Abhishek Bachchan more mature than Paa!

by: Times News Network

24 Jul 2009

Balki’s forthcoming film, Paa has an unconventional storyline where Amitabh Bachchan plays Abhishek’s son. And the idea for this premise is A mitabh and Abhishek’s real life conversation.

Confirming the news, Balki said, “One day during the shooting of Cheeni Kum, when I was discussing scenes with Amitji, Abhishek walked in. That’s when I saw Abhishek, who’s known as the brat, having a serious conversation with his father. In fact, at that moment, he came across as the more mature of the two. And I thought why not explore their relationship

in that light? That’s how the role reversal happened.”

At that time Balki knew nothing about progeria, which is a rare congenital abnormality characterised by premature and rapid aging, which Amitabh’s character is shown to have in Paa. He said, “I only knew a son of a friend whose hormones were developing faster than normal. That friend put me on to a doctor who deals with child-growth issues. He told me about progeria.”

That set the ball rolling and Balki began his research. “I found out about this family in Kolkata where four of the children suffered from progeria. I then contacted the Progeria Research Foundation, who provided a lot of matter. It happens in one out of eight million cases. But finally I decided not to do a fully authentic representation of the ailment. We’ve resorted to a lot of artistic licence,” said Balki.

For instance, Amitabh who plays the one with the rapid-aging disease is shown as tall as he is in real life. Balki elaborated, “Normally, a progeria patient can’t be that tall. So Paa is not a hundred per cent authentic representation of the disease. It’s more an emotional father-son story with the ailment as a backdrop. I haven’t gone into details of the disease.”