Irfan Khan was sublime in Billu Barber

Irfan Khan was sublime in Billu Barber.

Irfan Khan was sublime in his challenging role in the film Billu Barber. Although has banked his resources on the popularity of superstar Shahrukh Khan, the acting in the film had mainly being done by Irfan Khan who made people cry with his realistic performance.

In parallel cinema, those actors who show least amount of mannerisms are considered to be real actors. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri created an identity as legendary parallel film actors through their natural performances. They used to understand the uniqueness of the characters they had portrayed in films like Akrosh, Drohkaal, Mirch Masala, to name a few. Irfan Khan belongs to that gharana of actors.

In Billu Barber, in the first part of the film he was not too happy to know that Shahrukh Khan had come to his village to shoot his new film. His children and wife Lara Dutta were excited about it and also told the other villagers about Irfan Khan’s association with Shahrukh Khan. Irfan Khan realized the change of status of himself with Shahrukh Khan and was reluctant to meet him.

When the news relating to his intimacy with Shahrukh Khan spread in the village, different sections of the society came to him and wanted them to be introduced to Shahrukh Khan with his reference. Om Puri even gave him costly equipments for restructuring his saloon which was there in a dilapidated condition. But with strong security created by the local police, Irfan Khan could not get access to meet Shahrukh Khan.

When the police arrested a number of villagers who tried to enter the shooting zone forcefully, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and others understood the fact that Irfan Khan had no closeness at all with Shahrukh Khan. Om Puri unnecessarily ransacked his saloon and took back all the expensive items which he gave to him on the understanding of getting introduced with Shahrukh Khan.

The striking part of Irfan Khan’s performance was that he kept his composure when the villagers misbehaved with him after not getting access to Shahrukh Khan. He even remained calm and never got elated when Shahrukh Khan disclosed the contribution of his friend Billu whom he searched a lot but could not find after he became a film star.

Irfan Khan could not even go and visit the speech of Shahrukh Khan that he gave in the school in the village, he heard his words from outside. His realistic performance is a learning experience for commercial actors who believe in mannerisms. Irfan Khan should better roles in refined commercial films in future.

Character actors were brilliant in Billu Barber.

Character actors were brilliant in Billu Barber.

Those who have watched Priyadarshan’s films in the past know about his capability of utilizing the potentiality of character artists in his films. Furthermore he had the record of using many character actors together in his own films. The best example can be Malamaal Weekly. Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Asrani, Shakti Kapoor, Sudha Chandran, all contributed in their own way in the film. The comedy sequences were very intelligently directed and the film was well accepted by the viewers.

The same thing happened in the film Billu Barber. The character artists those who were used by Priyadarshan did a great job. Om Puri was a money lender in the film. He relationship with Irfan Khan, the barber in the film, totally changed from the time he came to know that Shahrukh Khan, a star who had come in the village to shoot his film, was a friend of Irfan Khan. Om Puri’s comedy conception had been witnessed by the viewers in landmark films in the past like Jane Bhi Do Yaaron, Chachi 420, etc. He continued his great work in Billu Barber as well.

Rajpal Yadav was an aspiring poet in the film. He also did a great work in the film. He initially never gave that amount of respect to Irfan Khan, the barber in the film Billu Barber. From the time he came to know about Irfan Khan’s association with Shahrukh Khan in the film, his reaction towards Irfan Khan changed altogether.

Lara Dutta acted in a non-glamourous role, playing the role of the mother of two children and the wife of Irfan Khan in the film. Although she had acted in dynamic roles like the role of lawyer in the film Bardasht, or the role of car driver in the film Zinda, this role in Billu Barber was very realistic in nature and Lara Dutta had done full justice to the role.

Irfan Khan himself is known for realistic performances in films of Madhur Bhandarkar and other noted directors. In Billu Barber he exhibited his emotions in respect of love, pride, thoughtfulness together at different intervals of the film. He was the central character and the success of the film depended more on him than Shahrukh Khan.

Even Rasika Joshi, playing the role of the principal of the school, where Shahrukh Khan came and visited during his film shooting, did a marvelous job. The performance did not have mannerisms and was totally down to earth in form.

Only Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone poured in their mannerisms during the dance sequences in the film, but the script required them badly. Overall Priyadarsha had used his resources to perfection and for those reasons the film should do extremely well.

Billu Barber can bring back the No. 1 spot of Shahrukh Khan

Billu Barber can bring back the No. 1 spot of Shahrukh Khan.

Billu Barber is the next project of Shahrukh Khan which will address the audience in February. In 2008, Shahrukh Khan had a bad year as such, probably the worst year in the recent past. None of his films did great business and he could not make his presence felt among hit films of Akshay Kumar like Singh is Kinng or Hrithik Roshan’s Jodha Akbar or Amir Khan’s Ghajini.

He has all the possibilities of regaining his number one spot with the film Billu Barber. The film which is going to be released in February probably has most of the celebrities in one film together. It includes names like Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor to name a few. Even Irfan Khan who makes acting look so easy did a great job.

