Barfi! A Sweet Treat….

When I first heard the name ‘Barfi’, I almost concluded the hero would be a halwai! Fortunately, I was proved wrong. For those of you who don’t know yet what I am talking about, please look it up here. And for the record, I quite enjoyed the movie. Why? Because for once I did not have any silicon twins shoved down my face via a raunchy item song. Also, I did not have double meaning dialogues to pick and choose from.  The story took it’s time to unfold, but thankfully there was a story. Murphy was Barfi in the most unique way supported by some very stellar performances. Have to make a subtle mention of the opening song which urged people to mute both their phones and their kids. Fabulous! 

Some scenes stayed back with me and brought a smile to my face as I wrote this post. In no particular order, the male protagonist showing off his hairy legs, the newspaper ride with the sadhu, the offer letter to the parents and the pass over proposal. Some tugged at the heart too, like Jhilmil laying claim to what she knows as hers. Barfi’s disability at a crucial moment in his father’s lifetime hits you hard. And when Shruti decodes the pictorial album,  all the missing pieces of the puzzle begin to make sense.

 

So before I had even seen the movie, it got selected as our official Oscar entry. People instantly found a zillion multiple sources it was copied from and there was widespread brouhaha. Honestly, even for a cut paste job you need talent. And I say this without wanting to sound like a crusader for plagiarism. Those who know me will vouch for that. In a digital age like ours, where information flows freely, copy artists are bound to come up. You can confront them or let them be, really your prerogative. Personally what bothers me more is when the ‘copier’ does a shoddy job. When you copy a Mona Lisa and render a dimension to her beauty, it really is an ode to the masterpiece (purely my opinion). But give her a moustache and a hood under the garb of creativity; you will have Da Vinci turning in his grave.

 

Anurag Basu has been saying he was inspired by Chaplin, all along. It is a welcome change than those who promote their DVD scripted film as something new and fresh….duh! As much as Barfi was ‘inspired’ via multiple origins, there have been far more qualified predecessors, trust me. Here are 5 movies that have either been lifted scene for scene, plot for plot or story for story from the original. I believe they have left a gaping hole in cinematic expression. Somehow, don’t remember anybody crying blue murder to this extent……of course FB, Twitter and BBM were not used with a vengeance back then.

1. Ghost  – Pyaar ka Saaya

Ghost was a movie that my bestie and I loved to bits. That pottery scene remains one of the most sensuously captured visuals. ‘Ditto’ is what I got engraved on my wedding ring.  ‘Sam’ is what my friend named her first born. PatrickDemi and Whoopi were a lethal combination. Whoopi won an Oscar for her performance amongst other awards. Our very own Mahesh Bhatt jumped in to challenge this brilliant rendition. What we got was a shoddy script backed by Rahul RoySheeba and Amrita Singh? FacePalm!

2.  Dirty Dancing – Holiday

When Patrick Swayze moved, every ounce in my soul wanted to dance to ‘the time of mylife’. My ‘hungry eyes’ wandered….sigh! And then Pooja Bhatt goes and finds Dino Morea (@##@#@#@#) to fill in his dancing shoes, like really? Onjolee Nairhad good postures and moves. That’s it, don’t look for anything else.  It was disaster with an H!

3.  Love Story – Khwaish

Where do I begin? Here we have Erich Segal’s famed love story debut with 17 kisses for the sex starved Indian audience. And a heroine who looks like a cross between a mule and a camel is unleashed upon us. I rest my case.

4. Unfaithful– Murder

Richard GereDiane Lane and Olivier Martinez scorched up the screens with their interwoven lives. The story of an adulterous wife is not an easy one to tell. Well, Mahesh Bhatt to the rescue again with wooden performances from the lead actors. Birth of the serial kisser…………kill me already! Oh yes, it was apparently a Box Office wonder and is now a brand. What?

5. Sleeping with the enemy – Yaarana

When I saw this movie, I almost ruled out marriage for a very long time. Yes, Julia Roberts in one of her best performances managed to creep me out. Back home, a rotund Madhuri Dixit, a rounder Rishi Kapoor and a way past expiry date RajBabbar made for a sorry threesome. AgniSakshi, another rip off was far better in terms of performance I’d say.

Is this a promotional activity for Barfi? Nah! Just that this is not the first time ‘inspiration’ has sprouted some gems. Some merely glitter under the spotlight; others sparkle with the radiance of the sun.  Is this movie qualified for the Oscars? Well, was Jeansqualified to go as the official entry just because a certain Miss World was in it? Some questions don’t have the right answers. In case of Barfi we will have to wait and watch. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But an Oscar won’t take away from it. And if it does bring back the statuette home, these inspirations won’t matter.

Psssst, remember the scene where Shruti is walking with a friend? The lady next to me remarked, “That is Natasha Kapoor from Bade Acche Lagte hain. Did you watch yesterday’s episode? It was quite gripping.”

 

 

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21 responses to “Barfi! A Sweet Treat….”

  1. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Arrre bahut hain aise toh…..but yeah that Khalnayika was something else…lol.

    Every Hindi movie you see will have an element borrowed from somewhere for all great stories have already been told 🙂

  2. Rickie avatar

    I once saw a small sidey movie called Khalnayika. It starred Anu Aggarwal (of Aashiqui fame, if you remember). What a stupendous film it was – totally engaging thriller.
    And then I was told it was a scene to scene rip off of ‘The Hand That Rocked The Cradle’.
    Another great one was Aitbaar, the one with Dimple Kapadia. Originally Dial M for Murder. Ditto, except that the Hindi one had an item cabaret no. (Which was h-o-t, by the way)

  3. Corinne @ Everyday Gyaan avatar
    Corinne @ Everyday Gyaan

    Wondering when you watched the movie? I loved it – and the company! I too can’t get what all the noise is about. Just enjoy it, is what I say!

