(A montage of simple but cleverly-staged sight-gags is great fun.) He’s inspired to seek her hand in marriage, but the opening of his heart goes terribly wrong. She is engaged but finds Barfi’s company irresistible his gentle wooing of her is truly joyous. In a delightful meet-cute scene, Barfi becomes enraptured by the transcendental beauty of upper-class lass Shruti (the stunning Ileana D’Cruz, absolutely adored by every frame of film). Played with engaging élan by Ranbir Kapoor (the grandson of Raj Kapoor his cousin is A-list actress Kareena Kapoor) in a star-making turn, the actor brings a Robert Benigni-esque spirit to Barfi, his physical clowning a joy (an alleyway/rooftop pursuit is a dazzling highlight), his warmth impossible to reject. The film opens in the present, but the action is whisked backed to the mid-1970s where Barfi is a young rascal. The title character, hailing from a village in Darjeeling, is a profoundly-deaf man named 'Murphy’ (early on, he mispronounces his own name 'Barfi’, and the moniker sticks). Barfi! shows the filmmaker’s further growth after the lauded character-driven drama Life in a Metro (2007) and the commercially-minded Kites (2010).
(Pritam Chakraborty’s use of non-traditional instruments like accordions in his terrific soundtrack is a giveaway, too.) But to deny Basu credit for a grasp of his craft that is quite wondrous at times would be doing the writer-director a great disservice. This atypical Hindi heartwarmer deserves international breakout successĮvoking silent film-era charm in its often wordless tale of a deaf man and the two women with whom he shares life-long affections, this beguiling, beautiful film celebrates the purity of true love in the most adorable of ways, reflecting a style more often associated with whimsical European cinema, the most obvious influence being Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie.
The convoluted final act may test the patience of the uninitiated, but in every other respect this atypical Hindi heartwarmer deserves international breakout success. Three wonderfully warm performances and a vivid grasp of rich, local flavour provide Anurag Basu’s Barfi! with a wildly romantic ambience.
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