Barfi! - Why I like it so much?

Barfi! (2012)

Movie and it's philosophy

There are 2 ways of looking at a movie like Burfi.

1. This whole thing is nuts, "Aisa kabhi hota hai kya? You need so much more to make a good living"

2. Try to see the world thru  the eyes of Burfi and Jhilmil - and believe in "small is beautiful".

If you strongly believe in  thought 1- the characters and the movie are not for you. You might feel the movie is a fairytale. A misfit in today's world.

But you're not wrong, It indeed is, in a different way.

However if you are of thought 2 or willing to believe in Burfi- you might resonate with the immense happiness that is Barfi!

In his interview here, Director Anurag Basu explains the core of Barfi at 5.50.

I couldn't put in better words myself- That is the whole reason why I loved Burfi so much and I could related to it completely.

He says,

"We, as a generation are much further from the concept of pure love. To survive in our times, We need much more than love and happiness. At least that's what we believe.

But the idea of Burfi is to show that pure love and happiness can be obtained via simple things in life- small moments and simple pleasures!"

It is our tragedy that this simplistic thought is looked upon as a fairytale in our complex world. We - the normal people are incapable of appreciating this thought.

May be that's why the story needs to be told thru a deaf and dumb Burfi who finds his happiness with Autistic Jhilmil. Because their inability to analyze this consumerist and complex world actually gives them a superpower - The ability to realize "small is beautiful".

That’s why the movie is a misfit in today's world. We've moved so much away from the basics that anything so simple and yet beautiful - is looked upon as impossible.

Characters

Some of the most beautiful (not good looking) characters I've seen. Though Anurag Basu is not A1 director, he's tried his best.

Burfi-

This guy is our hero. He sings, dances, steals nonetheless has a heart of gold.

Look for a bit more- His is a tragic life. He doesn't have anything great to look for, but the guy is one hell of an optimist.

All the slapstick comedy and running around , mischiefs in the towns - that is his way of coping up with big bad world.

You can see his charming blah blah blah side during the ephemeral romance with Shruti, But that is but one side of Burfi.

The real Burfi comes alive when he's with Jhilmil.  His initial frustration and agitation slowly giving way to a mature  & caring husband.

This puzzles me - What makes him change from a boy to man? The innocent and vulnerable nature of Jhilmil? The trust she shows when she passes the Light-pole Test?

The smile she throws when Burfi greets her everytime?

Jhilmil

Jhilmil enters in the story almost past the halfway mark. She's there in the beginning alright, but she's not into the story till Burfi Spots her.

Jhilmil's world is simple- Muskan & her house. Only loving people being Daju and Maalti mausi. Everything turns upside down after the kidnapping.

Now understand this - A change this big might be shattering for us, but it doesn't shock Jhilmil beyond the initial shock.

We never really know what she thinks and what makes her happy with Burfi. I wish we could see more of Jhilmil's point of view.

The only time  we get to know Jhilmil is during the Durga pooja scene  when we see what she's thinking.

2 standout Jhilmil moments for me are - When she tries draping a saree to imitate Shruti  and when she covers Burfi from the "preying" eyes of Shruti.

Shruti

Disclaimer- I hate her. More than Jhilmil hates her. Because as she says at one point - "whenever I entered Burfi's life, I brought nothing but misery and troubles".

Indeed she does. Why the hell she disturbs the poetic nature of Burfi & Jhilmil's existence?

Barring my personal idiosyncrasies, This is a brilliantly written character. (not so brilliantly directed).

Shruti is normal human. She thinks about the society, her future and her own self. She has taken calculated decision in every step of her life.

Shruti can't just marry Burfi- because she thinks of future, financial security and such norms of society.

Shruti cannot perceive the purity or naiveté of Burfi's philosophy during their brief romance. She cannot grasp the purity or simplicity of Jhilmil and Barfi's relation later.

She represents us- normal people who live within their limitations.

That's why she's a powerful narrator - we can relate to her more than we can possibly relate to either of Burfi or Jhilmil.

And that's why I hate to see her in every frame- she reminds me of my sorry little materialistic existence.

Bitch.

Direction & story/screenplay

 Controversies galore!

