Billu- A Story of a Barber and a Superstar

6 Weeks ago I had written about why I look forward to Billu ( Barber) ( check out the link- http://passionforcinema.com/why-i-look-forward-to-billu-barber/ ) and now after seeing it I want to share with you my feelings on the movie. So yes by now we all know the movie is a modern day adaptation of the Krishna- Sudama story which was first made in Malayalam as Kadha Parayumbol and later made in Tamil-Kuselan & Telugu- Kathanayakudu.
Simply put “Billu” is the story of a barber- Bilas Rao Pardesi(Irfan Khan) who lives by his principles in a village with his beautiful wife (Lara Dutta) and kids. One day his childhood friend, superstar- Sahir Khan (SRK) comes to the village for a film shoot & Billu’s life then undergoes a journey of dramatic twists. First things first Priyan has done an almost honest remake of the Malayalam original and has not put in any of the bizarre extravagant stuff that the Tamil & Telugu versions were much maligned for.
Screenplay by Priyan and Mushtaq Sheikh doesn’t deviate from the core story and keeps it simple. Pritam has given some chartbusting music. Luckily SRK’s songs have been blended into the narrative and do not stick out like a sore thumb.V.Manikandan’s camera captures some good shot’s of the outdoors in Pollachi ( near Coimabtore). Performances wise Irfan is definitely good & he is natural in it. In some scenes he reminds me of the chaiwala role that he played in Mumbai Meri Jaan.Lara Dutta in a deglamourised role is quite effective.Om Puri,Rajpal Yadav,Rasika Joshi,Asrani,Manoj Joshi,Jagadish and the others do an ok job.
There are a lot of light moments in the movie interspersed with the emotional moments. Yes talking about SRK the actor, let’s just say he does well in the climax which is one of the best moments of the film. Also there are a lot of scenes where he speaks cheekily with reference to industry related events and peculiarities. SRK the producer tries to do a balancing act between allowing the spotlight on Irfan and also trying to keep himself in front reasonably enough with an eye on the box office.
He is able to do a decent act of balancing the same. So don’t I have my concern areas? Sure, here I go- sometimes you get a feel SRK is trying to be there in every frame without being there (you see him in posters everywhere) and this could have been toned down a bit. Also some of the characters appear like caricatures and at times the pace of the movie does drop. But overall the movie is fairly engaging and it is a decent family entertainer. Those who haven’t watched any of the earlier versions (Malayalam,Tamil,Telugu) will find it even more interesting. Path breaking cinema it isn’t, but then did it ever pretend to be one? :)

Originally published in PFC- check the link- http://passionforcinema.com/billu-a-story-of-a-barber-and-a-superstar/