Even if you have not seen the film, by now you must know that it is about a lovable kid who is called Barfi because his mother longed for a look alike of the boy featured in Murphy ads. The mother promptly dies soon after giving birth to the boy: the film breaks the news in a pretty light vein. Now the image of a boy in an ad is naturally deaf and dumb and for that matter devoid of all senses. Barfi turns out to be merely deaf and dumb but quite lively otherwise.
The film is an attempt to take a leaf out of Raj Kapoor's book. The film is even set in a period dating back several decades. Barfi, born to a chauffeur, grows up to be a handsome boy who has little inhibitions in flirting with girls. He manages to gatecrash into upper class parties as part of his chase. Girls fall for him including an autistic one living away from her upper class family and spoilt parents. She rediscovers Barfi on her way to her family residence as her grandfather lies on the deathbed.
The story continues to unfold in an enchanted fairyland where mothers still long for their lost love, and daughters don't bat an eyelid before walking out, empty handed, of a smooth well settled marriage for the sake of love. This is a world where the hero has the guile to stage a kidnapping for the sake of money instead of simply asking for it. And yet he doesn't have the faintest idea of exigencies and demands the exact amount of doctor's fee for ransom. In this world a handicapped man with an empty pocket and an autistic girl without even so much as a change of dress elope together, ward off other derelicts who in this world limit themselves to just ogling, find employment and a roof in a metro while managing to retain their good looks and humor all the time. Just to reassure the viewers that this world is part of the real one, there is a scene where the autistic girl demands assistance for doing "soo soo."
In this romantic world love alone triumphs. Finally the hero gets old and haggard and gives up the ghost. The autistic girl, though seemingly unaware of the death, lies down beside him and attains death (at will?) A romantic dying together that will be remembered down the generations.
NB: Once you have witnessed this strange world, our anxiety laden preparations for leisure travel and furious preparations for a relocation will look truly neurotic and insane. :)
The film is an attempt to take a leaf out of Raj Kapoor's book. The film is even set in a period dating back several decades. Barfi, born to a chauffeur, grows up to be a handsome boy who has little inhibitions in flirting with girls. He manages to gatecrash into upper class parties as part of his chase. Girls fall for him including an autistic one living away from her upper class family and spoilt parents. She rediscovers Barfi on her way to her family residence as her grandfather lies on the deathbed.
The story continues to unfold in an enchanted fairyland where mothers still long for their lost love, and daughters don't bat an eyelid before walking out, empty handed, of a smooth well settled marriage for the sake of love. This is a world where the hero has the guile to stage a kidnapping for the sake of money instead of simply asking for it. And yet he doesn't have the faintest idea of exigencies and demands the exact amount of doctor's fee for ransom. In this world a handicapped man with an empty pocket and an autistic girl without even so much as a change of dress elope together, ward off other derelicts who in this world limit themselves to just ogling, find employment and a roof in a metro while managing to retain their good looks and humor all the time. Just to reassure the viewers that this world is part of the real one, there is a scene where the autistic girl demands assistance for doing "soo soo."
In this romantic world love alone triumphs. Finally the hero gets old and haggard and gives up the ghost. The autistic girl, though seemingly unaware of the death, lies down beside him and attains death (at will?) A romantic dying together that will be remembered down the generations.
NB: Once you have witnessed this strange world, our anxiety laden preparations for leisure travel and furious preparations for a relocation will look truly neurotic and insane. :)
Whether it was a story told in tnis real world or a fairy land, there were news items telling it created awareness about autism.....which I totally disagree. Yes the word autism may have been introduced to many, but certainly not what it is like to be with autism....in fact a misguided information...
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