Piku: Holy sh*t!

I know my system quite well. A good night’s sleep and a glass of lukewarm water, is all I need to take a satisfying dump every morning. This activity is very different for different people. Some go to the toilet at any time of the day when the pressure is right and do their business like it’s no big deal. Some have a set pattern like the way I have. And for some, it is an insanely tough task. Tough to the extent that their entire energy in life is directed towards the amount of stool they push themselves to purge. They seldom feel the euphoria that arises after taking an adequate unload.

My mother (Maani) falls in this category. She has been suffering from constipation for the past one year. We are fortunate that it’s not a chronic one for her, but I know the distress she undergoes every single day for this one chore alone. The preparation for this starts from a night before, as she dutifully drinks a glass of warm milk with Isabgol, in all anticipation that she will be able to relieve herself well in time the next day. Sometimes, it works wonders. Sometimes, it does not. The times when it does not, we all realize it without her shouting it aloud. She tends to become a little sluggish and cranky. We just have to see her face to make out whether or not she had it easy that day. And, the times when it is effortless for her, we all revel in celebration. After all – ‘Insaan ka emotion uske motion se judha hua he!’ We know that better. Seriously!

Shoojit Sircar’s Piku is such a heartwarming real film. The fact that a little chat about bowel movement at the dinner table is not looked down upon as an awkward situation, shows the genuineness of this lovely narrative. I love every bit of this movie. Most importantly - the brilliant writing! Much like Vicky Donor, this one too has a well-shielded script that never becomes a stinky pile of shit, even though that’s the central theme of Piku.

The second most impressive aspect of Piku is Bhaskor Banerjee’s standpoint about his daughter’s marriage. He doesn’t seem to lose his sleep over Piku’s single status; rather he believes that –‘marriage without purpose is a low IQ decision.’ He is not against marriage but wants her to find out a good enough reason to settle down. And for him, Piku’s marriageable age isn’t a compelling one. What a progressive thought that is!

I don’t have the exact stats, but it is a known fact that most Bengali women tend to get married late in life. These women could be single, but lead an intensely happy and independent life. Just look out on purpose and you are bound to discover this lot of Bengali women around you.  I, maybe, a case in point too :-)

Piku took me through an emotional whirlwind. Different kinds of emotions emerged, one after the other. In fact, rarely does it happen that I feel for all the characters in a movie. Piku is special in that sense.

But I still have 2 points to make. Not that these would have made this already beautiful film a notch better, but they did cross my mind.

First - I thought the interval sequence was a smart insertion, but not the cut. Would it not have been better to cut the scene when Piku and her father found the knife and were figuring out why it was there, rather than to elongate it up to the point where there is a spat between Bhaskor and Rana over the knife – and Bhaskor throws a fit and sits on the road with his suitcase and demands the knife to be thrown out? Somehow for me, it lost whatever bit of suspense, it was intended to interleave. I never felt the need to judge Rana’s character after that entire sequence.

Second - I wish I did not have to cry when Bhaskor died. The movie must have served its purpose, but I so wanted him to take another cycle/rickshaw ride to discover the unexplored bylanes of Kolkata. This, again, without keeping Piku and the rest of the family members informed about his jaunt!
I wanted to see more of him and his antics. I wanted him to do anything interesting, except for never waking up from the bed - especially after taking a fairly satisfying dump of his life! Why couldn’t we see him eating and enjoying stuff that a regular bhadrolok does in Kolkata? (There is a lot more in Kolkata than just the roadside Kachoris!) We could have even liked seeing him play a football match with his old friends. Wouldn’t that have made it even more real?

Thankfully, there was absolutely no drama over his death. It was different from other death sequences that we have seen in films so far. But, I wish, some day Bollywood films move over the myriad adversities of life. In particular, those films where it looks more like a forced placing than the real flow of events.

On one hand, I say I love the movie and on the other, I have 2 important points that are critical of it. That’s fine. This thought was jammed up right there and I had to let go of it today.

P.S.
Please don’t look that constipated. You can release your emotions too! 

Wanted: A spermy IITian

After multiple pleading sessions, the not-so-genteel, but attractive Vicky goes inside the clinic to exactly do what he is required to do. But he couldn’t and so with a frustrated look he brings back the empty plastic jar to Dr. Chaddha. As it is, an infertility specialist played by the aging, but a supremely talented actor Annu Kapoor knew all the right tricks. So, the hero Ayushmann Khurrana aka Vicky is sent back in but this time with a stack of porn magazines and CDs/DVDs… some stimulation soon after; he returns with a dimpled smile and gives Chaddhaji a bit of his gush in the container. Thus, Vicky Arora becomes Vicky Donor and starts wanking for a living!

