Movie Review: Barfi

Ranbir and Priyanka performances show that how well they understood their characters

By Jyotsna Kumar

This week, make way for the box-office sweetest, charming dessert- Barfi. He’s every woman’s desire, for the kind of 60’s charm he holds and bestows.

However, the film is set in 70s which is bit ironical as we associate that era with the ‘angry young man’ image. Whatever, Barfi has so much cuteness in him that he can easily hang around in that era as a sweet exception.

Barfi is a tale of a cute, lovable guy who is in a bitter –sweet relationship with two beautiful ladies- Shruti (Ileana D’cruz) and Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra). The former abandons him for a while and marries some one else, the latter stays with him forever.   

Barfi is held by many tragedies. But his single point agenda in life is to bring smile, whoever he meets. He’s full of romance, happiness and his charm works like a magician. He’s one guy that every woman wants!

Moreover, the name Barfi has an interesting insight. Read the lyrics of title track carefully and you would know how.

Barfi brings out that teenage age romance- the innocence, the purity and most importantly simplicity, all set against the backdrop of Darjeeling. The very essence of the teenage romance is so prominent that it stays throughout the film. In fact, till the time every character grows old in the film. Barfi hardly touches upon the grown- up, serious relationship issues.

The film carriers the flavour of 60’s romance, similar to the idea of Rajesh Khanna wooing Sharmila Tagore. The charm, which is unfortunately long lost and hard to find in today’s ‘instant coffee’ age.

The film moves at a snail pace. Almost like Barfi’s bicycle, which is necessary and well defined. The pace adds more gravity and depth to the overall plot and characters of the film. The narration however, gets weak and is almost lost in the second half of the film. Plus there is suspense, thriller mini plot which was totally uncalled for.

Ranbir and Priyanka performances show that how well they understood their characters. In a short span Ranbir shows that he alone can carry a film on his shoulders.

As a deaf and dumb Barfi, his Charlie- Chaplin antics will bowl you over. Nowhere Ranbir tries to emulate the body language of Charlie-Chaplin while emulating his antics. He brings his own ‘Kapoor’ charisma to it.

For Priyanka Chopra, it’s a stellar performance. Not even a single flaw. In every frame she manage to convince us as a woman dealing with mental illness, can’t say about autism, that’s debatable.

Ileana D’cruz did what she was supposed to. Add gloss and glamour to the frame and make a beautiful pair with Barfi. She did everything to convince us that it was a mistake not marrying Barfi in the first place.

And now the other heroes of the film- the cinematography, screenplay and editing, all added to the brilliant cinematic aesthetics of the film. It was almost like watching beautiful musical play. Kudos to Anurag Basu and his team, this is by far his most ambitious project and the way he carried it through was commendable. Pritam’s background score will glue you to each and every frame of the film. And the original score will make you fall in love and perform like Shahrukh/ Ranbir, (take your pick) amidst snow capped mountains.

Barfi leaves an edible impression, long after you move out from theater.

Bollywood@BestMediaInfo.com