16
A ‘Cut’ Below the Rest
BILLU
Dir- Priyadarshan
Cast- Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Manoj Joshi and Shahrukh Khan.
Rating- **
It’s special to be ordinary…but surely it need not be dull and boring as well. Priyadarshan’s BILLU, the Hindi remake of the Malayalam tear-jerker Katha Parayumbol, is as listless as its title. Suffixed that-which-you-do-not-speak-of or not, this one just doesn’t make the ‘cut’. So we open to a village by the name of Budbuda set in God’s own country…Uttar Pradesh! Somewhere in the market chowk of Kamalistan…er Budbuda, Billu(Irrfan Khan) operates his business- that-which-you-do-not-speak-of. Hard times have fallen on our ordinary leading man- his business ain’t great, his tools are old and his poor wife(Lara Dutta) wears backless cholis! Enter Sahir Khan(Shahrukh Khan), the reigning Bollywood King, who arrives in Budbuda to shoot for his in-production inter-galactic saga of lost twin brothers. I swear I’m not even trying to be funny. Turns out that Billu and Sahir were chaddi buddies. Soon, Budbuda learns of this as well. Hoping that there’s an extraordinary love story in this ordinary jodi, Billu becomes the cynosure of everyone’s eye; everyone brown-nosing him in anticipation that they too might get to rub shoulders(and other body parts) with ‘the only star who has more men around him than women’! But Billu’s problems persist- his wife continues to wear backless cholis!
If BILLU is Priyan’s version of the Krishna-Sudama story then Irrfan Khan is the poor mortal, and Shahrukh Khan as the star quite literally, it’s God. So when Billu’s backless-choli wife dreams a dream song and sees the star cycling up to her instead of her husband, we do not rue at the missed opportunity of seeing Irrfan in a musical number, but placate ourselves by telling that we knew it was coming all along. The film defeats its own tagline when it doesn’t allow its ordinary lead the one special moment that the script could’ve offered. And it never does. Billu remains the mortal. We love him, and with Irrfan’s portrayal how can one not? But Billu is ineffective, always at the mercy of the actions of the God. Until Sahir Khan supposes, the narrative doesn’t move forward. And suppose he does, in the convenient penultimate minutes, by way of a long speech best summarized in one word by a fellow viewer- pakao.
The pakao factor runs heavily throughout. Guilty as charged include Om Puri(who has learnt how to act badly from Priyan, a la Paresh Rawal), Manoj Joshi(hamming personified) and Pritam(giving us hummable noise in the name of music). Also pakao are the unimaginative song picturisations. The most unexpected pakao act comes from Shahrukh who seems to merely be going through the motions. Also, the camera doesn’t capture him in flattering close-ups. His performance is surprisingly jaded, one adjective you could never describe any of his performances with.
In this tepid and occasionally funny film then, Irrfan’s is the only show on display worth watching. Handed a leading role, he doesn’t disappoint one bit; flaunting nuances that he demonstrates with the subtlety of a painter’s strokes. Watch him in the pre-interval scene when he calls Sahir Khan from a public booth, with the whole village in audience, only to be spouted profanities by his secretary on the other side, as Irrfan puts on an act lest the villagers find out. The film doesn’t deserve him. Or Lara’s Dutta back!
In need of serious trimming, BILLU ends up as a film which I suppose in years will be to Shahrukh and his fans as that-which-you-do-not-speak-of.
- Abhishek Bandekar
Rating- **
* Poor
** Average
*** Good
**** Very Good
***** Excellent
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Yeah RAJ..also hope that the movie shapes up well..and sticks to the topic of cricket instead of some other stupid ...
Raju Guide..
may be with depleting bowling prowess of Indian team Akki ight be of some help... 
the link is broken Raju G 
Akshay might bounce back big time this year.. Somehow I see Housefull doing more business than Welcome.. And Action Replay ...
Thankfully with MNIK ending its run and 3 I too, hopefully Bollywood will get 1.5 years without these 2, the ...
Can we replace MNIK twitter with Karthik calling Karthik? 
Pritam is doing the music of Action Replay. I do like Vipul Shah, and he has done some interesting ...
Hope you had fun yesterday Tango with Holi. No chutti for the press, so celebrated with hot jalebis at office. 
Kya baat hai...kya baat hai.....kya baat hai....ABZEE BHAI.
Good choice,i'm looking forward to ALICE IN WONDERLAND and BROOKLYN'S FINEST.
Also eagerly waiting ...
Som 13 February 2009
08:06:41 am
Thanks Abzee!
Tango 13 February 2009
09:16:55 am
Sorry Abzee while I thank you for your review, I disagree on many counts.
My name is Beld 13 February 2009
09:44:34 am
It is so obvious that the reviewer is just a run-of-the-mill SRK hater. Note the reference to SRK fans in the last line. Absolutely comical.
Btw – listening to all the reviews – I think this movie more resembles Kuselan than the Mallu original. If thats true – the movie probably sucks big time
neelu 13 February 2009
09:52:34 am
I was going to say that too – I hardly expected such a pakao review from Abzee. Everyone has the right to like or dislike a film – but the forced humor and digs at everything including SRK fans makes this a review I can discount.
Ravi 13 February 2009
10:30:59 am
Nice Abzee, you never disappoint me.
RAJ 13 February 2009
10:32:07 am
This is the worst (quality of review) I have ever come across.Not because the reviewer is critical about the movie but because throughout the review the reviewer seems to carry.a personal vendetta agaisnt the makers…
Ravi 13 February 2009
10:44:57 am
Come on guys make someone the moderator and get this over with, it doesn’t make a difference to me as no one will ban me.
rks, did his time and if he does not want to continue this thankless job I do not blame him, so let go and come back guys.
Rohit, please go ahead and make some good non controversial guys(there are a few of them here) mods so that everyone is happy and can get ready for war next week.
Tango 13 February 2009
11:01:20 am
“So we open to a village by the name of Budbuda set in God’s own country…Uttar Pradesh! Somewhere in the market chowk of Kamalistan…er Budbuda’
The film has indeed been shot majorly in God’s own country Kerala
Tango 13 February 2009
11:04:15 am
“But Billu’s problems persist- his wife continues to wear backless cholis!”
I really cannot get the humour here, sorry yet again Abzee.
As far as below the pverty line village women go, let lone go backless, they go braless, and blouseless, just wearing a saree.
Tango 13 February 2009
11:37:11 am
All the same I respect your opinion and review Abzee.
cticize 13 February 2009
12:30:15 pm
Hmm i think the movie should be given a miss it seems.
Shahid 13 February 2009
12:34:57 pm
Abzee: “His performance is surprisingly jaded, one adjective you could never describe any of his performances with.”
Doesn’t sound like a SRK-hater to me. He thinks that SRK has given better performances, which I think is a fair enough criticism.
A C H I L L E S 13 February 2009
02:47:32 pm
Lot of defense here … just what the doctor ordered for the day!
A C H I L L E S 13 February 2009
02:48:33 pm
This review has a mocking tone .. but going by the reviews of Billu by large, it seems to be on the mark.
Aarohi 13 February 2009
07:21:21 pm
Thanks for the review, abzee!
My name is Beld 14 February 2009
04:00:35 am
Ach – ya i think the movie on the whole is a very tepid one like Kuselan. will probably give it a miss unless D6 reviews are bad too. BTW – hows life in the US dude. looks like you are studying very hard
– dont see you on NG much