Story - nicely written. We can debate about the screenplay and some of the scenes later but there's no denial that the story is good.

Screenplay - Hmm! As per Mr. Basu he chose the non linear narrative to add more meat. I agree- a Linear narrative might have been predictable and boring.

No disrespect, but It would have been difficult for Mr. Basu to entertain us with a linear narrative- we need a director of higher caliber for that stuff.

So well done Anurag Basu!

Direction - "Why Anurag Why?"

Why copy random scenes from well known movies (notebook/ singing in the Rain/ Kikujiro/ a Swedish Ad!) frame to frame, and then put them in the movie?

Moreover, none if these scenes is critical to movie as such - they're just there because Director liked them so much! Absolutely unnecessary.

Copying Chaplin- Fine. You can get away with That. But not this.

I respect you less for all this "heavy lifting".

Treatment - Multiple Wins here. Subtlety which is not a virtue of Bollywood, is being explored almost to the perfection. The light hearted treatment of Barfi's life and various sad moments in later half.
Songs used almost perfectly to carry the story forward.

I could Add lyrics and Music, but that would be too much.

Hence stopping here.

Spicy Food - A Past tense

Some truth dawns on you ever so slowly, like Jimmy Adams playing on the 2nd day of an infernally boring test match. This truth is ever present without making a conspicuous appearance - almost like Hashan Tilakratne on the ground.  But when the realization comes, you're no longer a stranger to it.

In the month of August 2012, a strange truth dawned on me during a well dim lit dinner- I'd lost my spice. Probably forever.
Before jumping to any conclusions and letting the horses fly, we must understand that the term "spice" literally means spice. Every Indian, depending on his locality, has an inbuilt relationship with spice. I too had one. Now it is broken, and may be well beyond repair.

During my 28 years of stay on this earth, I've had my share of spicy food and loved it. I've eaten fish with a fiery taste of gingery hot gravy- so hot and spicy that my nose would run for an hour after lunch. I've had a fried fish whose mere memory burns the tip of my tongue. I've tasted the truly masaledaar (full of masala) subjee and reached nirvana without any spiritual notions. Yours truly has had an abominably charming habit of eating raw chillies with Sol Kadhi ( Western Indian soup!) and rice. I never made any complaints for the amount of spice in my food. The more the merrier.

To quote an anecdote, One of my friend who has had an equal appetite for spice, Once stayed in Pune as a paying guest. His house owner was rather mild on spice. My friend had to remind the owner more than once about the amount of spice in the curry. My friend made passing comments about the non-existence of spiciness in the food prepared by Mrs. Owner.
That didn't go well of course. During next few days, he could observe the amount of spice raised exponentially in his beloved curry. For a couple of days, He was so delighted that he drank the curry instead of water and burped so loud that the nearby speakers felt load of inferiority complex.
Mrs. Owner inquired after each meal - " is that spicy ??"
to which my friend replied, "I could do more, Ma'm". and retired to his room with starry eyes.
To his utter surprise, On the fifth day his dinner plate arrived with rice and red layer in a bowl.
With a careless gesture he poured the liquid on the rice and took a mouthful.

Rest of the story was narrated to me from a hospital bed after 3 days of liquid diet.
Mrs. Owner had accepted his challenge and stuffed the entire chilly generation in her kitchen in my friend's curry.
To correlate the facts, I've had a similar in the past (read one of my previous blogs. Or better, just believe me.) I've had some harrowing experiences with spice in the past, but I've always enjoyed them. Albeit with running nose and watery eyes; still my senses loved the feeling. not anymore.

Coming back to my story, I realized that I've lost it. During a recent dinner, I took 3 spoonfuls (notice the change) of a certain "Pepper chicken", and hell broke loose. The spiciness of above dish was 4/6.
I couldn't take more than that. It saddened me. I felt like I've lost a childhood friend.
I have no way of knowing whether the food I had was really spicy or I underestimated the capacity of the Indian restaurant in US of A. Only time will tell.
A spoonful of Dutt Snacks Misal on a Sunday morning would be the acid test.
I'm hoping for a positive result.


* Dutt Snacks - an eatery in Goregaon (E) where yours truly wasted a considerable amount of my parents' money on Misal Pav and Kokam Sarbat.

