In simple words, Barfi is different. And that is the beauty of the film. No words, no dialogue baazi, no loud music, just expressions. In fact, I never thought that words could be so superfluous that one’s entire life can be revealed without uttering a single one! Maybe for that one has to be Ranbir Kapoor and the magic wand held by director Anurag Basu.

The latest from UTV Motion Pictures, Barfi takes your breath away with its cinematic wonder. The film oozes a passion for filmmaking, cinematography, acting and simple story telling. Each actor in the film seems to have fallen in love with his/her character dealing with the reality of life of being deaf and mute, and autistic.

It would be an injustice if I said that only Ranbir and Basu were responsible for giving us this beautifully sculpted, emotionally stirring film. The other two protagonists — Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz — are equally superb here.

This is not the first film dealing with physical or mental challenges. There was the 1972 Gulzar film, Koshish, about a deaf and mute couple played by Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachchan. Then in 1996 came Khamoshi which again dealt with the same issue enacted by Nana Patekar and Seema Biswas. While there can be no doubt about the acting prowess of these stars as they are all masters of their talent, Ranbir and Priyanka in their endearingly youthful bubbly nature surpass these veterans in Barfi.

Ileana (Shruti Gosh) is the only able character amongst these three. She is also the narrator of the film. Ranbir (Barfi) is deaf and mute and Priyanka (Jhilmil) is autistic. On her visit with her parents to Darjeeling, just three months before her marriage, Shruti bumps into Barfi riding his old bicycle. The town charmer and very popular, Barfi gets attracted to Shruti and without losing a moment starts flirting with her. Amused by his antics when she tries explaining in sign language of her being already engaged, he stops her with “I can understand you. No need for that sign” and he ‘says’ all this with his eyes, hands and a naive smile.

That is the whole point of this film. Ranbir speaks a lot here sans any words. He makes you laugh, cry, get angry and feel a host of other emotions without uttering anything except his name, Murphy, which with his condition sounds like Barfi, and hence the name. At no point in the film do you feel sorry for his disability or find it difficult to understand him.

The son of a chauffeur who works for Jhilmil’s father, Barfi is shown to have lost his mother early in life. Pampered and loved by his father who doesn’t let him feel that he is in any way inferior to others, he grows up to be a plucky boy who loves to gallivant around chasing toy trains in Darjeeling. He has an able-bodied friend, Bhola Raja, who stands by him come what may.

The character of Barfi is so positive in his outlook that he doesn’t hesitate to approach Shruti’s rich parents with a marriage proposal written with Bhola’s help. But when he sees her fiancé, he realises that he is no match both financially and physically.

He tells her to forget him in his own silent Charlie Chaplin way and asks her to marry her fiancé. Though she loves Barfi, Shruti marries another and lives to regret her decision. But whenever their paths cross, she realises that she can never stop loving him.

In the meantime, Jhilmil, the granddaughter of a rich man, is brought home by her parents from the school for special children.

Jhilmil, keeping with the symptoms of her character, doesn’t like to be touched and talks incoherently only to her principal and grandfather. After her grandfather’s death, she is kidnapped for ransom and here is where Barfi, her childhood friend, enters her life again. The bond they develop is so strong and sweet that it lasts forever.

More than the scenes with Shruti, those with Jhilmil and Barfi are truly heartwarming. Like for instance when Jhilmil has to use the bathroom, she keeps on calling out to Barfi but naturally he can’t hear her. In the end she runs and stands in front of him with the hem of her frock lifted, asking him to untie her pant strings, which baffles him initially. But later on as they start staying together, both help each other with their daily chores. The autistic Jhilmil who knows alphabets and numbers teaches Barfi the basics so that he takes up a job to support both of them.

There are some major flaws here, too. One is that the film is a tad too long. Basu could have cut the film short by a minimum of 30 to 35 minutes. Several scenes seem to drag unnecessarily. There is also nothing to talk about when it comes to music by Pritam. At certain points the scenic locales of Darjeeling, Kolkatta and Shimla are beautifully captured by Ravi Varman but fail to make an impact for lack of a good background score. The story isn’t narrated in a linear fashion with the result that at several points it becomes confusing.

The film’s success comes only because of superb acting by the main trio. It’s great that Ranbir has the guts to take on challenging roles as he has been experimenting with different roles in almost all his films. It was also a surprise to watch Priyanka in her new avatar. She should try to stick to such roles rather than play an unnecessary accessory in films while Ileana is here to stay. Watch Barfi for the joy of enjoying a good romantic film told silently.