  4. Bindi avatar

    Can’t wait to watch this movie, especially with the hoopla that it’s an Oscar entry and a supposed copy over several others

  5. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Bindi, my grouse is that ‘OSCAR’ matters as a tag. We want to send real Indian cinema. Trust me 90% of real Indian cinema is crap. The other 10% loses out because of lack of funds and the right audience.

    And even if it is a copy, it is a first copy. Believe me, the first copy gets passed off as the original many times with brands 😀

  6. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Corinne, I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you 😛

    People have an opinion on anything and everything just because they get a mail fwd to them!

  7. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Jay, yup it is quite enjoyable. Glad you liked both, the movie and my post. 🙂

  8. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Dinesh, thanks for the lavish compliment. Absolutely, I don’t say Barfi! is genius and yes it is copied too. But what I can’t get is the herd instinct of people. How many have seen the original movies firstly.

    Secondly, as you rightly pointed, the copied scenes don’t make the soul of the film. The beauty of it lies in the performances.

    People have an issue with it going to the Oscars. Usme se Oscar kya hai, kitnon ko pata hai? LOL! Rai sab dete hain kyun ki free main forward hota hai.

  9. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Sabyasachi, oh I agree about the make up bit completely. And oh yes, it was flawed in quite a few places that you pointed out. In fact that nose twisting scene was not something I’d retain.

    But I wrote this article not to promote Barfi but to show what cut paste really results in. And after 5 movies I wanted to pull my hair out….lol!

  10. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Binny, yup Anurag did do a fine copy paste job…and that is all that I am saying 🙂

  11. Guru Vig avatar
    Guru Vig

    It brings to fore a question -what in reality is plagiarism? Ask any writer of popular novels, stories. More often than not, these are based on real-life experiences. Writer’s creative genius carries it over and converts it into a best-seller.
    Rip offs have always been there and will continue. But they should not be as blatant as recent lift by a journalist of Indian origin in the US. A man of exceptional intellectual repute, he was caught not once but twice of word by word lifts.

  12. Jay Singh avatar

    Very true BG
    Even I went to see the movie after it was selected for the Oscars (though the attempt to watch it previously failed 🙁 )
    But a true entertainer nonetheless, Barfi steals your heart with his pranks and moves.
    I feel the most powerful scene is Jhilmil laying claim to Barfi, a scene done with no dialogue and a movement of just a few inches, but the message crystal clear 🙂
    Good comparison done between the other films

    Regards

    Jay
    http://road-to-sanitarium.blogspot.in/

  13. Dinesh Pal avatar

    Nice Post vini now you can be movie reviewer too. I personally have seen more than 2000 movies and when I was watching Barfi and I could recollect scenes from number of movies and not forget the classic Charlie Chaplin.

    But somewhere down the line i could recognize that the director was trying to tell a story which was his own creation and some scene surely were taken from some films. But were those scenes SOUL of the movie. My answer is NO .

    Story and treatment still remains directors own. Take eg of Seven Samurai of Akira Kurosawa. the plot of a man bringing together a gang was used by so many film after that. Magnificent Seven which is considered a classic was also Seven Samurai in Western. Sholay too was Seven Samurai.. other film inspired from Seven Samurai is The Guns of Navarone, Ocean’s Eleven, The Dirty Dozen. An art work be it painting, writing, films are always inspired by something.

    They guy who really gets something new is a Genius and next to God. And there are Geniuses, but only handful remaining all else are followers inspired by something or other.

    in Cinema of India, Their has been Sparks of brilliance, but unfortunately we have not been able to see that great genius.

  14. Binny avatar
    Binny

    Burrowed or inspirational this one truly shined….it did remind u of classics but the director did not do a shoddy job….nor did the actors.Shruti had the old world charm n as far as Ranbir, i dont see any Khan pulling this one off.
    Totally agree to Vinni as a copy paste job does require tallent …..Khalnayika was a pain in lot of wrong places.

  15. Blogwati Gee avatar

    Very true Guru Uncle.

  16. Sabyasachi Patra | Tales from Wild India avatar

    Nice movie. The make up should have been better. Even in the death bed he looks like a young lad.

    Nice way of exploring a subject. I would knock off may be another 15-20 mins from the movie.

    The director forcefully wanted to remind us about Charlie Chaplin and has even flashed a cut out of Chaplin to dumb it down and show the connection of the Barfi guys’s actions.

    The special effects when he is banging his head and nose gets twisted, that scene could have been better.

    Overall, this was a nice movie.

  17. prateek mathur avatar

    I found the plagiarism mere stupidity of the director coz those scenes meant absolutely nothing to the storyline or plot of the movie but in 4 copied scenes he lost the respect for the rest 2 hr and 15 minutes!!

  18. Blogwati Gee avatar

    I think they did fit in quite well. Besides gore panne par kala daag hi nazar aata hai………..baki ka panna nahin. Then again, who are we to judge?

  19. Ritu Lalit avatar

    The movie left me mushy – for a hard boiled egg like me, that is quite an achievement, Oscar or no, I liked it

  20. Ruchira avatar

    You know I don’t care what all scenes were copied from hollywood. I heard those rumors umteen times but, the emotions that lay in this movie were awesome!

    As Ritu says above…left me all mushy (same to same)

  21. Cynthia Rodrigues Manchekar avatar

    Would you believe that I haven’t seen this movie till date? I keep trying to, but don’t succeed. These days, the TV channels try to help by airing it at least once a week. But the tragedy is that I don’t own the remote control. Apparently, I relinquished rights the day I gave birth.

    Someday I shall see the film. Sigh! But the songs are wonderful. Especially that one that goes, Kyon?

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