Someone once said that true love is blind to all the injustices
set down by selfish society. It can grow even in the midst of poverty
and follow a completely no fear or favor course. Anurag Basu's 'Barfi'
is about this and much more. It is the celebration of life. 'Barfi!' is
the story of Murphy (lovingly referred to as Barfi by the people) who
has a speech and hearing disability and lives every single day of his
life to the fullest! With Barfi, Anurag Basu has successfully shown us
an amazing story of a deaf-and-dumb man and an autistic girl without the
support of loud background scores and other means and has also got the
audiences' involved in the proceedings.
South Indian actress
Illeana D'Cruz gets into the depths of her character named Shruti (a
Bengali belle) to narrate the magical tale of Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) who
happens to be a fun loving character living with his ageing father in
Darjeeling of the 70s. Barfi is charming for his cute Chaplin-meets-Mr.
Bean funny acts, but more than that, people love him for his childlike
and uncomplicated heart. Barfi meets Shruti on her trip to Darjeeling
and she finds herself falling for him despite the fact that she is about
to get married to a wealthy man back in Kolkata. After a short-lived
romance, Shruti chooses worldly pleasures over true love and marries the
wealthy man, leaving Barfi dejected and heartbroken.
Jhilmil
Chatterjee (played by Priyanka Chopra) is an autistic girl who belongs
to rich family in Darjeeling but her family does not seem to care about
her emotional needs. Meanwhile, as Barfi tries to come to terms with the
fact that Shruti has dumped her, he finds his father suffering from
kidney failure. Barfi has no money and tries all possible ways to get
the money for his father's treatment but to no avail. Left with no other
choice, quite reluctantly, Barfi and his best friend plan to kidnap
Jhilmil and blackmail her parents for the money. Within a short span of
time, Barfi and Jhilmil realize that they are made for each other and
they will have no problems sharing the rest of their lives together
without bothering about their physical disabilities. Meanwhile, Shruti
could never forget Barfi and even after six years of marriage, she
realizes that she still loves the fun loving mute-and-dumb man from
Darjeeling.
The story swings from 1978, 1972 and 2012 in a smooth
and clear manner and the songs are touching and soulful. Cinematographer
Ravi Varman captures striking North Bengal in a marvelous way. Each
frame is like a wonderful painting.
The music and background score
of the film has been composed by Pritam. Priyanka Chopra was supposed
to sing for the film but her contract with Universal Music prevented her
from taking the offer. Some additional vocals were given by Ranbir
Kapoor himself.
Ranbir Kapoor delivers a stellar performance.
After grabbing awards last season for his superb performance in
'Rockstar', Ranbir easily portrays the role of Barfi, leaving the
audience speechless. Barfi's character teaches us that life is all about
seeking happiness in small things rather than getting wasted in
pursuing worldly pleasures. Priyanka Chopra essays the role of an
autistic girl with elegance and Bollywood newbie Illeana D'Cruz plays
the role of a girl fighting for her own wishes with brilliance.
To
sum up, Anurag Basu's 'Barfi!' is an absolute sweet treat for his fans.
He has shown us that people with disabilities cannot only be portrayed
as lifeless characters on screen. "Barfi" is a sweet that you cannot
afford to taste and indulge yourself!
