Fantastico Piku and endearing Bengalis

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“Piku is fantastico. Therefore, it’s winning so many awards in the award ceremonies. A film on Bengalis and Kolkata is sure to be a hit.” Mr. Banerjee said with pride.  

“Indeed! Last time, Bidya (read: Vidya) took all the accolades for Kahaani and this time, it’s Deepika grabbing all the award and limelight for Piku. Bollywood needs more movies like this.”  Mr. Sen said sipping tea.

“And look at our children! They have opted to settle in other cities. They have thousands of complaints against Kolkata. And my son uses Hindi words even while talking to me in phone.”Mr. Chatterjee said with disgust.

“Still better. My daughter keeps shouting that Bengalis are lazy and that we are so eccentric.”

“This generation has gone crazy. They are too foolish to know that where there is eccentricity, there is genius lurking in its lap. And we are not lazy…we just love the finest things of life like food, music, literature, theatre, adda, football and naps.”

As a writer, I have this compulsive habit of eavesdropping. And this conversation at Coffee House between these three middle aged friends didn’t fail to delight me at all.

People of Kolkata have an uncanny sense of humor. Many times, they themselves don’t understand how funny their conversations sound. But this city has a lot of warmth and soul. They feel proud of Sourav Ganguly in a way as if they are all related to him. No wonder why he is the universal Dada.

And no matter whether the Bengalis get irked by our CM, Mamata Banerjee or feel proud of her, she is still called Didi by all. Now, this kind of warmth you can expect only in Kolkata. After seeing Deepika Padukone as Piku, my entire family seems to have developed a huge fondness for her. The reason is she played the role of a typical Bengali girl who got annoyed with a guy just because he hadn't watched any Satyajit Ray movie till date. There is surely one Piku in most Bengali families.

That’s the reason why I can find so much happiness around me when Deepika Padukone is announced the best female actor in all the award ceremonies, including Filmfare and Star Screen. In fact, my grandmother identifies Deepika Padukone as Piku. What love!

The people of Kolkata are really endearing. Once they find a connection with someone, they can’t help showering their love for them. Just a connection is all they need…a Bong connection, a Kolkata connection, a food connection, a music connection…just any possible connection!

So Piku is the movie that gave them a lot of connections. Almost all Bengalis have at least one relative who lives in C.R Park in Delhi. Secondly, they consider Amitabh Bachchan as Bengal’s son-in-law after he got married to Jaya Bachchan. So he was the ideal Bhaskor for them with all the eccentricities.

I remember I was watching Piku in the theatre and there was a scene where Amitabh Bachchan dances funnily on an old popular Bengali song after coming back from a party, drunk. The people around me were clapping and hooting as if it is the best scene they have ever seen.

As I told, Bengalis just need a connection to love something or someone. And this time, it is the Fantastico Piku that seemed to have won all of their hearts, along with the awards, of course.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.