Barfi! and why I am not drooling over it...

Back off Raymond. Now, Everybody loves Barfi. I do not happen to belong to this everybody clan, and I choose to write about it, as I have little else to write about!

I saw Barfi the exact same weekend it released, and having read internet reviews and seen people extolling it over their status messages, I could barely control my excitement on my way to the theatre. There couldn't have been a better start than the movie being preceded by the trailer for 'Makkhi'. Those five minutes of daredevilry by a 'not-so'-common housefly literally cracked me up. I later acknowledged that that was the most fun I had in the three hours that followed.

The movie had a rather pleasing first half with Ranbir doing a neat job, and Ileana effortlessly looking the copious amounts of 'cute' she is. The tom-foolery, interspersed with refreshing melodies ('Main kya karoon', and not to forget the 'Pichchur shuru' during the credits being personal favorites) was quite endearing. Here is where I begin to deviate from consensus.

I did not find Priyanka Chopra's portrayal of 'Jhilmil' very attractive. Anyway, I am not a very huge fan of the actor. And also, people who claim they could not even figure out Jhilmil was Piggy Chops during the first half or so, are dimwits. If you have seen Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bacchan in 'Koshish' playing mutes, or say the kid in the 90s 'Anjali', her depiction, though fair in its own right, was not a revelation. My favourite scene featuring her was when she is sitting with her dying Grandpa who teases her with a crystal ball. Needless to say, I loved the sequence because of the ever-so-sweet Grandpa, who reminded me of my own.

Also, the whole kidnapping fiasco, was unnecessary. The tossing of the shoe was rather cute, till the director chose to overuse it to dramatize the climax in the orphanage. Moreover, it beat me how Barfi began to really care for Jhilmil. There was little leading up to the juncture where he began ignoring his old muse Ileana and yearned for Jhilmil.

I shall not delve into all the hullabaloo being created around how sequences, concepts, tunes have been copied/inspired from various other movies. An assortment of known flavours can still be delicious. Why this particular movie was chosen to be sent to the Oscars will always perplex me. The other day one of my colleagues justified it by commenting on how 'Lagaan' with its cricketing context (and thus, very Indian!) could have never appealed to the 'phorener' Oscar jury, and Barfi with its universal (read 'Hollywood') character might end up doing so.

In this case, I have always believed otherwise. In the foreign movie category, movies with a dab of their own culture must be preferred (not to imply that I stood by 'Paheli's inclusion). In all, I hope the Oscar jury is erudite enough to look beyond the regional references that they might not understand, and judge the nominations on a like scale.

Barfi. It left me asking for more, and sometimes, that is not a good thing!