Billu: “The Chitrahar”

I happen to see Mr. Priyadarshan’s new venture Billu Barber (Opps! Sorry), it’s only “Billu”. Well, I had heard about the controversy that the movie was going through and also read the director’s statement in the magazine India Today, he stated that, “When a foreigner calls us slumdogs, we listen ? And when an Indian calls a barber by his name, we protest?” I decided to watch the film as to know what was so important in the film that name from “Billu Barber” to “Billu” made Mr. Priyadarshan upset. After watching the film I concluded that he wanted to bring a barber into limelight as the film had nothing to offer to the audience.
The plot of the film was nothing new; we have all heard the story in Katha Parayumpol and Kuselan. Krishna and Sudama‘s friendship tale is the tale which every child hears from his/her grandparents and that is what is the base of the plot. The film has the comedy trio of Priadarshan Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Asrani, the only missing link was Paresh Rawal, and he must be busy entertaining others?
The humors of the film are normal which would not make you laugh or even bring a smile to your face; some of them are even lost as Irrfan Khan is not able to carry them off properly. It is not that he has not done justice to his character, infact he has outplayed all the characters of the film. The expression, his dialogue delivery and the dept in eyes speaks volumes. Whether he is renovating his umbrella or is speaking on the phone, he has outplayed the entire cast of the film.
Shah Rukh Khan is just fine has not much too offer to the film expect the explanation that he gives about the quarrel between the Khans in the film industry and his emotional speech and crying for last 15-20 minutes, which he has performed to his potential, else apart from that he has managed to be again young and match up the dancing steps with three young ladies of the industry. Billu’s wife Lara Dutta needs to do her homework a little better and his children need to be a little grateful to their father.
But while watching the film I had a feeling that I was watching a television show on Dordarshan, called “Chitrahar”, it use to be telecast on Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. by Pooja Bhatt. She use to throw a little knowledge about the films and music and than we had a beautiful song to be watched and heard. This movie was nothing more than a Chitrahar and Shah Rukh’s entry seems like a rework of Harry Baweja’s “Love Story 2050”. The movie was just another disappointment from Priyadarshan’s bag. It seems he would again have to go over his old films and find a plot to remake it in Hindi so that he can increase his list of hit film in bollywood. Well all we can say the stars that please tell/act out a story which we all can appreciate and enjoy, else sit back and free us from the burden of watching pathetic movies.