kolkata, the group encounters many incidents, including Rana on the verge of losing patience due to Bhashkor’s fussy behaviour and his constipation. Piku finds a large in Rana’s , and Bhashkor insists Rana to throw the knife away or else he would not travel by the car. Rana pleads that the knife was kept by drivers for their , but has to eventually compromise and throw the knife away. During discussion, Rana reveals that he is an and had a job in civil in . However, he was made to work as on the site, despite being offered a job as . When Rana protested, he was fired and that is when he returned to to manage his established by his late father. They spend the night at a in , where Rana shares a room with Piku and Bhashkor as all other rooms are full and he refuses to sleep in the car. The next morning, Bhashkor tries -style sitting upon Rana’s suggestion, which does not seem to help either. The group finally reaches Kolkata, where Bhashkor’s younger brother and sister-in-law still reside in Champakunj, and Bhashkor asks Rana to stay for a day. Piku and Rana spend time with each other in the city and gradually grow close. Rana also subtly hints Piku to not sell Champakunj during a discussion. The next day, Rana leaves Kolkata after advising Bhashkor to stop his eccentricities which he eventually agrees to. Piku changes her mind and decides not to sell Champakunj. Meanwhile, Bhashkor’s sudden desire for increases after Dr. Srivastava gives him the of a having died at the age of 99. Believing that he will also live a long life by doing so, Bhashkor ends up bicycling through a part of the city alone, leaving everyone tensed since Bhashkor did not inform anyone about it. When Bhashkor returns, Piku berates him for eating and for being irresponsible, but Bhashkor simply states that his constipation is cleared, and that he that needs to bicycle every day. He also remembers Rana having advised him to eat everything and not to be dependent on anyone. Piku is secretly happy but does not emote much. The next day, everyone discovers that Bhashkor has died in his sleep, probably from or . Piku states that Bhashkor always wished for a peaceful death, and that his only health problem was constipation which was also cleared on the day before his death. She returns to Delhi, where she arranges Bhashkor’s funeral. While there, Dr. Srivastava reveals to Piku that Sayyed, too, has constipation and Bhashkor was aware about it for a long time, causing Piku to break up with Sayyed. A few days later, Piku pays up whatever due she owes Rana and he appreciates her for having taken care of her father like an ideal daughter. Piku renames her Delhi residence “Bhashkor ” in her father’s memory, and the maid, who had left due to Bhashkor’s tantrums, returns to work. The film ends with a scene of Piku playing with Rana in the in front of her house. Shoojit Sircar’s original choices of the main cast were in the title role, and . These three actors were given the script. However, Chopra turned down the part. The cast of , and was finalised in mid-2014. In preparation for the role of Piku, Padukone learned Bengali as her character is from Bengal. There were early reports that was cast as the romantic lead opposite , but Sengupta plays Padukone’s character’s best-friend. plays the romantic lead opposite . Bachchan essays the role of Piku’s father, while Moushumi Chatterjee portrays Piku’s maternal aunt. was cast in a cameo. for began in August 2014, when the film’s first schedule took off in . The first schedule for Piku was also filmed in and and included indoor scenes. The second schedule of filming started on 30 October 2014 in Kolkata, mostly in the north. Specifically, shooting took place at the in the city’s Shyambazar neighbourhood and at Bishop Lefroy Road. During the shooting at Howrah Bridge, Bachchan bicycled around the city dressed as his character. The Kolkata schedule was completed on 18 November 2014 and shooting now shifted to Delhi and Patdi Near in . The “Journey Song” was shot in Gujarat in December 2014 on the state highway connecting to . Shooting in Delhi took place at Gurgaon cyber hub and city club where Padukone and Khan were seen filming. The film was wrapped up after its last schedule shot in . Padukone and Khan shot on the ghats of Banaras under chilly conditions and attracted a crowd. Shoojit Sircar said was not written with an in mind, but because of the tendency of Indian theatre operators to force intervals into films during screenings, Sircar decided to accommodate an interval during the editing stage. The music