Piku
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Casts: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan, Jishu Sengupta
Banner: MSM Motion Pictures, Saraswati Entertainment, Rising Sun Films
Director: Shoojit Sircar
Producer: Ronnie Lahiri, N P Singh, Sneha Rajani
Writers: Juhi Chaturvedi
Music: Juhi Chaturvedi
Release Date: 8th May 2015
Story line: PIKU is a quirky roller coaster ride of a crazy father-daughter relationship essayed by Amitabh and Deepika, along with Irrfan in a pivotal author backed role.
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A cab driver (Irrfan Khan) is caught between a dysfunctional father (Amitabh Bachchan) and daughter (Deepika Padukone) as he drives them to Calcutta. Piku is a quirky roller coaster ride of a crazy father-daughter relationship essayed by Amitabh and Deepika, along with Irrfan in a pivotal author backed role.
Piku (Deepika Padukone) is a working girl in a cosmopolitan city. An architect by profession, she is a simple, Independent and strong girl from Delhi. She is grounded and rooted to what matters most – family… and in this case, her father, who she looks after.
Piku is the kind of girl who doesn’t shy away from responsibilities. The film takes audiences through the ups and downs and everyday problems she faces with her father.
Baba – Bhaskhor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) is Piku’s father. He is retired and spends most of his time obsessing about age-related issues.
He is stubborn, dramatic and comes with his own set of problems… he has very specific, but unconventional, likes and dislikes and fixed ideologies. He is not a man who enjoys socializing. Baba is not the hero here, but the film takes a look into his household.
Rana – He (Irrfan Khan) is the outsider who has nothing to do with the Banerjee family but gets entangled with them and all their drama.
He is the owner of a taxi service, who comes with his own quota of problems and then happens to get some more, when he finds himself entangled in the Banerjee family. Things take a funny turn once Rana gets involed with the family.
When Bhashkor emotionally blackmails Piku to take a road trip from Delhi to Kolkata, the owner of the local cab service Rana (Irrfan Khan) has no choice but to drive them personally since none of his drivers are willing to endure Piku or her eccentric father.
During this undesired road trip they learn to deal with each other’s moods and idiosyncrasies and it reveals more than Bhashkor’s bathroom habits.
What follows is a heady mix of motion, emotion & commotion which culminates as Piku and Bhaskhor return to their roots in Kolkata, giving us an insight into the father daughter relationship where Bhaskor’s irritating yet endearing demeanour and Piku’s equally headstrong nature may always be at loggerheads but this seemingly dysfunctional relationship is bonded by an understated and an unconditional love that leaves you wanting more.
Facts And Figures: Principal photography for Piku began in August 2014, when shooting of the film’s first schedule took off in Kolkata. The first schedule for Piku was also filmed in Delhi and Mumbai and included filming of indoor scenes. The second schedule of filming started on 30 October 2014 in Kolkata and took place mostly in the north part of the city. Specifically, shooting for the film took place at the iconic Howrah Bridge in the city’s Shyambazar neighbourhood and at Bishop Lefroy Road, the residence of Satyajit Ray. During the shooting at Howrah Bridge, Bachchan was seen cycling around the city streets dressed as his character. The Kolkata schedule was completed on 18 November 2014 and shooting has now shifted to Delhi and Patdi Near Surendranagar in Gujarat. Shooting in Delhi took place at Gurgaon cyber hub and city club where Padukone and Khan were seen filming for the film. The film was wrapped up after its last schedule being shot in Varanasi. Both Padukone and Khan shot on the ghats of Banaras under chilly conditions and also attracted a crowd on the ghats of Banaras
Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director:Shoojit Sircar is an Indian film director and producer. He directed Yahaan (2005), Vicky Donor (2012) and Madras Cafe (2013) and produced Aparajita Tumi (2012).He won the National Film Awards for Vicky Donor in Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment category,shared with John Abraham. He won the Indian Competition Special Jury Award at Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema in 2005 for Yahaan. He is now making a documentary film on Amitabh Bachchan. He is associated with Rising Sun Films and has made television commercials for Saffola, 2G, Apsara Pencils, Fair & Lovely, Maruti WagonR, Cadbury, Dove and many other brands.
He is known for making independent films. Aparajita Tumi is an adapted screenplay from Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Dui Naari Haathey Torobaari. His 2012 Vicky Donor was grand box office success, earning 13.40 crore INR in the opening weekend. Sircar’s Shoebite went into production in 2012 but was cancelled. He directed Madras Cafe released on 23 August 2013.
My Gut Feel and comments:
Plot of this movie is fresh and story seems to be engaging. Promos are depicting an honest effort by the creative team. It appears to be a realistic film maintaining entertainment spark.
Star cast is impressive and film should connect with the audience from the very first frame. Film has been promoted intensively and should lead to commercial gain. Shoojit Sircar teamed up with Juhi Chaturvedi in the past as well and delivered good work. Whole presentation of the movie is quite interesting and lead actors Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan are looking brilliant. Length of the movie is 2 hour 15 minutes which could have been reduced by 15 mins as chances of screenplay going bit slow in second half is a possibility which I am hoping and keeping figure crossed , will not be the case with Piku.
With an interesting simple plot and promising performances I am bound to give these movie 3.5 stars out of 5, four days before the release and thumps up from my side.