Unnoticed names in Bollywood - Part 1

Note - I'm not making fun of them. I genuinely appreciate their work (however limited in scope). They've been the pillars of so many hit movies that we tend to forget their contributions.
Also this list is not complete by any means. If I can predict the future, I see this list extending in at least 3 parts.

Satyen Kappu (Satyendra kapoor) ( Career span 1961-2007)

Lets start from a  relatively famous personality - Ramlal in Sholay. His IMDB list shows a whopping 319 movies. In larger productions he was the ramukaka or servant. In mid sized productions he would play a bechara baap or a police inspector or any other character.
His marathon film innings can be found here


Dinesh Hingoo ( Career span 1967-)
 

The "Hehehehehhehe" guy. 
The parsi bawaji with a rather  wide smile on his face. If you were making a comedy in 90's, you'd find him in any of the comedy scenes with that iconic laughter. Remember the Baazigar scene?
Well, he's acted in 305 movies so far. Here's a complete list of his films

Ram Mohan ( Career span 1958-2010)

Masterji, postman, Judge, A beggar, drunkard, poor farmer, rocket scientist in a shoddy movie, a veteran with medals hanging on  his walls - This guy's been all of them. In a long running movie career, he has the distinction of singing a song in one of his movies! A long career spanning across 5 decades,he's seen all rising and falling stars. Here's his filmography

Anjana Mumtaaz ( Career span 1968- )

In cricket, When Sunil Gavaskar retired, we got another legendary batsman in Sachin Tendulkar. When the original Maa of Bollywood - Nirupa Roy retired, Anjana mumtaaz took her place. Though she was a stronger, happier and non-blind maa, she continued the glorious tradition of wailing, weeping and making an impact by getting caught by bad guys. She provided her acting in maternal capacity for almost 2 decades, before the post 2000 era of more glamorous and in vogue moms took over.


Sudhir (Career span 1962-)

The eternal sidekick of any villain in 1970's Bollywood. He wasn't as iconic as his elder baddy friend Macmohan, but he was there. Be it any smuggling operation, a bank robbery or the proverbial rape scene in a village shanty- he was always present. As Bollywood moved from action movies to romantic and family entertainers, Sudhir found himself stereotyped as a comic character acting in a few important scenes. Remember the Police Commissioner in DulheRaja?

Yunus Parvez (Career span 1963-2007)

You probably won't remember him as an actor who starred in "Zanjeer", "Deewar", "Golmaal", "Angoor". But you may remember him in "Mr. India", "Tridev"! You can often see him doing an Usmaan Chacha or bade miyaa type role in N number of movies. He often came across as either a Samaritan with good nature  or a 70's landlord with menacing intentions. Whatever he did, it came with the comic character that he was always associated with.


Javed Khan (Career span 1973-)

We'll always remember him as "Anand Akela" in AAA or the servant in "Lagaan". He appeared in nukkad too. A wasted youth, a petty thief or a regular bloke on the street would be his identity in any of his movies. I'd rather like to see him being used in the new wave Hindi cinema, He has a lot of opportunity now!


There are many more such faces whom we take for granted.
Lets dig a little deep next time. We'll take a look at some faces who are regularly seen but absolutely unknown when it comes to their actual identities.

Shanghai - Boldest movie in Indian cinema!

***[Contains SPOLERS]***

This is not a Fan post. Nor is this an attempt to make people watch the movie. I'll be glad if someone watches the movie because of this post, but that would be a side effect.
The main reason for writing this post is simple - I just couldn't keep it to myself! Such a powerful movie and so many things it had. Phew, Dibakar has taken us to a new place, again.

By the way 4/4 is a good score for a director. And each of the points he has scored, is a different than his previous one. He has experimented with the stories and the direction style- keeping his eye for the details and characters.

Lets take it in a different manner- I'll list a few bullet points which I loved about the movie-

Bold Movie
When I call this as the boldest movie - please don't associate the word with its popular Bollywood meaning. Bold in Bollywood means shedding of clothes and creating a body shop out of a woman.
I mean the word in its literal sense- Bold, a gutsy performance which requires a lot of courage.
First of all, this is an outright political movie. Not the political movie about politicians and their families - those are easy to hatch. This is a movie about clash of ideals (or lack of it) and how that takes place in our society.
IBP, their point of development, Prof. Ahmadi and his opposition to the betterment of a few, IAS officers and their positions on these issues, common man and his inability to grasp the greater picture, riots and fights happening for no apparent reasons, local politicians and their sidekicks - its all there.



