Barfi! - 2012

Barfi! This is the second movie in the recent times that I believe I am not capable of reviewing and even if I do – I will not be doing justice to the same. WOW, what an impact it had on us. Fantastic treatment and what an awesome job by its cast in totality – even the lesser known ones (Footage wise) were too good, like the guy who plays Ranbir’s dad – I keep forgetting his name, Ranbir’s side kick (Thank god they did not take Rajpal Yadav), Rupa Ganguly (Ileana’s mother), PC’s foster home caretaker grand dad and his assistant, Saurabh Shukla’s assistant, Ashish Vidhyarthi etc almost all of them make a great mark on the audience. Another fantastic thing was the Anurag and Pritam combo – I totally loved the live music of “A life in….. Metro” the way Pritam performed those songs in between the movie and here too – the way his band of three keeps playing the background throughout the movie sitting and standing on various locations – its totally awesome – even they become a character in the narrative. Songs are damn well placed – they make you laugh, make you smile throughout, they make your eyes moist at times and there is this one moment that you actually are in tears yet smiling. We saw it in a packed hall and trust me when I say this – even as the last frame freezes barring a few college going kids – almost no one got up – expecting something to come up again and they do as they showed some shots with the end credits – again the public loves it till finally the screen goes black with only names rolling – is when every one gets up with a smile to go back to their regular lives – I guess I read some people complaining of its length – I am glad that Anurag did all the detailing he could like showing the faces of the characters for quite good 20-30 seconds to capture those priceless expressions which as per me was required and works damn well. We had no issues with its length rather we kept asking for more as it ended. I disagree on another point that PC will give any competition to Vidya for best actress this year – no ways, she is damn good no two things about it but this movie certainly belongs to only one person and that’s Ranbir – she doesn’t even have that much screen presence that I would give her a best actress award (Over Vidya Balan for sure) – otherwise this was certainly one of her best jobs till date and she did it perfectly (Thank god she didn’t go overboard) as my kiddo who has an Autistic classmate kept saying “Papa, Naomi bilkul aise hi karti hai jaise priyank chopri karti hai”. (Dunno why she calls her Chopri)

Finally, we have our own “Life is Beautiful” now as my wifey too said the same couple of times that this movie reminded her of that too much. Anurag did take too many cinematic liberties but that's all forgivable in the name of a classic movie. I am sure we are going to watch it couple of more times as we do with almost all of Ranbir movies but this one is definitely putting him in a different league altogether. He is like a fresh breath of air right from the moment “Go” and remains etched in your memory long after the movie is over – Life means a little different for him and does changes your outlook towards the same a little at least if not much. His best companion in this one as per me is none other than Saurabh Shukla as the cop behind him all the time. Its totally funny watch they fight off each other both are a damn good compliment to each other – reminding us of good old days with Charlie Chaplin, Goodies, Laurel Hardy and other comedians. One seen was a total rip off of a Jackie Chan movie too with them chasing each other in congested corridors – knocking each other out with opening windows. It was a laugh riot to say the least as almost the whole crowd was cheering, shouting, yelling and laughing with them. I almost forgot for quite a while that there is Priyanka Chopra too in the movie who was yet to come and it gets a little brighter with her arrival. Once she comes – you forget about the rest and get engrossed in her story and character. And then you think again what happened to Ileana? The story yet again goes back to her and bang! There we are finally with all of them together. Its such an engrossing and intertwined that it never leaves you free. After half the way it becomes almost an edge of the seat thriller with some real good twists and turns – it all ends in a damn good way with a great message – I would say it certainly is an experience of a life time and a great lesson in learning to see them moving forward in life even after so many set backs later. Damn! That was inspiring. A damn good and a must watch for all. 

Hottie Ileana

Almost everyone leaves a big impression on you – let’s not even talk about Ranbir as Burfi or Murphy – whatever! He is totally out of this world – every scene with him is a delight – he knows the magic to make you smile, laugh, cry and smile again – all in one go. There were more then 2-3 scenes which had that kind of impact on me, I wouldn’t write about them here as if you haven’t seen it – it loses the impact once you see and if you have already seen it – you exactly know what I mean. Unfortunately, I’d been a Priyanka disliker till today and now as you see that was the past – after this – respect for her has certainly grown – what a fantastic job she has done in this one. I have almost seen all the South Indian movies of Ileana as we have lived quite a few years in Hyderabad – I tell you she is one hottie to watch out for down south and I am way too glad that she got a perfect break – looking forward to her upcoming hindi movies big time now. She is too good and fits the character damn well. This movie is a kind of a complete package – it has everything for everybody, we all enjoyed it together – my kiddo who is just 6 years old never got bored for a moment yet it has so much to keep us hooked to it. Go ahead, watch it, do not wait any longer before someone tells you how it all ends, still then I would say – see it for yourself – its worth all the money and time that you put in.