Sunday, February 15, 2009

Billu Barber Review (no spoilers)

The youngest one hasn't been feeling well the last week, due to a viral infection which got exacerbated by a dust storm here and so she had to be cooped up at home for the last few days. Since the dust storm has cleared and the weather is much better, decided to go watch Billu Barber last night at the local multiplex, to give her an outing.

Take away the item numbers and with some tighter editing, the movie would have been really powerful. Though I understand the compulsion of commercial cinema and the requirement for the glamor quotient. Even with the item numbers, the movie is the right length at 135 minutes. A shorter film would have had viewers complaining, although a few people might have appreciated it more.

Irfan Khan is just brilliant and Priyadarshan is very good at his craft. This is not an SRK film in spite of what you might have heard. He is just playing himself and does not need to do any serious acting till the end of the film. Even though this is his home production, SRK has given Irfan Khan the whole canvas instead of trying to dominate the movie. And Irfan has performed exceptionally well the character he was supposed to play. The director could have portrayed Billu as a man with a heart of gold with some minor tweaks, but he decided to paint him as just another normal human being, with all the uncertainties and confusion that one faces in life, and Irfan shines through.

Definitely a must watch.

6 comments:

Indyeah said...

haven't seen the movie but definitely will after this review:)
also first time that I am reading of your little one..:)
its cute to read..:)
hope she gets well soon..and no more such dust storms hamper her outings..:)
take care

Sagarone said...

Thanks, Indyeah. Yes, we too want her to be back to her normal self at the earliest!

Anupam Sarwaikar said...

Was planning to watch tonight but couldn't go. Was little worried about SRK taking over. Maybe tomorrow night. Hope your daughter feels better.

How do we know said...

hey thanks for the review.. i was waiting for some real reviews before taking a call. Am watching it now. :-)

Sagarone said...

@Anupam and @How do we know, I hope you both enjoy the movie as much as we did!

Serendipity said...

was waiting for some reviews too!
Im not a very big SRK fan. he tends to overderamatize, overgmaorize and strays from the topic in hand (with the exception of Swades and Chak de).

You should watch Luck by chance if you havent already!