First Bollywood Movie based on Progeria – Paa #207

Paa, an Indian Hindi film, is based on a little boy suffering from Progeria, a rare genetic disease that makes his growth 5 to 6 times faster. By the age of 13, Auro had the body of an 80-year-old man but his mind was still that of a child! Released in December 2009, Paa stars Amitabh Bachchan (Auro), Abhishek Bachchan (Auro’s father) and Vidya Balan (Auro’s mother).

The story begins when Auro receives an award from MP Amol Arte at school for his extraordinary talent. He returns home to his family of three: single mom Vidya and grandmom.

Vidya switched on the TV and discovered that MP was Auro’s biological father. When she met Amol at Cambridge University, they instantly fell in love. After a few days, Vidya found out she was pregnant but Amol wasn’t ready for marriage or a child. He had his dream of becoming a politician like his father and didn’t want anything to distract him from achieving it.

Vidya dumped him and went to her mom in tears, terrified to tell her about the pregnancy. Her mom only asked one question: “Do you want this child or not?”

Vidya was crying profusely, shattered and frightened. She didn’t know what to do; she was a medical student at the time. Vidya’s mom had raised her alone after her husband’s death, supporting her fully to continue studying instead of being dramatic. Vidya gave birth to a beautiful child whom she named Auro… His rare disease wasn’t a secret for long. As both doctor and mother, she tried her best to make Auro’s life better.

Amol pursued his dream and started his political career successfully. Unlike many other politicians he had the passion to improve the country and its people. Auro sent him an email once and their conversation continued; after all, Auro was an interesting kid!

Auro demanded Amol take him to Rastrapati Bhavan in Delhi. Amol promised to fulfill his demand, but he forgot on the day. One day, Vidya told Auro about his father and expressed her unwillingness to share this truth with Amol. After breaking up with him, she was determined never to meet him again. She raised her son alone far away from his reach. Auro’s body rapidly decayed and his organs failed; he was hospitalized. That’s when Amol found out the truth. Years of anguish had kept Vidya from talking to him again, yet on his deathbed Auro only wanted his parents back together. So they fulfilled their son’s last wish and said goodbye…

My Reaction to the movie:
The movie was special to me for many reasons.
I was fascinated watching Amitabh ji (probably in his 60s then) play a 13-year-old kid. Father and son swapping roles in a movie blew my mind when I first heard about it. It didn’t show the struggle of an unmarried, pregnant mom in India—society would make it five times harder. The movie mainly focused on Auro’s life. Kudos to the makeup artists who transformed Amitabh ji into Auro—it looked realistic! There are three songs in the movie; all quite different from typical film tunes. Auro’s school friends were another positive aspect: I had lost all hope for people at this point, expecting him to be bullied but instead he was loved by them!

There was one little girl, Somi, who got scared and ran away from Auro on the first day of school. Throughout the movie, she kept approaching him but Auro maintained his distance. During his last days, Somi came to meet him in the hospital and finally managed to apologize. All these days she had felt terrible and wanted to say sorry! Taruni Sachdev, who played Somi’s role, died at 14 in a plane crash. I watched a few of her movies; she was such a talented little girl. It broke my heart when I heard the news of her passing. Watching Paa brought back all those memories; may her soul rest in peace. Auro’s grandmother—whom he called Bum Bum—was a strong and progressive woman: simply amazing!

Overall, it was a good movie. It was different from the typical romantic dramas and action films. It wasn’t just about Progeria, but rather the life of a little kid who brought a positive attitude to life in difficult circumstances. I’d rate Paa 7.5 out of 10.

That’s all for today! Checkout some other movie reaction.