A film based on the subject of sperm donation could easily go misplaced and be looked down upon, but not when it has been guardedly written and handled. There are no infused cheap humours and no over-the-top nitty-gritty of the science of artificial insemination. In fact, a sensitive issue like this, is crafted into a story that's a complete entertainer and pure fun - making John Abraham’s maiden production project a sure-shot success!

Dr. Chaddha chases Vicky Arora, with a belief that this unemployed and young bloke can resurrect his clinic, because according to his research, Vicky’s great-grandfather had 19 children, and this is a reason enough for him to be a potent donor! In one of the many persuasion talks that Chaddhaji has with Vicky, he comes with this uproarious line ~ ‘Shakal dekhke bande ka sperm pechhan jata hun… Tu pure Aryan race hai… Arya putra hai b********’  So, the Arya putra thinks not to further waste his precious stream and time in searching for a suitable job, rather gets literally cracking on this, all in the lure of handsome money! 

And that was it. Vicky gets into the role and earns enough to live up to his heart’s desires. With that of course, he sires 53 kids. Life’s good for both until the donor falls in love and wants to marry a Bengali girl played by the debutant Yami Gautam. Now that is a reason to worry for Chaddhaji since the clinic was running almost on Vicky’s sperm! It might mean the downfall of the business all over again till they find another super donor like Vicky.

So, is it a new phenomenon in India? Not as per Chaddhaji…since, he cites instances from Mahabharata and makes Vicky fall into his idea.

But, much before the film released we had woken up to an advertisement posted by a Chennai couple on a website this January. Say, it created the right base ground for Vicky Donor. Maybe, yes. Or let’s believe that we trust the concept of the film even more now. Here goes the Ad before we inch a bit further -

My wife and I are looking for a suitable sperm donor for fresh In Vitro procedure very soon! Ideal candidate should be IIT student, healthy, no bad habits, tall and fair if possible but will consider the right donor regardless of looks etc. Time is of the essence, so please call asap. Compensation twenty thousand Rupees cash. Call or email ASAP. Authentic ad, we need donor within two weeks most likely. Please help us start a family filled with love and prosperity. References will be required and checked.   

Basically, an industry does exist. It might have never been spoken about in social circles that bluntly, but thousands of childless couples around us do go for the artificial method while camouflaging the whole affair. That is why even the operations of such institutes are beyond our reach and belief. The big labs do have a name but what about a host of clinics that are located in dirty bylanes of cities (like Chaddhaji’s sperm bank in the heaving Daryaganj) that are genuinely trying to bring a smile on faces of such couples. They not only search for a feasible donor but also strive hard to meet the demands of their clients… like - getting customised children with brains of IITians and then traces of Brat Pitt, Dhoni, Aishwarya, Lady Gaga, and so on. But the chances are ripe that we will not acknowledge these infertility clinics and might just term them as shady corners. Because, neither do we understand the science of such a method nor are we willing to look for an option outside adoption. And that’s a fact. 

So, when a film on such a taboo topic is fittingly made, it clears up many ambiguities and makes people aware of its treatment. Thankfully, Vicky Donor is not one of those preachy sorts that are usually turned up as issue-based. So, while you enjoy the fun side of the film, the matter grows well in the mind and hits you hard! Though it is yet to be surveyed to believe if every ejaculation fetches thousands and thousands of money making any Vicky Dicky Ricky of the street an affluent lad… from affording a big car to renovating an entire house all by the blessing of the flowing!

It’s clearly an audacious effort to make people responsive towards the option of sperm donation and it’s so sensitively written and dealt with that it never loses its luster. The Bong-Punjabi tussle rooting to the culture discrepancies is outrageously hilarious. All the characters are well sketched - the camaraderie between Vicky’s mother and the mother-in-law is so lovely and engaging.,

Juhi Chaturvedi - an Ad filmmaker, who entered Bollywood, writing this sharp, crisp, and effective story for Vicky Donor, could just be the next big thing in the writing world. As for me, I loved Shoojit Sircar’s first project – 'Yahaan' and I am totally in love with Vicky Donor too!

                        (Image : Juhi Chaturvedi and Shoojit Sarcar)

And, my moment of Vicky Donor was in the ladies' washroom, where I warily eavesdropped on an old woman (must be in her late 60s) explaining to a fine-looking young lady why it is not at all a big deal planning a baby through this method. Makers of Vicky Donor… are you listening?

Well, all I can is - Vicky Donor is a brilliant sperm of a movie! Might be heady enough to make beautiful progenies of the same genre!