Barfi is ‘visually’ stunning, ‘smells’ of freshness in every frame, ‘touches’ your heart every second, and is so ‘tastefully’ treated that its excellence ‘speaks’ for itself. Anurag Basu has crafted this romantic comedy-drama exceptionally. Barfi is a much critically acclaimed film that taught those filmmakers a lesson, who always portrayed the handicapped as dull and boring in their films. This is a movie that leaves the viewer with a warm, cuddly, magical feeling with a few tears to match. Barfi came as close to being a modern masterpiece as cinematically conceivable. To be honest, missing this movie would be a crime, embracing it is to serenade the sublime. But there is nothing the world that comes without flaws and imperfections in its package. The crew of the film tried to cover almost every aspect of it to impeccability.
Plot:
Set in the 1970s in a pretty corner of India, Barfi is the story of three young people who learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society’s norms of normal and abnormal. Barfi, a hearing and speech impaired boy falls in love with Shruti. Despite her deep affection for Barfi, Shruti gives into societal and parental pressure to marry a ‘normal’ man and lead a ‘normal’ life. Many years later their paths cross once again when Barfi, now in love with Jhilmil, is on the run from the police. Barfi is desperately seeking Jhilmil, who has gone missing. Shruti’s realization that Jhilmil is autistic makes her recognize that true love is blind. Caught in a cat and mouse game, in the search for the girl Barfi loves, Shruti realizes that she is still in love with him. She must now choose between her happiness and Barfi. Policeman Sudhanshu Dutta, who grew fond of Barfi after investigating him for his nuisances, asks Shruti to take him away, offering him a second chance at life. She agrees and hopes that now Jhilmil is gone, she can finally be with Barfi. Barfi is deeply affected by Jhilmil’s loss and is not able to live peacefully without her. He finds the location of Jhilmil’s childhood home and takes Shruti to look for her. They find that Jhilmil is still alive and that both kidnappings were fabricated by her father so he could embezzle money from Jhilmil’s trust fund. In the second attempt, a second time, they faked her death so that she could return to her special-care home, away from her alcoholic mother. Barfi has a happy reunion with Jhilmil and the two are married, while Shruti spends the rest of her days prosperous, but alone, having lost her chance to be with Barfi. Several years later, Barfi is shown to be gravely ill in a hospital and is close to death. Jhilmil arrives and lies with Barfi in his hospital bed as an old Shruti narrates that the two died peacefully together, not wanting to leave each other behind in life or death. The film closes showing the happy days of Barfi and Jhilmil as the credits roll.
Screenplay and Direction:
Anurag Basu deserves a profound appreciation for his screenplay and direction. He crafted the movie to take place in multiple timelines. The film scripted that Basu wrote, specifically alternated between two time periods, and he retained a nonlinear narrative structure. The script stipulated 30 years for the character’s love to evolve and thus the film was set in the backdrop of the 1970s. Anurag Basu sets up the mood of what’s to follow, even before the inception of the first frame of the movie. A cheerful song, backed by tunes and lazy Sunday vocals, suggests French provincial music by Cliff Richards, very much in the style of Pritam’s majestic soundtrack. The song is a satirical intro to the movie that informs us the film is about to begin and numerous other movie watching norms to the audience in the form of musical. Anurag Basu dusted every frame of the movie with sugar and delivered with a wink and a smile, packaging its profound sentimentality in a boxful of good cheer. Basu frequently makes use of short scenes and montage sequences to take the story forward. And the director invests his complete creativity in coming up with some imaginative and inspiring moments through such montages. But among all the prevalent soothers, the director had to face some criticism. He was accused of plagiarising some of the comedy scenes in the movie. Indeed it was all a part of paying homage to the Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin by adding scenes inspired from the era of silent cinema and using physical comedy in the film, involving silent portions.
Music, Cinematography, and Editing:
The music and soundtracks of the movie are just icing on the cake. Pritam’s melodious music is skilfully integrated and never interrupts the flow. The background score is packed with that extra impact to make up for the loss of two leads (Ranbir-Priyanka) who have no lines to mouth. The pacing is slow but it never hurts. However, it is Ravi Varma’s cinematography that deserves additional applause for hauling out the opulence of the old-world charm of Kolkata or the toy-train city of Darjeeling with prowess. With its fractured storytelling motif, editing seems a strenuous task but Akiv Ali’s work is impeccable. The wholesomeness contributed by all the departments equitably for the success of the film, enabled it to almost win an academy award in 2013, as the best foreign-language film.
Characters:
Ranbir Kapoor, the title lead of the movie is deaf and mute, but not for an instance in the movie he made the audience deplore that Barfi can’t speak. Ranbir Kapoor ingeniously compensated for his deficiency with his vivacious expressions and seamless energy. His acting, particularly in this movie is capable of making a stonehearted go soggy-eyed with sheer sensitivity and even make cynics open up to the character’s warmth. Without a single line to the mouth, Ranbir Kapoor expresses much more than any average actor could even dream of. The actor oozes such a recurring charm that falling in love with him is inevitable. The condemnation he faced over the period for his celebrity status and being product nepotism was struck down by his sharp-witted and versatile performance in Barfi.
Playing an autistic character is a precarious zone but Priyanka Chopra never went overboard and was excellent in her portrayal. The mannerisms, body language, or naivety that she brings to her character is astute. Jhilmil was the toughest character to play in the film. Priyanka Chopra visited several mental institutions and spent time with autistic people to prepare for the role. She had to let go of her coyness and play Jhilmil without thinking of it.
Her dedication towards her character and acting is utterly remarkable.
The subtle character that got overshadowed by two of the most phenomenal performances was of Ileana D’cruz’s. It was her graceful debut and was portrayed as a gorgeous woman, with a solid screen presence. Her acting was quite compelling. Her character as narrator and first love interest of Barfi is a sensitive role and she goes to different phases in the film. Anurag Basu through her character emphasis the premise that true love is unconditional and unruffled by the disabilities of the people.
