Barfi! Movie Reviews

Anurag Basu’s ‘Barfi!’ is a perfect sweet treat for his audience. Like it has been discussed, those film makers who have been portraying the handicapped as dull and boring in their films must take a lesson from ‘Barfi!’. Go and savour it!

He was born to a song playing on a Murphy radio, but this 'Murphy' baby (Ranbir) aka Barfi has a different law. Everything that has to go wrong will go wrong, but not if you brave it with a broad smiley. So 'mute' the high decibel chaos and deafening melodrama around and tune into Barfi ki duniya; which is simple, sweet and SILENT! Yet, extreme emotions of love, joy and pain resound - at different 'frequencies'

We are used to south films being remade with Hindi dialogues, we are used to Shirish Kunder fall flat on his face with an original idea, we are used to Salman Khan making his biceps dance, we are used to Bipasha Basu showing her amazing abs at the slightest provocation and Emraan Hashmi pressing his lips against anything in a skirt. Now, imagine a film without sex, violence or a screenplay from the south. Also, throw in a pre-condition that the hero

From start to finish, director Anurag Basu never gives up on Barfi’s quirkiness. The storytelling leaves you positive, rekindling a lost belief in old-style, unconditional loving. For someone who cries easily at the movies, Barfi! is a thorough tearjerker. Dissecting a film that left you speechless is difficult. Just let go, indulge in the magic of Barfi!

The late Rajesh Khanna put it across marvelously in the memorable ANAND, 'Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi.' Notwithstanding the roadblocks in our lives, one should celebrate life every single moment, every single day. That, in a nutshell, is the essence of Anurag Basu's BARFI!. When we meet/see differently-abled people or special people, we may have a notion that they live a gloomy, grief-stricken life. BARFI! shatters the myth

Once in a while there comes a film that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. And makes you forget you are watching stars acting in a well-orchestrated story. The only thing you focus on are the people they are playing. Who had thought a speech and hearing impaired hero and his autistic leading lady could feature in a heart-warming tale of love and longing? But Barfi! pulls this off without resorting to sugary sweet sentimentality. In fact, the movie goes a step further

A movie like Barfi! comes along rarely. It's a film that engages you at a personal level, playfully nudging you to experience various emotions without really resorting to overt manipulation, one that makes you laugh and cry at the same time, and reminds you of what Roberto Benigni told us sometime ago: Life is beautiful. At heart, Anurag Basu's laboriously put together film is a conventional love triangle: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they separate

There are many reasons why watching Barfi! should be on the top of your weekend plans. Here are a few. Barfi is original! It is funny without being irreverent, charming without being superficial, and when the time comes, incredibly moving without being melodramatic. In both plot and treatment, it is textured with a Chaplinesque ethos that makes it hard to resist. The characters, the setting, and the screenplay are made of elements

Barfi wins your heart even before the credits start. Its cheerful bubbly jingle advising you to keep your children and cellphones off because the picture has started sets the tone for the rest of the film. Surprising, especially given that most Hindi films with disabled protagonists (like Sargam, Saajan, Nache Mayuri, Black) are so full of hamming, self-imposed sacrifices and self-pity. Not so Barfi. Although this film is about a deaf-mute man and his search for love

The title lead of the movie is deaf and mute but not for a moment in the movie do you bemoan that Barfi can't speak. Ranbir Kapoor skillfully makes up for the deficiency with his animated expressions and endless energy. And while director Anurag Basu subtracts some significant senses from his protagonist, he adds much more than he takes away. Barfi is 'visually' stunning, 'smells' of freshness in every frame, 'touches' your heart every second and is so 'tastefully' treated

Silences seldom spoke so eloquently. It's been a while since we saw a film that set style at a subsidiary state to substance, put the characters' inner life ahead of the flamboyant manifestations of self-identity in a world governed by benevolence and charm. Barfi! is a very charming film. It's remarkably devoid of vanity. The story of a deaf-and-mute man who could have grown up watching Chaplin and Raj Kapoor's cinema, and an autistic girl who has definitely not seen

