Barfi!


Barfi! is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Anurag Basu, and produced by Ronnie Screwvala under UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz with Saurabh Shukla, Ashish Vidyarthi, Jisshu Sengupta, Roopa Ganguly and Haradhan Bandopadhyay in supporting roles. Set in Darjeeling and Kolkata of the 1970s, the film focuses on Barfi, a deaf-mute young man based in Darjeeling, and his relationships with two girls, the beautiful Shruti and the autistic Jhilmil.
Made on a budget of ₹35 crore, Barfi! was released on 14 September 2012. The film received widespread critical acclaim for the cast performances, direction, screenplay, cinematography, music and the portrayal of physically disabled people. It was a major commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 2012 in India and overseas, grossing crore worldwide. Since its release, Barfi! is considered as a cult classic for its refreshing story, soundtrack, performances of the cast, and feel-good factor.
The film was selected as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the 85th Academy Awards. Barfi! won several awards and nominations at various award ceremonies across India. At the 58th Filmfare Awards, Barfi! received 12 nominations including Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, and won 7 awards including Best Film, Best Actor, Best Female Debut and Best Music Director.

Plot

1972

Murphy, also known as Barfi, is an optimistic, street-smart, charming young man who was born deaf and mute to a couple in Darjeeling. His mother died after giving birth to him. His father Jungbahadur raised him alone while working as a chauffeur. Barfi is known as a troublemaker; he cuts lampposts, plays practical jokes, and is chased by Inspector Sudhanshu Dutta, a local police officer. Barfi meets Shruti Ghosh, a gorgeous, educated young girl who has just arrived in Darjeeling. She is engaged to Ranjeet Sengupta and is due to get married in three months, but Barfi is immediately smitten with Shruti. She also falls in love with Barfi, but Shruti's mother dissuades her from pursuing him because he could not take care of her with his disabilities and lack of money. Shruti unwillingly takes her mother's advice, marries Ranjeet, and leaves town, cutting off all contact with Barfi.
Meanwhile, Barfi's father suffers from kidney failure and Barfi is compelled to somehow raise the amount of ₹7000 for his surgery. After an unsuccessful attempt to rob a local bank, Barfi contemplates the kidnapping of Jhilmil Chatterjee, his autistic childhood friend and wealthy heiress of her grandfather's fortune, for a ransom. Upon arriving, Barfi discovers that Jhilmil has already been kidnapped and her father, Durjoy Chatterjee, files a police report and arranges a ransom of ₹50,000 as demanded. Barfi is escaping from Inspector Dutta from the bank robbery case and spots Jhilmil in a van. He sneaks inside and drives Jhilmil away from the ransom delivery. Barfi proceeds to hide her in his apartment with the police in pursuit. Barfi writes a new ransom note for ₹7000 and collects the amount from Jhilmil's father, but finds that his father has died just as he makes the hospital payment. Dejected, Barfi tries to leave Jhilmil at the village of her caretaker, but she refuses to leave him and the two soon move to Kolkata, where Barfi assumes responsibility for Jhilmil and takes care of her.

1978

Six years later, Barfi and Shruti reunite by chance in Kolkata. Shruti is unhappy with her marriage with Ranjeet, and rekindles her friendship with Barfi, much to the chagrin of the lovestruck Jhilmil, who then goes missing in the city. Shruti files a missing person report for Jhilmil. Inspector Dutta and the Darjeeling police learn about the report, resume their pursuit of Barfi and arrest him. Shruti strives hard to help Barfi and Ranjeet abandons her as a result. As he is being interrogated, another ransom demand for Jhilmil is made and she is apparently killed in the process of the exchange, though her cadaver is never recovered. Inspector Dutta is confused at how Jhilmil's father received a ransom note for her in Darjeeling when she had been living in Kolkata for last six years. In order to conclude the case, the police decide to frame Barfi for Jhilmil's murder, but Inspector Dutta, who grew fond of Barfi after investigating him for his nuisances, asks Shruti to take him away, offering him a second chance at life. She agrees and hopes that now Jhilmil is dead, she can finally be with Barfi.
However, Barfi is deeply affected by Jhilmil's loss and finds living with Shruti unfulfilled. He eventually finds the location of Jhilmil's childhood home from the scribbles that she made in their house. Barfi takes Shruti to the place to find Jhilmil, and in a plot twist, the two discover that Jhilmil is alive all along, and that both the kidnappings were fabricated by her father so that he could embezzle money from Jhilmil's trust fund. In the second attempt, the second time, Jhilmil's caretakers from her childhood foster home colluded with Jhilmil's father and faked her death so that she could return to her special-care home, away from her alcoholic mother. In return, Jhilmil's father received control of the trust fund that Jhilmil's late grandfather had left behind for her. Barfi happily reunites with Jhilmil and the two get married, while Shruti spends the rest of her days alone, regretting the loss of her chance to be with Barfi, but still happy about Barfi and Jhilmil reuniting.