Story of today's India 
Dibakar has taken a character from each strata of Indian Society and placed it in his canvas. there's a politician who's all to powerful, there's a bureaucrat who likes to think himself as a middle class person but who's a rich minority class, there are people who do all sorts of things to make two ends meet and there are hooligans and rest.All of these people are important even if some of them have little control over their own life. All of them are entangled in this complex SEZ issue in their own ways.
The locations and events are more fact than fiction and sometimes they border really close to our present day reality. This makes me cringe, the movie induces this "horror" element which sits back of my mind and makes me shiver every time   I see evidence of today's India in Dibakar's camera.

Characters, Characters, Character
 A huge strong hold of Dibakar. We see more characters than any of his movies and yet each one has a strong base. You of course remember the leading duo, The IAS officers and the idealistic Student and her professor. But you also remember the house maid, the politician sidekick and few anonymous faces lurking in the background- they form the collective character of "hysterical masses". This is the scariest and most complex character I've seen in any hindi movie.

Shades of Gray
Who is right? who is wrong? When dibakar presents a single Scene- it is easy to point out who's right. But immidietly in the next scene we see a different context and the whole meaning changes.
Jaggu kills the professor and we can label him a villain. But jaggu is merely a pawn in hands of bigger powers and at that level, jaggu becomes a victim. Similarly Professor is a hero when you look at him from a neutral point of view, but his inability to achieve a single rehabilitation makes him a misfit idealistic. There's no one who's side you can take and empathize comfortably. The director has made us watch each of his protagonists and their good/bad sides so it becomes a harrowing experience for the viewer- whose side am I on? What is really going on here? Is this how things stand today?

And what I really liked ...

 I loved Pitobash (Bhaggu) and Anant Jog (jaggu mama). I adored Pitobash's character - a typical youth who has nothing to do but who aims big without really knowing how he's going to do it. The lost eyes of Jaggu mama and his soulless presence once the inevitable has happened.

I loved the school turned into headquarter of Inquiry commission and a ball rolling in from the playground- amidst of a tense argument.

I was really horrified to see Damle (politician's chamcha) telling Imraan hashmi "not to worry".
His was the really menacing character.

I liked the subtle south Indian accent of Krishnan, not your typical Bollywood Tamilian.

I totally enjoyed the scene when Shalini meets Jaggu under unexpected circumstances- the change of emotions in those 2 scenes is awesome.

And I loved Dibakar's Camera (Ramu- Please take a note if you're still not turned into an alien)

Enough said, I'm going to watch it again.

Mesmerized by Vihir (the Well)

Synopsis 

A story of two adolescent boys Sameer and Nachiket (cousins who are best friends) standing on the crossroads of life… to choose between the life that leads to petty worldly small existence or the life of free existence that would let them spread their wings and soar high in open skies.They play a game of hide and seek in a rather unusual way. Where one cousin hides in death and the other is looking for him in the life around him. . . . Samir’s search leads him towards the experience of oneness where he can unite with Nachiket again!

*** Contains SPOILERS. Please watch the movie first if
you haven't watched it. ***
The movie goes beyond conventional rating. It is probably THE most important movie to come out of Marathi/Hindi Cinema post 2000s.

Opening

This is how the movie opens, literally. 

The camera follows the game of hide and seek. We don't really notice things until they're obvious.

The whole sequence is just a gem of a storytelling and perfectly fits the movie trailer(promo).

It is really an intriguing sequence- the children (or rather teens?) playing an ancient game of hide and seek in their ancestral house. Only if real life was such a simple game!

If you're familiar with the litarary works of G. A. Kulkarni, the initial "आरभाट निर्मित" would strike a chord! the similarity with GA's work is not just limited to this, the movie is indeed very much GA'sque in nature. If you're a G.A. Kulkarni fan, this is the most appropriate cinema tribute after "कैरी ". If anyone can portray the complex and fascinating stories of GA - it is director Umesh Kulkarni!