of the film is composed by while the lyrics are penned Anupam Roy and Manoj Yadav. The first song, “Journey Song”, was released on 1 April 2015. The official music album was released online on April 21, 2015. The makers of the film released a video of day one on the sets of which is called . The video has the cast speak about what viewers can expect from the film. As a part of promotions, the makers released on-set pictures of the shooting where the main cast are seen in character. Bachchan’s first look was revealed — depicting his character of an old Bengali man with long hair and a big belly. On 25 March 2015, as part of the promotion, Deepika revealed the poster of the film through her Twitter handle. grossed (US$240,000) in India on its opening day. On Saturday, the film earned (US$1.5 million), showing a growth of 65%. On Sunday, it earned (US$1.3 million), for a domestic weekend total of (US$2.9 million). Internationally, had the biggest opening weekend for a Hindi film of 2015, earning over US$2 million. reported that the film had a “very strong hold” on its first Monday in India, earning (US$3.0 million), and it eventually earned (US$7.1 million) at the end of its first week. In ten days, the film earned (US$8.3 million) in India. The film earned (US$2.6 million) in its second week, and Box Office India projected that the film would earn around (US$9.5 million) domestically at the end of its theatrical run. The film received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. On website the movie has an approval score of 89% on the basis of 19 reviews with an average rating of 7.4 out of 10. Raja Sen of gave 4.5 out of 5 stars, writing that it is a “film with tremendous heart — one that made me guffaw and made me weep and is making sure I’m smiling wide just thinking about it now — but also a sharp film, with nuanced details showing off wit, progressive thought and insightful writing”. In a 4 out of 5 star review, praised the writing, direction and performances. Pratim D. Gupta of gave an average of 7/10, saying “Don’t go in with a lot of laugh-out-loud expectations and you will enjoy for what it is –– a simple, slice-of-life bittersweet tale about a family fighting constipation”. Gayatri Sankar of gave 4 out of 5 stars and wrote “In totality, is a wonderful family film, which will certainly make you wear a broad smile.” of gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and said “On the whole, is a must watch this season as it brings back the memories of the legendary directors Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee and likes”. of gave 4 stars out of five and said ” , directed by Shoojit Sircar, is a charming, unpredictable comedy that – like Sircar’s – mines humor from the unlikeliest of places”. Anuj Kumar of gave it a positive review, saying “A slice of life that deals with the practical difficulties in loving your aging parents in a light-hearted, feel good way, is a progressive piece of cinema that brings the parent back into the picture”. Sweta Kaushal of praised the portrayal of a strong, independent female protagonist and noted on how well Sircar presents a “realistic view of a typical Indian family”. Anupama Chopra gave 4 out of 5 stars and said ” is a delightful film about very little and yet it says so much. This isn’t a movie focused on reaching a destination. This is a movie about the journey, both literal and emotional”. Saibal Chatterjee of gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and called it a “magnificently original film that delivers a memorably unique movie experience” and praised the performance of the three leads. Tanmaya Nanda of praised the film for its feminist tone and its unique approach in dealing with scatological humour. of gave 3 out of 5 stars, and wrote ” goes into an atypical zone for a Hindi mainstream film. It breaks the plot-driven, high on drama rule and yet manages to forge a big connect with the audience; The slice-of-life film has characters, relationships and interactions that feel real and evoke empathy in viewers—be they aging parents or their caregivers”. On the contrary, Shubhra Gupta of gave 2.5 out of 5, saying ” sparks in moments, and I threw my head back and guffawed in a few. But the rest of it stays only mildly amusing. I wanted more motion in these motions”. Rachel Saltz of wrote ” , directed by Shoojit Sircar from a script by Juhi Chaturvedi, isn’t a typical Hindi movie. It lopes along, following no formula beyond the roughest outlines of a romantic comedy.” In 2019, ranked Padukone’s performance among .</p>