Billu: Movie Review

Film: Billu (earlier it had been Billu Barber but now changed to Billu)
Genre: Drama
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Ompuri, Asrani, etc
Director: Priyadarshan
Producer: Shahrukh Khan
Writers: Manisha Korde
Mushtaq Sheikh
Sreenivasan
Duration: 2 hours and 20 minutes
Reviewer's rating: 2.5/5

The film, Billu (Barber is no more in the title) is a scene-to-scene rather frame-to-frame copy of (err…remake) of the original, Kadha Parayambol which is a story of Krishna and Sudama in the modern setting. This was remade as Kuselan in Tamil and it had been a disastrous failure. But that didn’t move Priyadarshan. The man who earlier filmed some memorable flicks such as Virasat had courageously attempted to remake the movie in Hindi which doesn't impress audience for sure.

Irrfan Khan played as Billu Barber in the film and it feels like he is apt for the role. It is learnt that Irrfan learnt the art of haircutting from a street barber and not a hairstylist. No wonder he looked more than natural as Billu the Barber in the film, and the more he commits to his roles the more adorable this guy becomes. The storyline of Billu goes like this: Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan) is a village barber and is called by his villagers as Billu Barber. It’s not all that picture perfect life for Billu, who is married and has two kids. He with his wife Bindiya (played by Lara Dutta) and two kids struggle in day to day life to meet daily necessities. His measly income as fulltime village barber seems just not enough, yet he remains a man of self respect.

Things are not the same forever for Billu. Super Star Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to his village for a film shoot and Billoo realizes that the super star is none other than his childhood buddy Sahir. This fact changes the image of Billu Barber in the village and he attains popularity overnight. The rich of the village, his kids school headmaster and all of Sahir Khan’s fans want to use Billu to catch a glimpse of the super star, some even willing to help Billu the monetary way and entire village threatening to boycott him from the village as well.

The modern Sudama aka Billu doesn’t use his childhood friendship with Sahir Khan to tide away the financial difficulties, and the modern Krishna aka Sahir Khan is no different either, he being modest and generous to his childhood friend. Priyadarshan doesn’t deviate from the folklore, and we all know it anyway. The narration of the story appears flat with no twists. The emotion-loaded climax is the only respite.

By accepting the role of Bindiya, I thought Lara Dutta started evolving into some serious acting. I’ve also read too much about her de-glamorized natural makeup. I seriously thought she would be perfect Billu’s wife, only to my disappointment. She miserably fails to impress as wife of Billu the barber. Irrfan Khan steals away the show. OMG! He charms a lot by acting with such ease! His body language syncs so perfectly with any role he plays, and you are never bored by a stereotype from him. Maybe, he should not be accepting every other offer and take his talents serious. Roles like Billu can make him a laughing stock sadly. SRK adds glamour quotient to the Billu movie with three sexy babes and item numbers. Its Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra that add the femme fatale quotient and they are seen in just the item numbers. I liked the song Mar Jaani which features SRK and Kareena. Rest of the songs fail to impress and you keep wondering if it is the same Pritam. In fact, I liked the re-recording more than the songs.

Overall, I sum up Billu movie as an average movie, and if you go to the theaters without too much of expectations you can sit for 140 minutes without too many huhs and ouhs!