Aishwarya leds the Marketing of PAA

Of course, it was not Amitabh Bachchan who plays the character of Auro in Balki’s upcoming flick ‘Paa’, but a child artiste playing young Amitabh in the film who fell from Vidya Balan’s shoulder, creating commotion on the sets of the film.

Sources close to production unit reveal that the particular sequence required Vidya Balan to carry the young Amitabh (played by a child artiste) on her frail shoulders (Vidya Balan weighs only 45 kg, while the child artiste was also of the same weight). Though, it seemed rather a Herculean task for a person of Vidya Balan’s weight to carry the child of equal weight, she volunteered to complete the shot.

Initially, everything was going in accordance with the plan, but after some time there was a loud bang and Vidya, along with the young Amitabh Bachchan, was seen tumbling on the ground. Abhishek Bachchan plays Auro’s father in the flick.

Though Vidya Balan was lying on the ground and everybody rushed to help her stand, the gutsy lady refused to back out of the sequence. She again tried to carry the boy and finally okayed the particular sequence to the satisfaction of director Balki.

In fact, Vidya Balan, who will be working with Big B for the first time in her bollywood career, was over-excited with the opportunity and did not want to leave any stone unturned in her effort to give a realistic and perfect shot for the film. Vidya Balan plays Abhishek Bachchan’s wife and Amitabh Bachchan’s mother in the film.

It may be recalled that Amitabh Bachchan’s character of Auro in the film suffers from a rare kind of genetic disorder called progeria. The disease causes premature ageing of an individual, leading to graying of hair etc at very young age.

To portray the character of Auro realistically, Amitabh Bachchan had to take the help of specialist technicians from Hollywood. In fact, Amitabh’s new look in ‘Paa’ consists of eight pieces of clay, which were especially fitted on the facial contours of the actor. Finally, these eight pieces of clay had been made into one by special electronic spray.

The buzz doing the rounds in the industry is that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Big B’s daughter- in- law, has taken charge of the marketing strategy of ‘Paa’ and has been attending all meetings of creative team. Sources close to Bachchans say that Ash wants ‘Paa’ to succeed at the box office at all cost, and hence has been personally supervising everything.

Another reason for Aishwarya Rai’s interest in ‘Paa’ is said to be the sagging fortunes of ‘ABCL’. Aishwarya wants to revive the Bachchan’s banner in big way through this big film. The film is due for release on Dec 4 and first look of Big B has already created enough buzz….seems Aishwarya’s first step has succeeded , what say??