Even though We don't know in the beginning, the trailer is a harbinger of  things to come.

After you've watched the movie,  visit the trailer again. The whole meaning of this simplistic looking sequence changes completely.

What are they seeking? who's hiding from whom? This doesn't remain a mere game of hide and seek. It changes the scale and encompasses a totally new dimension, hitherto unknown to us.

Extended Joint family

The movie builds the picture of a typical Marathi family. Old grandparents living in the village with some of their children. A son living in city, a daughter married to a city dweller. During the summer vacation, everyone gets back. Children meet each other and have a blast, sisters meet to discuss the joys and sorrows of their lives. The elderly folks get those immeasurable moments of happiness with their children. It is not all well though- there are issues- problems to be solved, worries lurking in the dark future. But when every one's together, it is a memorable journey.

If you've had such a childhood, it is an extremely nostalgic feeling. The movie almost takes you back in time and refuses to unleash the hold until something happens- a death.

Nachiket and Sameer

They share a bond. Nachiket is the elder of two cousins and they're best friends. Sameer idolizes Nachiket. While Sameer is the outgoing and obedient of two, Nachiket has a rebellious introvert mind- partially caused by his violent domestic surroundings. His is a mind of a true skeptic- seeking difficult answers and trying to  unearth the nature of things around him. Nachiket often dreams of leaving his chaotic world behind him and simply disappearing without a trace.

This possibility greatly disturbs Sameer. Events take a few turns, and when Sameer returns to his grandparents' house - the bitter news of Nachiket's death awaits him.

Searching for the answer of a puzzle called Death.

Sameer faces a gigantic question - What has happened to Nachiket (nachya dada) ? has he vanished into thin air; as he was always aiming to ? Or he's really no more? Is he somewhere hiding from all of his relatives? What does it really mean to have died?

Sameer cannot cope up with this loss. The loss of the most important person in his life- his mentor, companion and closest friend. The question haunts him. Director shows you seemingly unimportant things on screen- like sameer going to school and sitting with a blank mind, getting groceries, participating in the sport events, living a normal life in a crowded city. But there's the looming presence of an unanswered question - What has happened to Nachiket?

The fifth element of Water 

Vihir (The well), as the title says connects a few dots here. The drowning of Sameer's cousin Nachiket turns the world upside down for the entire family. While Sameer is a champion swimmer, Nachiket doesn't know how to swim. He's drown in the well when attempting a solo dive. Sameer is destroyed by this news, but more than sad, his is the emotion of a muddled shock- he cannot react to this newly developed reality. 

Water haunts him forever- We see water everywhere, each scene, each moment of Sameer's life.

Water appears from skies, water coming from taps, the water he drinks- it takes an unnatural shape of a ghost.

Director has made a character out of water. The relation between Sameer and water reaches a level where it becomes almost tense and scary.

And then Sameer can't take it anymore.

Looking for peace of mind

The constant questioning mind takes him nowhere. Next few sequences show us Sameer simply wandering nowhere, doing random things which he himself doesn't remember. The journey takes him to an unknown village. He seeks answers, he tries to find the peace of mind- does he find all?

Movie takes another turn and shows us a beautiful balance of mind and body. Sameer may find his answers but the viewer doesn't :)

The movie leaves many questions unanswered, many possibilities open.

Afterthoughts

One last thing - The camerawork. I haven't seen camera work this vivid and visually striking in any of the Marathi movies so far. It is almost an immersing experience! the tone, color and background perfectly depict the rural Maharashtra.
As far as the storytelling goes, we can derive multiple meanings out of this movie. But even at a basic minimal level, the experience called "Vihir" is stunning - both visually and mentally.
If you like some occasional mental fodder then this is as good as it gets. Don't grab any pop corn, open your mind instead and submerge into the Well.

Crappy Graphs!

I loved the concept of Crappy Graphs!
Hence I decided to create some really crappy graphs for fun :P


Performance patterns of Jaya - Amitabh -  Rekha over the years:

 




 Shakti Kapoor -A Strange coincidence?





Rajashri's exponential growth



 

 Performances of males in Deol Family -