Romance is never easy. Especially bringing it to the big screen. But a few gifted filmmakers like Anurag Basu, succeed in bringing it off to perfection, keeping things wonderfully endearing, humorous at places and still managing to bring a lump in our throats wherever necessary.
Barfi ! is one of those movies which can make you laugh and cry at the same time, and show you all kinds of emotions in an extraordinary way. To say that Barfi ! is only about Love, will be an understatement, because Love is never same to two different people. It is about what Love is to these three wonderful characters created by Anurag Basu. For ’BARFI’, Love is fear that everyone might leave him due to which he is always trying to make sure of the people who won’t abandon him. For ’Jhilmil’, Love is about being safe. For her, Love is the person who protects her and keeps her safe. And for ’Shruti’, Love is about letting go the person you love so that he can be with someone else. Love is about living with him all your life and also dying with the person you love. Barfi ! also teaches us that decisions regarding love are meant to be taken by heart and not the mind. That if we love without thinking about it, then only will our life be blissful.
But at the same time, Barfi ! is about so many more things. It is about happiness and how to gain joy from the small things of our life. It is about ’life mein sabse bada risk hota hain, koi risk hi na lena’ . Barfi ! is part thriller, part love triangle and a wholesome celebration of love, joy and life. A number of flashbacks shifting between present day to 1978 Kolkata to 1972 Darjeeling, the story of Barfi ! is beautifully woven into a movie and a must watch for everyone.
To say that the movie is brilliant without commenting on the cast performances will be a sin. For Barfi ! to be such a wonderful movie, a lot of the credit goes to the three protagonists namely, Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz.
Ranbir Kapoor who plays the deaf-mute ’Barfi’, he gives an extraordinary performance of the
cute, loving boy who falls for the glamorous Shruti and makes the most beautiful girl in town kiss him. He also plays the serious Barfi who is pained for losing Jhilmil. I think Ranbir Kapoor gave his best in this movie and to be able to express his emotions in such a flawless manners without saying a single word, he deserves a standing ovation.
Personally, I despise Priyanka Chopra but this was one movie in which I had to find her endearing, even if I could have helped it. A girl with autism, she plays this role exceptionally well, striking the right notes and absolutely nailing her part.
Ileana D’Cruz plays the role of the glamorous girl who falls for Barfi and yet sacrifices herself for the sake of Barfi’s happiness. She has done a perfect job and most likely to be awarded the Best Debutant next year.
Anurag Basu, is obviously the creator of the movie and has made Barfi ! come to life. For this commendable job, even he deserves a round of applause.
The music is composed by Pritam and is very soothing and suits the mood of the film. Pritam has done a great job but then again, he’s Pritam, right-?
Cinematography by Ravi Varman is brilliant and he has made the scenes kinda flow with each other giving the movie his own touch of perfection.
Overall, I couldn’t find any flaw in Barfi ! except that the scenes shifting between 1978 and 1972 are a little hazy and not that clear as it should have been. In the middle of the movie, the progress of the story kind of stills. But these are small flaws as to what Barfi ! actually is.
Word of mouth - Barfi is an ode to all those unfulfilled love stories in which mind took decisions which were meant to be taken by the heart.