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.
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.