'Doing Amitabh's make-up in Paa was a nightmare'

After making Cheeni Kum with Amitabh Bachchan, director R Balakrishnan aka Balki has decided to explore a completely different genre. His new film Paa will not see the Big B but rather, will see a 'Small' B. Amitabh plays a 13-year-old child suffering from the rare medical condition Progeria, where the victim ages rapidly.

Paa will see a reversal of roles as Abhishek plays Amitabh's father. Vidya Balan plays his mother.

Balki tells Patcy N how he made Paa possible.

What made you decide to make a film on Progeria?

I did not think of making a film on Progeria at all. I wanted to make a film where Amitabh would play Abhishek's son. I discovered Progeria along the way.

Why did you want Amitabh to play Abhishek's son?

I had gone to Amitji's office once and saw him talking to Abhishek. Abhishek was talking very wisely and Amitji was playing the fool. That made me think how a role reversal would look if Abhishek played Amitji's father.

I thought of making a fantasy film with this idea. But I also wondered if I could make a real story, if there was any medical condition that would help this story. I spoke to doctors and learnt about Progeria. Quite a few movies have been made on this so I did not want to make another one on it. Instead, I wanted to concentrate on the father-son relationship.

Did you find anyone with this condition?

I called a friend whose son had some hormonal imbalance problem. He put me through to a pediatrician, who told me that only 30 Progeria cases have been registered in the world. There is no treatment for this. I did not want to meet any cases personally because it would intrude into their privacy. The film talks about this intrusion of privacy too.