BARFI! Silence is Golden: Words are mysterious

I find life musical, the smell of the air is sweet and the sound of the world is symphony. The rain feels like the precipitation of my heart and the people are generous, altruistic and courteous. There is laughter all around and happiness spreading through the planet. The shouting, anger and frustration is people’s love for each other expressed through these emotions. Simplistic yet natural is the world order and I belong, love is in the air and in every corner of nature. What drives me is passion, what moves me is emotion, what calms me is a whisper and what restrains me is society. I am a man of few words but I feel all the above.

This is what came to me while watching Barfi! If crying is a luxury, I seem to be a miser. While salty water felt out from dreamy eyes, my emotions were more inbound but equally vivid. My expressions were confused and my heart was palpitating. Lack of perfection does not correlate with excellence. Cinema so beautiful cannot not be respected, it is enamored. Honesty, sincerity are values still deeply entrenched in us and we cannot stop loving.

The tale of a man whose actions brought joy, whose smile was infectious and who was inhibited in his actions. A man who falls in love with a sweet, warm girl without worrying about social barriers. Ranbir Kapoor is Murphy (or Barfi!) as he pronounces it deaf-mute from birth, living with his father in a small town of Darjeeling. His life takes a turn when he meets Shruti (Ileana D'Cruz) and falls head over heels for her. But an already engaged Shruti breaks his heart, he meets Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra) an old friend, what follows is two souls and their evolving love. Where does the story go is what Barfi! Is all about. A silent, charming and draining 150 minutes leave you speechless and the beautiful scenic Darjeeling giving an understated resonance to the well-structured and sweet melody that is Barfi!

Ranbir Kapoor is evolving, he has mastered the craft, delivering performances of with depth and perfection. Again and again he enhances his presence with roles which have so many complexities. Perfectly balanced with him is Priyanka Chopra such elegance in a performance of an autistic girl who falls for Barfi! Ably supported by various actors who tell the story of Barfi! And how he touched their lives. While she looked elegant Ileana D’Cruz could not differentiate herself in her first Hindi movie.

Praise again for Pritam, Anurag Basu always brings out the best in him. The songs are all excellent and add words to Barfi!’s silence.

What prevented Barfi! From being the perfect tale of love was its length and a floundering and slow script during the second half. The movie dragged on while trying to reach its conclusion and this certainly was avoidable with some structure.

Anurag Basu has always been an underrated director, still awaiting his stature as one of the best in business. With Barfi! He proves that he can create magic again!

Where there's will. Is there a way?

It happens in life, when things go far from what you expect. You fail again and again and lose confidence in your abilities. When you take your opportunities with utmost sincerity and define your objectives with complete clarity, you expect to reap the benefits of the fruits of your labor. But life consists of randomness in the chaos and you cannot completely control the events around you. Where then would you attribute the reasons for this failure ? Is it luck or incapability?

So then how do you pull yourself out of the habit of falling into the deep hole of despair? There is no easy solution that works like a charm. Simple stated it’s a phase, you take it in your stride.  Everyone will advise you to find your faults work on them. Easily said than done. All you can do in continuous self-improvement while you become accustomed to it.

Another dimension comes in the form of your family, friends and peers. How do you manage these relationships while going on this path to finding your own true self? There is a threshold above which you lose clarity and focus, you begin to question everything random and give undue importance to unrelated events. You shift priorities and become pessimistic about life.

When under pressure, think of past experiences, how you overcame them and hope that everything will be perfectly all right. Just Kidding! This is the worst advice I can give you. It tough to get through this period, it is seemingly impossible. Your whole life flashes before your eyes.

So just let it be, deal with the knowledge and find a new direction to focus on.