Shahrukh Khan played the role of the friend of a village barber played by Irfan Khan. Shahrukh Khan returned back to the village for shooting a film. The other actresses in the film like Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra performed with Shahrukh Khan in the village. The moment the story of Irfan Khan’s friendship with Shahrukh Khan spread all across the village, the fellow villagers got excited.

Irfan Khan never had any expectation of Shahrukh Khan being able to recognize him as the status of both the friends was totally different. But Shahrukh Khan surprised everyone when he came for visiting a local school in the village. He disclosed before everyone that Irfan Khan was an old friend of him. Not only that, Irfan Khan had a huge contribution in the life of Shahrukh Khan.

The film ended with a happy note. Lara Dutta played the role of a rustic villager in the film as opposed to the glamourous roles of Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. She hardly took any make up and provided natural performance. Probably her performance was the best amongst the rest of the heroines.

As far as Shahrukh Khan was concerned he had done a great job. He almost lost his no. 1 position to Amir Khan and others due to giving flops one after the other in 2008.

2009 can be the year of comeback of Shahrukh Khan. Once he is involved with big productions and believable stories his larger than life image always haunts the viewers. Other than Salman Khan no other actor had the committed viewers like that of Shahrukh Khan. He was bound to make a comeback. Billu Barber has all the masala to become a blockbuster.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

The film Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details in respect of life in a slum in Mumbai. If the aesthetic value and the cinematic value of the film is analyzed it will be found that some of the scenes were impressive while some could be edited.

There were scenes shown where the boy who won more than million rupees award in a quiz contest in television show came to know that Big B had come to their city. Big B obviously was a great icon of the 70s and 80s and childhood hero of many slumdwellers all across the country. But the scene where he left the latrine and ran to get an autograph of the legend hardly had cinematic value. It was crude reality shown without proper cinematic techniques.

Even the children being beaten up by antisocial elements in the slums in the film cause annoyance than amusement for the viewers. Violence can be related to real-life situations, but when it is shown in a one-sided manner the viewers hardly enjoy them. On the other hand the interrogation procedure conducted by Irfan Khan was more realistic and meaningful. It is quite obvious when a slumdweller wins such a huge amount of money in quiz contest which requires lot of knowledge in the eyes of the police the owner of the amount are always brought under scanner.

If the films of storytellers of the past are reviewed it will be found that legendary directors edited those materials in films which could have created adverse impact on the viewers. For example in Shyam Benegal’s Ankur, the son of Shabana Azmi threw a pebble on the river to show that realization and revolt commenced in the village. The entire revolt was not shown in details.

Editing forms a very important tool in the hands of legendary filmmakers and in that respect directors like Satyajit Ray showed the next generation that too many details are required for conveying powerful messages in films. He showed just a slice of cake being taken away by the British General in the film Shatranj Ki Khiladi to show territories within India being annexed by British East India Company which started from the estate of Avadh.

Besides, Govind Nihalini also finished the film Aakrosh on an intellectual note. Nasirruddin Shah asked his Senior Counsel played by Amrish Puri that if he was killed in future would it appear to him similar to a road accident. Amrish Puri said yes and the film ended there.

Slumdug Millionaire has all the attributes of a realistic film, including powerful script, innovative camera work, meaningful dialogues, but too many details could have been avoided by the director of the film.

Billu Barber has all the elements to become a super hit film.

Billu Barber has all the elements to become super hit film.

Shahrukh Khan starts off his journey in 2009, with brilliant performance in Billu Barber, his first release in 2009. 2008 had been a very average year for the superstar, with Hrithik Roshan, Amir Khan and Akshay Kumar contributing more in bollywood films than Shahrukh Khan. His film Rab Ne Bana De Jodi also did mediocre business as opposed to his blockbusters like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Om Shanti Om, etc.

In Billu Barber, Irfan Khan, a rustic villager met his school friend played by Shahrukh Khan when the entire shooting team came to his village to shoot a film. Shahrukh Khan played the lead role in that film and Irfan Khan was quite surprised to meet his old friend. The villagers urged him to disclose the stories relating to his friendship with Sharukh Khan at the time when the shooting was going on.

Irfan Khan felt very shy to do it, as he was only a barber by profession and doubted whether his friend was going to acknowledge his relationship with him as his status was that of a superstar and Irfan Khan’s intimacy with him would have affected his stardom in the film. The viewers will also have to wait in the film to see whether Shahrukh Khan recognizes Irfan Khan.

At the end of the film Shahrukh Khan revealed his relationship with Irfan Khan in the past and disclosed before the villagers the immense contribution of his old friend. He told them he got clothes from the friend when he did not have any and got food from him during his bad times.

The actresses in the film were all very impressive including Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. All of them had a very impressive year in 2008 and looked gorgeous in their costumes in Billu Barber. They played the role of the heroines of Shahrukh Khan who had come to the village for shooting the film.

Lara Dutta was even better in the role of a village woman. She has been a sensation over the years and showed her class of acting in Billu Barber once more. The music of the film composed by Pritam also was very impressive.

The main songs of the film like “marjani marjani” had already become hits before even the release of the film. Shahrukh Khan and Irfan Khan were brilliant in their respective roles.

The film has all the elements of entertainment including a strong storyline, powerful casting, good songs, good locations, and is going one of the blockbusters of 2009.