A friend asked me, “If Amitabh Bachchan was to die in the movie, would you cry?”

“No Way” was my prompt reply as, it seemed to me then, she had challenged my masculinity.

As much as I had assumed my givens for the movie, I knew that it would take a mesmerising performance from the characters to bring out a a few sniffs from me, and so at a houseful show I sat down intently to watch what Paa had to offer.