BILLU BARBER (2009)

Have you heard the famous Krishna- Sudama story celebrating the spirit & bond between poor/rich friends? Well Shahrukh & Priyadarshan try their version on silver screen by making it superstar/barber friendship. I’ve also heard that the movie is based on a super hit Malayalam film.
Priyadarshan knows the nerves of common cinema going audience & he has captured the small village beauty & locality with his own touch of colors. The story of the film is very marginal & so the director has kept the reels moving with 3 item songs of current hot babes- Deepika, Kareena & Priyanka & few common madcap characters of rustic setting; (quite common for Priyadarshan film)- Om Puri, Rajpal, Asrani. They all are flair players. Lara Dutta in her deglamorise look seems more natural.
It’s in the second half that the film becomes too melodramatic & a trial to test audience’s patience for the awaiting climax scene. And it’s the Climax which works wonderfully with King Khan’s star image shedding speech & it will surely wet the eyes of audience.
Irrfan is ‘the jaan’ of the film & his performance is absolute treat to watch the film. He is the sure reason to watch this film. With his well nuanced performance as an ordinary barber of small village trying to run his family on shoestring income. In the last climactic scene when he meets his Superstar friend you just feel his heart out- a gem moment of the film.
SRK again plays what he is- a Superstar with all glamour & glitz of stardom proclaiming ‘I can do anything’ spirit. Even though it’s bit repetition of his ‘Om Shanti Om’ act, he just let you feel the pulse of a common man behind his stardom power in couple of the scenes in end. But now he should stop doing this sort of self-promoting roles to lure the fan followings. Every audience would love him the same way if he would do ‘Chak De’ or ‘Swades’ kind of stuff at least once a year.
It surely works as popular popcorn entertainment.
A fair treat to enjoy Sunday/Valentine’s Day.

Ratings-7/10