Honey-strewn Barfi!

Far from a mere title, Barfi is a metaphor for life. It asks one to throw cautions to the winds and indulge in the sweetness that life has to offer. It can be a simple bicycle ride, a seed-spitting marshmallow treat, a ‘second-hand’ painting session, a pani-puri indulgence, or trapping fireflies in a bubble (Can we perceive it as an effulgent soul trapped in a bubble of mortal body? Or maybe I am reading too much between the lines, or rather frames? Blame it on the screenplay that tugs your heartstrings and inspires philosophical symphonies).

To begin with, Barfi, written and directed by Anurag Basu is replete with many such honey-strewn scenes that translate into lump-in-throat moments, and simultaneously elicit smiles without trying too hard. A tough feat indeed, for any screenplay writer worth his/her salt.

The film greets us with a ‘Picture shuru’ track, which I hope is allowed to be used for every film. This would make those ‘Statutory warnings’, ‘Switch off your mobile phones’ and ‘Acknowledgments’ slides something worth looking forward to. The song not only sounds catchy, but also works at functional level, where many cell phone addicts promptly pressed the ‘mute’ icon, to make way for yet another ‘mute icon’ – Ranbir Kapoor.