Media critique of "Barfi!"

“Barfi!” is a whirlwind of adventure Bollywood movie from the Hindi film industry which premiered in 2012. The movie follows the story of Barfi, a wild and fun man who is hearing and speech impaired. He either encounters people who are inspired by his enjoyment of life or people who are frustrated by his crazy antics.

RanbirKapoor does well to portray Barfi without talking and instead uses varying facial expressions which perfectly convey emotions and signed words. He takes serious moments and makes them bearable by his fun and silly attitude.

Though most famous Bollywood films are known for their songs and dances, “Barfi!” is far from the melodramatic musicals. Anurag Basu, the director, often writes about adversity in his films such as “Life in a Metro” which won the Filmfare Best Screenplay Award. He and Tani Basu, the other story and screenplay writer, and Sanjeev Dutta, the dialogue writer, stay true to describing the life of those outside of the social norms and the impact of love. They do well to express the importance of love overcoming societal norms.

“Sometimes silence is the language of love,” said Shruti Sengupta played by Ileana D’Cruz.

Complete silence is only occasionally used when showing Barfi’s point of view. The music by Pritam Chakraborty in “Barfi!” is an essential part to the film. Especially since Barfi is deaf and there is very little speaking except when necessary. The music is skillfully used to describe characters, emotions and moods. The music does seem oddly out of place for a Bollywood film. Most Bollywood music is a mixture of classical Hindustani music with the sitar, tabla, and other Indian instruments that’s fused with western/modern pop style. The music in “Barfi!” however, seemed more of a stereotypical French style with the accordion being played.

Along with the music, the cinematography by S. Ravi Varman also captures the emotional and dramatic moments. The camera shots, transitions and scenes are not overly dramatic which helps when the plot includes sporadic flashbacks.

During the beginning, the audience might not understand D’Cruz’s role as Shruti or Priyanka Chopra who plays Jhilmil Chatterjee, the two love interests of Barfi. Occasionally, D’Cruz, is a little too simpering and tries too hard to cry. Other than that, she does well in her acting as she narrates most of the story. Chopra’s acting is similar to Kapoor’s in that she doesn’t speak much since her character, Jhilmil, is autistic. Chopra’s portrayal of a girl with autism seems very real and is helpful when they never really outright say that she’s autistic in the film. She does well to show her side of the story.

Shruti and Barfi’s relationship is shown from the very beginning through flashback, but a satisfying backstory to how Barfi and Jhilmil became friends is lacking.

Though the flashbacks are used throughout the film to tell the story which is mostly set in the 1970s and also during the 21st century, the back and forth time frame was used countless times which made it hard to remember who was who and what was happening.

In the midst of adventure and comedy, a mystery is added. The inspector’s quote in “Barfi!” perfectly describes this part of the quirky movie.

“It made no sense,” said Sudhanshu Dutta, the inspector played by Saurabh Shukla. “Just like a bad detective novel.”

The plot is helped along by interviews and voice overs with some of the minor characters. Lots of fun, adventurous montages help to add to the growth of characters since not much dialogue is heard so feelings are conveyed with actions and longing looks.

“That was the love I always yearned for,” said Shruti. “True love. To live together and die together in each other’s arms. So no one’s left behind in tears.”

Almost all of the audience might be left behind in tears, after watching this emotionally gripping and stirring Bollywood movie.