Barfi - Hindi movie review

Writer/Director Anurag Basu gives us a visual treat with his latest offering Barfi. The movie depicts love through the emotional expressions of its lead characters. It has plenty of goofiness, pranks, moments of laughter,

Set in Darjeeling in the ’70s, the film is essentially about Barfi’s (Ranbir Kapur) relationship with the two women in his life – Shruti (Ileana D’Cruz) and an autistic Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra). Shruti falls to parental pressure to marry a ‘normal’ man, but cannot come to terms with the fact that she is still in love with Barfi.  The film revolves around a series of events in which all three characters discover what love really is. The movie unfolds through the eyes of the various characters whose life has been touched by Barfi, and there is enough mystery in the story to keep you hooked.

Most of the dialogues come in the form of narration, but the scenes are so beautifully crafted that you don’t really miss the dialogues at all. Anurag Basu has put his heart and soul into the film. The Chaplinesque humour is refreshing, and the situational comedy is adorable and entertaining.

Ranbir Kapoor is a pure joy to watch. He has proved yet again that he is a force to reckon with. You can not imagine anyone else but Ranbir who could have pulled such a brilliant act. Priyanka’s de-glamourised role as an autistic girl is very convincing. Hats off to Priyanka for her brilliant performance. Ileana who has more screen space than Priyanka also did an excellent job. Though her character delivers minimal dialogues in the movie, she is very expressive.

There are moments of sheer joy on certain scenes. In a certain scene the release of water bubbles that envelopes fire flies, a drawing on a canvas initially fools you to think Barfi does the drawing on the canvas, Barfi’s goofy act with a stuffed dummy to name a few.

The other highlight of the movie is the music by Pritam. Pritam has composed one of the best soundtrack of his career. The song titled “Aashiyan” leads the pack.

Barfi  is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise repetitive masala plots often seen in Hindi movies. The movie is crafted well and it is a cinematic treat. One must appreciate the courage for chosing a plot that revolves around a speech and hearing impaired lead character paired with an autistic female. There are minimal dialogues in the movie but it has enough ingredients to keep the audience engaged thoroughly.

Highly recommended.