28th September:
My first contact with Barfi as such happened after the new
advertisement for Tata Docomo hit the market with Ranbir Kapoor playing the
role of a ‘Kharoos’ miserly shop-owner, who was well into his seventies, may
be, when it comes to his age. And there was a flutter of rumor in the air that
it is how Ranbir Kapoor will look in his upcoming movie, Barfi. Our source of
entertainment news, Tulai, my brother, clarified a few days layer that Barfi
will feature Ranbir looking like that, but it will be going be for only a short
period. So, then my mind went off wandering in surmising whether it will be Bollywood’s
take on Benjamin Button! And it turned out to be the wrong guess! Our second
contact with Barfi happened through the first sneak-peek trailers in the TV,
and immediately after the first glance at Priyanka Chopra, Sushree’s reaction
was “Autistic naki rey?” (“Autistic? Is she?”) And as far as the portrayal of
Ranbir riding the cycle or otherwise, made us feel that something was missing.
Mute, he seems to be, and deaf? He may be as well. Then, around the time the
movie was about to hit the big screens, the news was out. RK junior indeed was
deaf and dumb. And, my oh my, PC was autistic. And this made us long for the
third contact with Barfi; that is going to see the movie itself on a big
screen! And somehow at the same time this put an uncontrolled inhibition in me as
well.
The right day and the right time for the third contact was
Thursday, September 27. By that time many of our friends and acquaintances had
already seen the movie. They had tried to give their feedback and a bit of
insights which came naturally to them after seeing the movie. But we refrained
from getting biased before hand. We did not want to miss on the magical
surprises that the movie had to offer.
So how did it go? What is our first impression and
reaction? Speechless. And literally we were, as we walked back from the theatre
to our home in Jalvayu Vihar. And during our 10 minutes stroll back through the
silent night, we never spoke. We were really stoked; it had really put a lot of
fuel to our emotions, so much that words were not enough to explain them. And
after an almost sleepless night, I am back at the typing board trying to jot
down my first reactions after seeing Barfi.
I am still a bit dazed and deranged to jot down the reactions
and criticism in an organized and structured manner at present. But who cares,
let it flow as it should.
After completing a normal day at office, we had a very
early dinner at quarter past seven. And after almost jogging through our route,
we reached Audi 1 at the DT Cinemas at Star Mall a couple of minutes late. The
movie had already started, just barely. And from then on, we had been
speechless for most of the time. It had actually taken our breath away.
Although it was named Barfi, and it had meant to be
centered on and based around Ranbir, we were biased for the most obvious reason
towards PC, who was role playing Jhilmil (which by the way means Sparkle), the autistic person. And what PC had
done is really commendable. She had broken all the shackles of glamor and
grace a normal heroine should carry. It had been so realistic, that we could
really compare on many occasions on how Debarghya would actually react
similarly. It had been a near perfect portrayal of a mildly autistic person who
is almost non verbal. Well done PC, and with that I would hope that the general
awareness about Autism in India
grows beyond the horrible rendering of Autism by Mr Khan in his movie. Mr Khan
may have been just in the Autism Spectrum, playing a high functioning Asperger,
but his role made him look like what he wants to be remembered as in his life,
an eccentric genius! Not the truth that we all go through in our daily life and
beyond. So PC has beaten the King Khan comprehensively on this count! Just the
fact that PC was able to create the simplicity and innocence, a trait of
Autism, in her, which was beyond all the resources that make-up and special
effects could provide her, was simply awesome.
A few moments have been captured so beautifully, and
realistically, that it gives you goose pimples in that moment. How she is
visually stimulated by watching the leaves rustle through the sun shine, how
she has sensory issues with physical contact, the way she reacts when she step
in mud even with her shoes on, the way she sees the world upside down; be it
lying down or through the glass paperweight! It even poses us with a larger
question on how we all are viewing the world differently from the way a
‘normal’ autistic child does. Child? Did I just say child? Well it is
impossible to think beyond Debarghya sometimes.
Then there is
Barfi, the deaf and dumb, happy go lucky simpleton from Darjeeling, the Charlie
Chaplin of our ‘Modern Times’, who falls in love first with Shruti, a.k.a.
Ileana D’Cruz, but then becomes the soulmate of Jhilmil. Ranbir had been
brilliant, and may be his best work till date. With the handicap that he will
not be having any dialogues and songs, he had been dazzling, almost perfect,
but somehow still a tiny notch below what PC had achieved.
Then there is Ileana Druz, the normal prototype of the
movie, who provided the view of the world that we know to be normal, but with an
enhanced sense of compassion. She was there, and her presence could have been
made more impactful, but for her case more the merrier was definitely not the
option. Instead, playing the low key was actually the key to her success. And
successful she is representing some one with our view, our say, and the way we
normally react in contact with atypical situations in our life. And finally the Police man, who with his brilliance completed the cycle of story telling.
Beyond this everything else seem to mingle and merge,
balance and blend into a single entity, a mission, a story telling way, a
surreal ambience. In a way the movie was more paranormal, than just a simple
story telling motion picture. It had taken the method used by Chaplin, the
greatest romantic of all times, in defining the story, where all the
‘important’ issues like how the hell was Barfi able to sustain himself in
Kolkata during the period of 1972 to 1978? Like ignoring the major details of
the daily livelihood of the protagonists of the movie, like neglecting the basic
questions that crop in one’s mind which if unanswered will make us say, ‘Well,
that is quite impossible’. Instead detailing the unimportant issues of human
emotions and bonding, the love and longing for each other, the unsaid rules and
regulations of human mind, and most importantly the essence of communication between
humans and how it is beyond all the words in our dictionary.
The movie is truly a splendid blend of the well knit
story, the slight haphazard way of story telling (which keeps us on our toes on
most occasions), the melodious background score (which in most of the times is
beyond the realm and boundary with in which Pritam had been playing around till
date) and the countless beautiful images captured one after the other. Yes, it
is a in a way a recreation of a fantasy that Charlie Chaplin, the great, used
to weave, Yes; it may have scenes which are inspired by “Singing in the Rain”.
Yes, the effect of Picasso and The Three Musicians was evident as the scheme
for continuity in the movie. Yes, in most occassions the story have been a bit too unrealistic, a bit too far fetched, and yes, many of the scenes have been recreated to the extent that it seems to be a copy! Yet, beyond all these the movie had something to
ask us; something related to happiness in our lives! Do we really need to be
deaf and dumb to be happy in life? Do we need to be deaf and dumb to understand
Autism fully? The questions may be too sarcastic a way to look at life. It
seems the more probable questions are we are too biased towards living life the
hard way, not always living in the present, ignoring the contemporary moments
and glories, pondering about the past, conjecturing abut the future. And there,
Debarghya scores a point over us all; his ability to live in the present; and
that is the real essence of Barfi. To enjoy, life, to relish each moment in its
own merit, to savor the itsy bitsy instants of each day, which in turn makes up
our whole life.
In the end, to sum up everything about Barfi I can add up
these words. In the scenes where I would want to laugh out loud, yet there ware
tears rolling down the cheek. And when I wanted to cry out, somehow a smile was
creeping up in my lips! That’s how emotion plays with you; that’s how good
Barfi has been.
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