2012

In the present day, Barfi is gravely ill in a hospital and is close to death. Jhilmil arrives and lies with Barfi in his hospital bed as Shruti narrates that the two died peacefully together, not wanting to leave each other behind in life or death. The film closes showing the last days of Barfi and Jhilmil as credits roll.

Cast

  • Ranbir Kapoor as Murphy who is an optimistic, street-smart, charming young man who was born deaf and mute to a couple in Darjeeling
  • Priyanka Chopra as Jhilmil Chatterjee
  • Ileana D'Cruz as Shruti Ghosh Sengupta
  • Saurabh Shukla as Inspector Sudhanshu Dutta
  • Ashish Vidyarthi as Durjoy Chatterjee: Jhilmil's father
  • Sumona Chakravarti as Piyali: Shruti's friend
  • Jisshu Sengupta as Ranjeet Sengupta: Shruti's fiancé-turned-husband
  • Roopa Ganguly as Mrs. Ghosh: Shruti's mother
  • Uday Tikekar as Mr. Ghosh: Shruti's father
  • Haradhan Bandopadhyay as Daju: Jhilmil's special-care homeowner
  • Arun Bali as Nanaji: Jhilmil's maternal grandfather
  • Preeti Mamgain as Mrs. Chatterjee: Jhilmil's mother
  • Akash Khurana as Jungbahadur Chhetri: Barfi's father
  • Kenneth Desai as Senior Inspector
  • Rajeev Mishra as Inspector Dutta's assistant
  • Bholaraj Sapkota as Bhola: Barfi's friend
  • Sujata Sehgal as Ms. D'Souza: founding member of Jhilmil's special-care home

    Production

Development

During the production of his previous directorial venture Kites, director Anurag Basu wrote a two-page short story which was later developed into the script of Barfi!. The film script that Basu wrote alternated between two time periods, and he retained the nonlinear narrative structure. He said that the script required a 30-year time span for the characters' love to grow and thus set the backdrop of the film in the 1970s.
In June 2010, Anurag Basu confirmed that his film would feature three lead roles, a deaf-mute man, a mentally challenged girl, and a narrator. With former titles like Khamoshi or Silence, media reports said the story was grim or dark. However, Basu stated that on the contrary, the film was happy. According to Basu, he paid homage to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin by adding scenes inspired by the era of silent cinema and using physical comedy in the film, involving silent portions.

Casting

In March 2010, it was reported that Ranbir Kapoor and Asin Thottumkal were signed to play the lead roles in the film before being replaced by Katrina Kaif then titled Khamoshi and later Silence, which Basu confirmed.
Basu wanted to cast Asin Thottumkal for the role of Jhilmil, an autistic girl. Basu's wife, Tani suggested Chopra's name for the role. However, Basu feared that the audience would see "the Priyanka Chopra" and not the character due to Chopra's stardom. Basu explained "I had the fear that I would see Priyanka Chopra in the character and Jhilmil wouldn't work. This has happened in many films where known faces have harmed the character." Priyanka Chopra was cast to play the part but, the development was not announced as Basu wanted to workshop first and see how it goes. After three days of workshop, Basu was convinced that Chopra could play the part and reflected that he was glad that he chose Chopra for the role. Later, Basu revealed that he did not approach any actress after Chopra for the part.
After Chopra was cast in the film, Kaif left the project for unknown reasons. Media reported that she may have opted out of the film because Chopra had been given a stronger role. Later, media reported that Asin Thottumkal was approached to play the role of the narrator once again, replacing Kaif. However, Asin refused the offer due to date clashes. Media reported that no other actress wanted to sign for the film because according to them, Chopra's part was stronger. In July 2010, Mumbai Mirror reported that Chopra was ready to play the role of narrator, so that another actress could be cast in the film as she did not want the film to stall. Basu confirmed this development and said, "It's true we've been unable to cast the other part." After facing several casting problems, Basu chose to cast a completely new fresh face to play the second female role. In early December 2010, Ileana D'Cruz, an actress who worked in Telugu films, was finalised for the second female lead, featuring as narrator and Kapoor's first love interest in the film, thus making her debut in Bollywood with the film.