Piku Movie Review - A warm heart, little else

Ameet Bhuvan

Piku is a classic example of how a great idea misses being a great film owing to issues with execution. It warms your heart, has moments that put a lump in your throat, yet leaves you thinking something is amiss. 

Piku, played by the in form Deepika, lives with her 70 year old father Bhaskor a grumpy old man who is selfish and bordering on the senile, bent on making life for everyone hell. Piku is no less stubborn, struggling to manage her career and life with her old man.  A dysfuncitonal bowel moment and circumstances make the two to travel to their hometown of Kolkata. In comes the “driver” Irrfan Khan. The dynamics between the father and daughter, the sparks between the driver and the daughter comprise the rest of the film. 

What Soojit gets right is the heart of the film - its warm core is bang on the buck giving us moments of real slices of life, not staged situations. Amitabh as the father, a tad overplaying the bong bit, is delightful and real. Deepika is at ease as the daughter, modern, outwardly, traditional in the same breath too. Irrfan with his subdued presence makes for a good foil to the hyper father and daughter angles. Potty talk that is cute and thankfully not crass, add to the story effectively. 

What is missing though in the film is the fact that it takes all the good things going for it for granted refusing to make an effort to dissecting insights and fleshing out the unsaid. There is a lovely story untold between Deepika and Irrfan's characters, an angle criminally unexplored, especially on the road trip they take together to Kolkata. We have the warmth and charm of an old city crumbling at its seams, yet haven't we already seen Kolkata enough on screen by now? 

Piku leaves you with a smile, wanting for something more. One wishes it had a little more meat, a little more heft to it. As it is now though it is a nice small breath of fresh air. Go watch it for sure. 

Rating: 3 /5