Soft instrumental music plays in the background. An actor switches between funny expressions and a straight face with ease. He trips over the side walk and he hasn’t got one line of dialogue to speak. While this may seem like a description of a Charlie Chaplin film, it’s also an accurate account of Barfi! Its countless silent film references are just a tip of the iceberg. At its warm gooey heart is a love triangle between a confused young girl, a mute hero and mentally challenged girl

A leisurely paced, sweet offering with a bit of the Kahaani ambience (Kolkata, Darjeeling), subtly entertaining Chaplinesque moments and three heart-warming performances from a director who knows his job. The plot: In a non-linear narration as the screenplay goes back and forth to build into an emotional catharsis, watch the love story of deaf-mute Murphy aka Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) and autistic Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra) through the eyes of Shruti (Ileana D’Cruz)

It’s a beauty: visually and emotionally. Sure, there are flaws unlimited but then which love story isn’t blemished, as much in real as in movie life? In fact, halfway through Anurag Basu’s Barfi,my heart sank. Too much blah blah, too many Charlie Chaplinesque gags, even a pinch from Buster Keaton’s General. And please Mr Basu, quit alluding to those Forrest Gump cuties (butterflies, fireflies and what not). And how about leaving those forlorn havelis in snowtowns

Barfi! is that rare film that can make you smile and make you cry in the same scene. Its technical brilliance is only outdone by its emotional complexity and depth. Pritam’s music adds a nice silent-era charm to this already fantastic story, making it an occasion when words simply aren’t enough.

Review: The world around you is just how you want to see it. Some don rose-tinted glasses and develop a dreamy attitude while few others are......

Romance is never easy. Neither is bringing it to the big screen, though Anurag Basu -- a filmmaker inherently gifted when it comes to visual imagery and metaphor -- is a fine man for the job. He can roll up his sleeves and whip out one peachy moment after another, keeping things wonderfully endearing while poking the audience ever so forcefully in the gut with a monkey-wrench. He is then to be commended for his latest, Barfi!, a film that admirably refuses to yank

This is it, the role Ranbir Kapoor was hungering for. Anurag Basu just gave Bollywood's youngest superstar the best twist in his career yet. Barfi! proves that Ranbir's climb to the top of the B-Town heap is only about a matter of time. It proves that the Bollywood scene stealer needn't necessarily be an alpha screen god on the wrong side of 45 romancing an actress half his age. He could also be a wonky mix of Chaplin, Monsieur Hulot, Raj Kapoor and Kishore Kumar

There has to be something really special about a movie with two of the lead characters disabled in some way and the third always missing something in her life, and yet it never bogs down the movie or the story. Barfi! is lovely in a touching way that is difficult to define. Narrated by different people in Murphy a.k.a Barfi’s (Ranbir Kapoor) life, the movie starts with Shruti (Ileana DCruz) and Barfi’s romance. Engaged to be married to her college sweetheart

All praises aside Barfi isn’t short of its minuses. There are moments when the film gets droopy, with two of the primary three characters not having any dialogues; the silence gets unnerving that you fight the urge to not get distracted. However thankfully Ranbir flawless act saves the day.With heaps of charm and poignancy, Barfi traces human spirit, relationships, thru chaplinesque comedy in some parts and smiles through tears in many others. You get as involved in Barfi’s journey as all his fellow co-stars and you’re taken on this breezy ride with the right amounts of effervescence, leaving you with warmth in your heart.

