Friday, December 4, 2009

Paa? Gaa!

This post will alert all of my in-the-know readers to just how out of touch I am with current Bollywood releases. I mean, who has time to keep up when so many of Dara Singh's old movies are being released on borderline unwatchable, unsubtitled VCDS? So rich and creamy is my obliviousness in this area that I have only just today become aware of Paa, a film released to India's theater screens this week amid much fanfare. It stars Abhishek Bachchan as the father of a 13 year old boy afflicted with the rare, age-accelerating disorder Progeria. And the actor portraying that boy? Why, it's Abhishek's 67 year old dad, Bollywood icon nonpareil Amitabh Bachchan! WTF?! That sound you hear is Oscar hungry, stateside father and son acting duos kicking each other in the ass for not having come up with this truly inspired concept in stunt casting first. Expect an American remake starring Tom and Colin Hanks to be in production by the end of the week.

People, remind me not to turn my back on Bollywood again. Because, obviously, when I do, things get really frigging weird

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13 comments:

  1. Beth Loves BollywoodDecember 4, 2009 at 5:22 PM

    Everyone seems to be raving about this but I am very, very skeptical. I just don't see how it could be good.

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  2. Prof. GrewbeardDecember 4, 2009 at 8:58 PM

    no way!

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  3. ToddDecember 4, 2009 at 10:05 PM

    Beth, I don't either. But I still kind of want to see it just for the weirdness.

    Prof: Way!

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  4. houseinrlyeh aka DenisDecember 4, 2009 at 10:52 PM

    As long as any attempts at this being a tearjerker are hindered by the fits of giggling the cast induces, this is going to be brilliant, I'm sure.

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  5. sunilDecember 5, 2009 at 2:53 AM

    as a fan, this movie scares me - i mean we all know he has been hamming away to glory ever since he came this close to bankruptcy, but you have to admire his cojones for taking the risk of falling flat on his face at this age.

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  6. sunilDecember 5, 2009 at 2:59 AM

    but what am i saying? this is the man who unlike moti acually volunarily starred in manmohan desai movies :)

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  7. TheDougDecember 5, 2009 at 6:35 AM

    Can we expect the eventual sequel titled, MA AND PAA KETTLE GO TO MUNBAI?

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  8. ToddDecember 5, 2009 at 10:34 AM

    House: From the sound of it, this one is indeed going to try with all its might to get right up into your tear ducts and wring them out, but, like you, I suspect hilarity will win out in the end.

    Sunil: I, too, am a fan, and agree that this is a risk for him, though it's also a very calculated one. After all, no one ever warned of the pitfalls of going "full Progeria". (Sorry, I just can't help having this bring Tropic Thunder to mind.)

    Doug: Oh no you di'nt.

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  9. carolDecember 5, 2009 at 11:45 PM

    my brain-- i can't even tell if it's been hurt by this. i might think my brain's fine, but i can't know anymore.

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  10. ToddDecember 6, 2009 at 10:12 AM

    Maybe, like me, you've gotten to the point where you actually need to look at something like a picture of Amitabh in prematurely-aged child makeup in order for your brain to approach anything resembling normal functionality. Seriously, these days I think that if I go for more than a week without seeing a dog shoot somebody or a kid fly out of a giant peach marionette's mouth I might be in danger of flat-lining.

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  11. AnonymousDecember 6, 2009 at 11:59 AM

    Appu Raja (or the tamil original) should tide you over Todd. Kamal Hassan as a maniacal killer dwarf using Rube Goldberg machines to take revenge!

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  12. ToddDecember 6, 2009 at 1:54 PM

    Netflix has it. Yes!

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  13. carolDecember 6, 2009 at 6:53 PM

    something's happened. now i believe that awesome is beyond good or bad and i can only endure a family drama about child illness if it has something like amitabh bachchan in prematurely-aged child make-up--or maniacal killer dwarves with overly complicated schemes.

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