The movie starts unusually with the cop chasing the hero,
which is an interesting comical start leaving the audience to think what the
back story is. The director, Anurag Basu, has caught his audience within that
moment and holds them till the end with his remarkable directing skills by
taking the audience on a roller-coaster ride from past to present, happy to sad
moments side-by-side.
The cast starring Ranbir Kapoor (Murphy/Barfi), Priyanka
Chopra (Jilmil) and the debutant Ileana D’Cruz (Shruti) have done justice to
their role. The music by Pritam and the playback singing of Mohit Chauhan, too,
have added very well to the movie’s silent parts. Not to forget the setting of
the movie that’s shot so beautifully, in
the landscapes of Darjeeling and parts of Kolkata, has moved the audience away
from the pandemonium and chaos of city life, keeping it simple juxtaposing the
simple lives of the characters.
This romantic-comedy movie has tickled the audience’s funny
bone right from the beginning until the end. There have been “Awww” moments
when Barfi is betrayed by Shruti, when she chooses to get married to an
aristocratic Bengali man than to marry a physically-impaired, Barfi. Series of
troubles follow after this rejection like, his father losing the job, death of
his father, the only family member and struggling for money. However, his
happiness outshines most of his trouble and eventually finds his happiness and
love with Jilmil, an autistic girl. This unusual love-story between them awes
the audience.
The movie seems to portray how Barfi and Jilmil, rejected,
misunderstood and isolated by society have finally found solace with each other
and have rightly understood other’s need and affection. It also seems to show
how falling in love for such people is not impossible. Somehow, the movie seems
to critique the “normal” people’s attitude that fail to understand people like
Jilmil and Barfi and are mostly kept aloof in asylum or are rejected like
Barfi.
What strikes me the most is the on-going comedy, in spite of
the tragic moments. Basu has rightly inculcated Chaplinesque moments that does
away with the tragedy of their life. Through the use of comedy all throughout,
the movie ridicules the reality and also, it is not at all left heavy on the
audience. These are the moments that
have definitely touched the audience. Ranbir’s outstanding imitation of Chaplin
has marked the epitome of his acting career. Also, Priyanka’s acting of an
autistic girl and de-glamourized side of the diva too has added quintessence to
her acting career. Both the characters have touched the audience’s hearts.
The movie is embraced by most of the audience, and I too, couldn’t
stop humming on to Barfi’s tune. Such was a sweet taste of Barfi!
