Plot: Barfi is a lively, deaf-and-dumb Chaplinesque character who wins the heart of a girl who ends up marrying a man who she was engaged to. After 6 years when she meets him, Barfi is seen to have become the protector of his autistic childhood friend. This is followed by a seris of incidents that separate them. How the pacts got formed, how they separate and do they re-unite? These are told in a timeline jump style interlaced with humour!
What Works?
- The freshness in treatment hits you! So do the locations! So do the prime characters! The man behind it, Anurag Basu, deserves the applause! Foreign language films have had this treatment; First of sorts for an Indian film!
- Ranbir Kapoor - How big this guy is turning out to be! He does the tough job of emoting without dialogues and comes up trumps! Priyanka Chopra's performance is realistic and lives up to expectations!
- The real surprise package was Ileana. Her delivery of expressions, subtleties are a slap to all film-makers from the South who have used hour-glass girls like her just for the dancing portions in films!
- Pritam's songs are responsible for creating the lovely setup that the camera and the story capture. Darjeeling is captured very well by Ravi Varman's lenses!
What Doesn't?
- A film of this type didn't need twists and a non-linear narration. That somehow reduces the impact in the climax.
Barfi! is sweet, fresh and the taste lingers for a while!
