I had to have two
cups of strong coffee to get Heroine out of my mind. To be modest, let me put it this way - Even if you badly want to get out of your house for a small break, then taking your dog out for a walk would be a better break than watching this movie. Kindly note that I am talking about the movie and not about Kareena!
A middle-class girl comes to Mumbai, becomes heroine, gets exploited, cries a lot, smokes a
lot, tries to find true love and ends up landing in self-created mess. In the
end, she prefers leaving the dirty world of acting by erasing her fabricated
and tainted identity. Movie is over. There is no clear objective of the movie. Does Mahi
Arora represent the considerable number of girls that come for acting? or When it is titled 'Heroine', shouldn't she be representing them? or Shouldn't the movie be titled 'Mahi'? If you ask these questions to Madhur Bhandarkar, you might find him scratching his head in confusion. His showing of sleaziness, usual
slangs, cocktail parties, love triangle, selfish professionals, gossip-girls’
giggles and unsurprising politics make a big fig leaf and stop the concealed
stuff to come forth. Though Kareena is super sizzling as Mahi Arora and comfortably
takes everyone’s breath away with her spunky attitude, the shoulders of this
delicate heroine are not strong enough to bear the full burden of this
lumbering Heroine. Divya Dutta makes a mark till the point she is allowed to. Madhur
Bhandarkar has done a feeble job, being overly dependent on cleavages and ignoring
the script.
The title song at
the start gives the overwhelming eye candy and attracts the silent gazing. Thereafter
the movie generously allows you to step out and visit the food counter or washroom
anytime you want and still takes care that you don’t miss anything. Come on,
you shouldn’t be jailed in a theatre hall. Don’t punish yourself unless you
prefer Kareena on screen to wallpaper. Biased to the beauty, I give 1.5 out of
5 with a big brutal no-no for this movie.
Please go for the movie. That’s it
and nothing more to add at the outset. Though everything seems to be just
perfect barring a bit of unnecessary stretch with losing of grip in between,
RanBarfir Kapoor steals the show and
walks away with the strong claim on the Best Actor trophy.
The story of Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) spans across
nearly four decades which shows him in his clean-shaven young look to mustache-keeping
mature look to his old boy look which we have seen in Tata Docomo ad. Barfi is a specially-abled ball of fire who has neither fear nor
shame as to what the others think of him. It starts with showing him as a harum-scarum
young boy cycling around the curvy roads of beautiful Darjeeling in 1970s when
he bumps into a Bong beauty, Shruti (Ileana D’Cruz). She gets attracted to this
carefree and confident Barfi who is as sweet as his name. They fall for each
other before Shruti takes a practical turn.
There are many unique gems in the movie.
Credit goes to Basu's creativity for letting the title track hilariously introduce us to Barfi’s childhood which otherwise would have been stereotypical melodrama. Barfi is seen taking his metaphorical, portable heart out and giving
to the girls to see what they do to it. His friend writes funny letters for him,
stealing the lines from the lyrics of old Hindi romantic songs. He has his own
way of judging the credibility of another person. Rather than letting a seed of
doubt grow in him, Barfi takes everyone he feels close to him near to an
electric pole and makes the pole fall just before their feet. Due to this
stupid thing, all get pissed at him but one autistic girl, his childhood
friend, Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra). She belongs to the goddamned rich family
which is worse than a prison cell without a sunray. She feels herself drawing
to Barfi as the charmer is not biased towards the beauties alone. Barfi too
feels attached to her due to her unquestionable faith in him. Their love
springs with fireflies, watermelon seeds, constant hiding-and-seeking and locking
of little fingers.
Ileana fits the bill in her debut
role with all acting parameters perfectly in place. Priyanka is just too good as
Jhilmil. Her expressions are impeccable. She has made a strong mark with her performance.
Nonetheless, the story revolves only around the magic boy, Barfi. Ranbir is supremely
convincing as deaf-mute Barfi. What is endearing about him is his frequent
smile accompanied by his handmade Nike-logo gesture even in his screwing
situations. He never submits to his inadequacies; in fact he has a special
knack of tackling all of them. He wraps a grass ring around Shruti’s ring finger
in a way that beats a pricey ring what she already has of her engagement. When none is around to help, he piggybacks his father to the hospital
at the eleventh hour. When everyone is against, he has the ability to find his love Jhilmil
by flinging his shoe up in the air against windows, a sure thing that always works
for him. Off the track, I want to mention that the voice that you hear the most
during the entire movie would be that of Saurabh Shukla’s as our leads rarely
speak. Priyanka barely opens her mouth to speak and Barfi, even though opens
his mouth more than anybody else does, he can’t speak.
The best part of the movie is that
it doesn’t slide into a tragic trajectory. Else, it would be clichéd which
would again beseech the audience to understand the agony of the
differently-abled and the audience would turn its sympathy button on. This
movie on the other hand showcases how a specially-abled person can inspire and
teach the normal ones as to how to love and how to live. It has a solid
strength to get your eyes a teary layer and at the same time brings an appreciative
smile on your face. It’s not about surrendering to weakness; it’s about giving
a blind eye or should I put it better, giving a ‘Barfi’ eye to it. The movie
would surely keep you hooked till the interval and then you would feel the hook
slowly coming off until the end arrives. The grip of the movie loosens but the actors made up for
that looseness by their no-nonsense acting. Even though our actors are
not-normal, Anurag Basu doesn’t let the sympathetic silence hover over us and
keeps the background musical almost throughout the movie.
Thanks to Pritam for
such melodious tracks in the flick. Finally, hats off to Basu for pulling off the
story which clearly defines the most misused word ‘Love’ and also throws a fresh
light to the way of seeing the half glass full. Treat yourself with this movie which
is sure to blow you away. Make sure that you don’t miss the moment for the
movie addresses the audience even before it begins. Go and submerge in the
world of acting. You would know what a good cinema is all about.
