The father-and-son duo who set a unique cinema world record
Dynasties are all the rage in cinema, with real-life family members regularly mirroring their off-screen existences by playing relations on-screen, although it can be used in a number of different ways.
For example, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt played the same character in different timelines of the streaming series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, O’Shea Jackson Jr played father Ice Cube in the biopic Straight Outta Compton, Ruth Wilson embodied her grandmother in Mrs Wilson, and Robert Downey Jr’s son Indio played a younger version of protagonist Harry Lockhart in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
The most common use by far comes when parents and children unite to recreate those roles in a fictional context, with movies and TV shows constantly leaning on multiple generations of the same clan to fulfil those parts. However, one feature adopted a novel twist on the standard formula, turning things upside down and setting a unique world record along the way.
Francis Ford Coppola’s saccharine dramedy Jack doesn’t exactly have a massive legacy, with the director one of the very few people willing to defend the Robin Williams vehicle to the hilt. It’s definitely not going to be remembered as one of his best efforts by any stretch, although it did serve as the launchpad to a curious slice of celluloid history that nobody had ever achieved before.
When writer and director R Balki was using the story as inspiration for his 2009 movie Paa, he decided the best way to create a convincing family dynamic would be to hire a father-and-son duo for two of the most prominent characters. The legendary Amitabh Bachchan and son Abhishek—a hugely popular star in his own right—were drafted in to headline the ensemble.
Paa focuses on the challenges faced by 13-year-old Auro Arte, a boy suffering from an extremely rare genetic condition that causes him to age significantly faster than normal. His father, Amol, is a high-flying politician with no idea the kid is even his son, but once they reconnect, he’s determined to make up for lost time before it’s too late.
Presumably, because the Bachchans are playing father and son, the older one is playing the father, and the younger one is playing the son because that’s what common sense would indicate, right? Wrong, because in a turn-up for the books, the pair flipped the script and earned recognition from Guinness World Records by doing so.
For the first time ever in cinema, a father and son played a father and son on-screen, but with the roles reversed. Amitabh—who was fast closing in on 70 when Paa was released—was the 13-year-old ageing at a rapid rate, while Abhishek—33 years his father’s junior—played his old man’s, old man. It’s a cliché for a reason, but there really are no limits to the imagination of the moving image.
