Five Years of Shoojit Sircar's Piku

"What is with the waterworks?", I ask myself. As Shoojit Sircar's 'Piku' turns five and I prepare to revisit it, I must admit, it wasn't necessarily easy for me to bring myself to do it knowing well that the world has now been robbed of the privilege to see brand new art from Irrfan again. I wish I could say, 'Hey, Irrfan! We know you're a great actor. Now, stop pretending and get up already." Alas, that's not how things work, you know. As Rana (Irrfan's character) says, "Aapke bhaalo lagne na lagne se kya hota hain. Jab time aayega toh marenge." Too soon, Irrfan. Too soon. A few hours into the afternoon, I finally muster the courage to begin watching Piku again. That opening scene makes me feel what Piku (Deepika Padukone) feels - exhausted. She engages in an altercation with her pill-popping hypochondriac father, Bhaskor (Amitabh Bachchan), who talks about his bowel problems all day and is a critical person; brutal and honest, by his own admission. All this while doing laundry in the presence of their help Budhan, who migrated to the city with the hope of doing some izzat ka kaam. Piku is an architect. She is traditional, religious, yet modern. She'll judge a date for living under a rock and bring unaware of Satyajit Ray, and is defensive when confronted. Above all, she is Bhaskor's mother and he her son. The roles have reversed. She is concerned about her 70-year-old baby and often rebukes him but will also allow him to dance the night away to a melodious Bengali number while watching from a distance. However, do not be mistaken. He is still the one calling the shots. After a stumbling block, he decides he wants to take a road trip to Calcutta. It is here that Rana "non-Bengali" Chaudhury, the owner of Himachal Taxi Service, becomes their co-traveller. This is the second time Piku orders a taxi from him since she said she didn't "need" one; the first time being to attend her aunt Chhobi's (Moushumi Chatterjee) party.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeiKUlUUNQ8&ab_channel=SonyPicturesFilmsIndia

As they are on their way, "Ei poth jodi na shesh hoy", sings Bhaskor, summing up the frustration Rana experiences on this arduous and almost unending journey with his passengers. Rana brings stability into Piku's life and when Bhaskor is stubborn, he even ends up saying things Piku cannot. Strangely, Bhaskor listens to him and even takes his advice like an impressionable little child. Simultaneously, we also see what Bhaskor is actually made of. He may be strange, weird, irritating, annoying, and a lot of things in between, but he is also critical of marriage without purpose, is possessive of his daughter, and is afraid she'd leave him. Perhaps, the constipation he obsesses over is a metaphor for his inability to let go. Piku and Bhaskor's arrival in Champakunj (named after the latter's mother) almost signifies their return to their respective mothers. While for Rana, it is a break from his. "Tum unki maa kyu bani baithi ho?" wonders Rana as he goes on a tour around the city of joy with Piku while reminding her of her roots. By the end, she gains calm and Bhaskor appreciates the world with abandon, eats to his heart's content, has the best motion (like never before), and when he is done giving his daughter wings, he goes to sleep in his mother's arms.