In Barfi, writer-director Anurag Basu creates a gossamer, fairy-tale world. Sometime in the 1970s, somewhere in the misty hills of Darjeeling, a penniless but irresistibly charming deaf-mute boy named Barfi gets the prettiest girl in town to kiss him. But their sweetly awkward love affair comes undone, after which Barfi embarks on an adventure with an autistic girl. Somehow these two, on their own, manage to survive the city of Kolkata - Barfi gets a job

That rare film that puts a smile on your face even before a single frame of the story is revealed, Anurag Basu’s Barfi envelopes you like a warm blanket from the moment you settle into your seat. Even as routine acknowledgements appear on a black screen, you’re charmed by the accompanying ditty, Picture shuru, whose chorus instructs you to switch off your phones and submit yourself to the experience that follows

BARFI! is a one-man show - Ranbir Kapoor. This film is ROCKSTAR in its impression, which could have been bigger than Sanjay Leela Bhansali's BLACK. But Director Anurag Basu gets into unnecessary twists and turns, which is like elbowing your way into a crowded street. But for now, let's talk about Ranbir Kapoor. This guy here is a genius. No question about that. We have seen how singlehandedly he saved ROCKSTAR from being an out-and-out disaster

Just the fact that this film’s chief focus is on two people who cannot communicate the way you and I do, makes it automatically different. ‘Barfi!’ comes out of mainstream Bollywood, whose standard idea of creating difference is to shuffle one step forward, two steps back : given that context, and its subject, 'Barfi’! does take several brave strides. It’s good in many ways; what stops it from being a great film is a degree of fuzziness, and an insistence on prettiness

Barfi!' isn't the kind of film that is made keeping in mind the moolah that may flow in. It is made for the love of the story that a filmmaker means to tell. While this translates into the fact that Anurag Basu (after 'Kites') could finally tell a tale in a way he wanted, there are also occasional hiccups (especially in the second half) that can be left ignored due to the right intentions as well as the bravura act of Ranbir that you carry home. Anurag Basu adapts Gulzar style of storytelling

When a movie begins by revealing the grim end, no matter how cheerful the following flashback journey may be, you’re left dreading the inevitable. But ‘Barfi!’ manages to make you forget just that by narrating a lighthearted tragedy that wins particularly for what it doesn’t do: It doesn’t draw a pitiful picture of the deaf-mute lead. It doesn’t attempt to do anything that would suggest that it has been made to attract foreign festival ferns on the DVD cover

Sadly, Basu’s film goes on too long and drags its feet in the end. Barfi had the potential to be great cinema, but as it stands it’s a respectable film that’s still better than a lot else you’re likely to see. I’m going with three out of five for director Anurag Basu’s Barfi. It’s a treat like the mithai it takes its name from. Go on, indulge your sweet tooth.

Barfi’! does take several brave strides. It’s good in many ways; what stops it from being a great film is a degree of fuzziness, and an insistence on prettiness.Still, I’d weigh in on the film’s side. It is so hard to find a Hindi film which does disability with any seriousness, and with sensitivity. ‘Barfi’ has its heart in the right place, and doesn’t waver from its intentions

The film has a heart and characters are eminently likable, but on the flip side, here we go – it is too self indulgent for its own good and clocks over two and a half hours. Towards the end you look at your watch more than once.

BARFI! is a one-man show – Ranbir Kapoor.Barfi and Jhilmil together is just not logic. It is tragic. Take away the character of Jhilmil and Basu would have been on a roll.There are a few poignant moments in the film and this is thanks to the three ‘bechara characters’ who tug at your heart. Visually, the film is appealing. It has a different treatment and a hatke cinematic appeal. The three star rating is not for the brilliance of the film; it’s for the genius of Ranbir Kapoor. A performance worth a watch!

Had the drama been more compact and linear, the film would’ve been far more universal in its appeal. The post-interval portion, especially, is long-winding and, therefore, boring. .On the whole, Barfi! is a heart-warming love story which is different. It will be loved by the class audience and the city-based public, especially by those who frequent multiplexes. As for the masses of the single-screen cinemas and the audience in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, they would not find the film as satisfying.

Silence is seldom spoke so eloquently. It’s been a while since we saw a film that set style at a subsidiary state to substance, put the characters’ inner life ahead of the flamboyant manifestations of self-identity in a world governed by benevolence and charm. Barfi! is a very charming film. It’s remarkably devoid of vanity. The story of a deaf-and-mute man who could have grown up watching Chaplin and Raj Kapoor’s cinema, and an autistic girl