Movie Club: Barfi Discussion

Movie Club: Barfi Discussion May 17, 2014

I had a bunch of people recommend Barfi to me and it was a good recommendation, since I actually am quite involved in disability rights and so a Hindi movie with disabled main characters plays to two of my interests!

However, I didn’t really care for it.

The background accordian music made it feel like it was a French farse and I kept expecting to see the Eifle tower in the background.

I didn’t find Barfi himself to be all that charming. I can understand that he represented breaking away from the rules and following your heart, but stealing chocolate from a baby? I don’t really understand how seeing that made Shruti smile.

Maybe it is my very background in disability rights that makes this film difficult for me to enjoy. There was no reason for Barfi to be child-like, yet he seemed to be a lot of the time.

I was impressed with Priyanka Chopra’s performance. I thought she was very believable in her role as an autistic girl.

I do appreciate the message of “be bold, go against the grain, and really live your life” but I didn’t want to actually watch the movie to get it.

The real beauty in the movie is pretty late in, when Barfi and Jhilmil are together. But it was difficult to get that far.

I seem to be the only one with this reaction, as I’ve read some other people’s reviews to compare and they are all glowing.

I’m glad that such a different kind of movie was made, that maybe viewers are able to understand that people with disabilities can still love and be loved, but I already knew that and this movie just wasn’t my taste.

***

For next week, we’ll watch Kal Ho Naa Ho, which was recommended by my friend Swati.

It is available to rent for 99 cents here at Youtube (watch out for the description, it has spoilers and basically tells the entire plot of the movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyDDSaAIhHE


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