Monday, September 17, 2012

Barfi - The New Face Of Indian Cinema



“Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” 

What will you remember the year 2012 for? I shall ever remember it for some of the greatest movies our quality deprived Indian Cinema produced. Seems like all the film-makers have suddenly realized that  all good work requires nothing but self-revelation. And they are working on it - producing results which the human race would have never expected of. They have suddenly realized that experience can let you experiment and that if it turns out to be successful, can lead you to a perfect evolution. Time's evolving. Yes the process has been little slow, but look what its fetching you. For those who used to believe in the power of cinema must be feeling very relieved, so am I.

It would be very derogatory for me to say anything about Barfi. If I start talking about it, may be I run out of words, because doing so is simply a gargantuan task.  Someone once said - "There are two types of films: those that employ the resources of the theater (actors, direction, etc...) and use the camera in order to reproduce; those that employ the resources of cinematography and use the camera to create". I say there exists a third category which involves the both in an appropriate proportion and produces something miraculous, something beyond imagination. Barfi is a combined effort of an immaculate direction, a great script and some never seen before acting. Gone are those days when it used to take a cheapo to cry in a directionless movie and get applauds from the lost souls. You now need to have a proper substance and then only you can leave an indelible imprint on the million minds. 

When it comes to portray disability on the celluloid, it takes something more than humanitarian efforts for the entire crew.  The characters have to speak with their eyes, their movements must speak. The direction has to be impeccable. Not a single emotion should escape the mind of the audience - immersive -  so should be the power of expression. An autistic person's role has to be the most difficult and needs a sorcerer's touch. I am simply reminded of Dustin Hoffman's role in Rain Man and Priyanka Chopra played it no less exceptional - one of the most touching performances I have ever seen. Ranbir Kapoor has properly fit himself in any kind of role he has ever been assigned. He is mute yet so expressive, funny yet so touching. And the love-story of these two disables has been so wonderfully and subtly knitted that once you are entangled you have no escape. 

Burfi opens to you doors to an ethereal world created through a poetic imagination. With all these excellence the team might have fetched themselves numerous awards already and yet again set examples for all the aspiring actors and directors.  All it takes for them to align to the same trend. Its the time we can see cinema riding the path of Resurrection. We were never out of talent but the ideas were just lacking. Movies like Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Barfi and others have shown to the world how much potential we carry. With a sudden out-pour of fresh new ideas for last few months, the faith in cinema has certainly been restored. We can expect more and more stunners in coming times to blow and boggle our minds.