We have had a surfeit of conspirational theories from the time of British India’s “Divide & Rule” policy, to the mysterious disappearance of Subash Chandra Bose; Indira Gandhi’s all weather “foreign hand”, and now the BJP’s tirade against “conversions”! So the reader must needs be forgiven for having misread the title of this piece, and assuming it to be a typo! It isn’t.
Because it is indeed about constipation and not conspiration! By now you’ll have guessed right; that this is about Amitabh Bachchan’s much hyped constipation in the movie “Piku”; which I just saw, courtesy a good friend. Most viewers would have us believe that the story line revolves around Bachchan’s chronic constipation; all the way from the Bengali enclave of Chittaranjan Park in New Delhi to his ancestral home, Champa Mansion, in Kolkata.
Here is where I differ. Constipation is just a thunderous thread (pun intended) that runs through the movie. Its actual merit lies in the various subtle sub-plots, nuances, dialogues, and most importantly – its human relationships. To get stuck with constipation (pun again intended) would be like missing the wood for the trees; or suffering from constipation of the imagination! Mercifully, the scriptwriter has been innovative in his dialogues, both Hindi and Bengali, so there is no verbal diarrhea! Do you think that I have gone potty now?
For those who haven’t yet seen Piku it is about a young Bengali architect in Delhi (Deepika Padukone) and her perennially constipated father (Amitabh). He is a hypochondriac, imagining various sicknesses, who is invariably disappointed that his BP, blood sugar and other vital parameters show up normal. Daughter Piku (Deepika) herself gets hyper with her papa’s hypochondriatic state. Interestingly, the Greek etymology of the word hypochondria describes this state as one emanating from the abdomen, the seat of all melancholy. It fits Bhaskar Bannerji (Amitabh) to the T.
Here’s where the human-interest part begins. Piku vents her frustration on her colleagues and taxi drivers, to the extent that no driver is ready to attend to her call. Her selfish father, who after the death of his wife, clings to his daughter, invariably conspires (oops so there is a conspiracy theory too) to ensure that she doesn’t get married. He declares that only women with low IQs get married. He tells prospective suitors that Piku is financially and sexually independent. She is not a virgin. So nobody is willing to marry her. Emotional blackmail is added to his motions, or rather a lack of them.
When Bannerji decides to travel by road from Delhi to Kolkata, no taxi driver is willing to go along. It falls to Irfan Khan, the owner of the taxi company, to drive them down himself, with Bannerji’s throne (singhasan in Hindi) strapped to the top of the car. Irfan, with his trademark bloodshot bulging eyes, acts well, despite his limited repertoire. But Amitabh and Deepika’s acting is superb. Their eyes are so expressive, a force-multiplier to the script. Since Amitabh’s real life wife, Jaya Bahaduri, is Bengali, it would have been relatively easy for him to portray a Bengali. But hats off to Deepika for her powerful portrayal, what with her kajal lined eyes and prominent Bengali style bindi.
The high point of the movie is when Amitabh borrows a cycle to rediscover his Kolkata roots. The changed ambience puts him at peace with himself. He subsequently declares that he has had the best motion of his life! Both a relief and a release. This is the real take away from the movie. So many of us go through life with fears of the past or apprehensions of the future; ending up living emotionally constipated lives. We need release and relief. In the instant case it came through a voyage of rediscovery, of coming home to roost. If we are physically, psychologically or even sexually constipated, we need to let go and rediscover ourselves, preferably in a changed and conducive ambience. As a person who took to cycling two years ago, when I was 62, I can bear testimony that cycling is in fact a liberating experience that even changes one’s world view.
The other touching story line is the daughter’s single-minded devotion to her Machiavellian father. She is prepared to remain single, so as not to abandon her father, who is now totally dependent on her. She even ate karela (bitter gourd) and kaddu (pumpkin) for years, in accordance with his diet. Of such sacrifices are love stories made.
Having seen Piku, the motion picture, I feel emotionally well, and of course continue to have good motions, in all spheres. No constipational theory for me.
(The writer has been involved in film criticism for youth