Billu

To appreciate "Billu" you need to understand the magnitude of the adoration the Indian public has for their movie stars, particularly Shah Rukh Khan. I knew some of this but it really helped that just before I watched this film, I also watched "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman: Shah Rukh Khan" on Netflix....and it showed the almost rabid adoration of the thousands of fans camped outside of Khan's home...hoping to get a glimpse of this Indian mega-star!

"Billu" is a most unusual film in that Shah Rukh Khan plays a slightly fictionalized version of himself, called Sahir Khan. It seems that he and his production company have chosen the village of Budbuda to film their next movie and this causes problems for a very poor barber, Billu (Irrfan Khan). It seems Billu told his kids that he grew up with the famous actor and knew him...and the kids now expect their father to arrange a meeting with Sahir. To make things worse, the kids tell their friends and soon everyone in the village thinks Sahir and Billu are buddies....and they all suddenly become very loving and kind towards Billu in the hope that he'll introduce them to the actor. Where does it go next? See the film.

The best thing about this film is the acting by the two Khans. Both have some marvelous moments at the end of the film...moments where you might want to have some Kleenex handy. The story itself is also quite charming and clever....and never disappoints. And, I really loved the first musical number...it was a showstopper!

The story is simple, but performances of Shahrukh Khan and Irrfan Khan are what makes the movie worth watching. The songs, even though not related to the story, are very entertaining and make the movie more fun to watch. The ending was predictable, but the performances saved the movie.

Billu's wife looked way too beautiful to pass off as an average village girl. I'm no Bollywood fan so I did not know who the actress was. Throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking "how on earth did this super hot girl end up with this average looking man?" In the ending credits, I saw Lara Dutta. Miss Universe Lara Dutta!

If you have some extra spare time, this movie is good enough not to waste it.

Nowadays most films are made to give important message for life so that everyone can connect with it. This film touches one's heart by giving great example of true friendship between two childhood friends.

Both friends found themselves in different situation after childhood days of friendship as one became rich while the other remained poor but their bond of friendship was intact in their heart. The poor friend has started believing that his friend might have forgotten him after such a long time and after getting fame and money but in reality that was not the case instead he is still reminding his childhood friend and always wanted to meet him. The character of rich friend shows real down to earth personality of a person and example of true friendship that never fades irrespective of money and fame at the same time the character of poor friend and his wife also shows that being poor never restrict you of being good person.

Over all this is very good film and must watch for its heart warming subject of friendship.

First time i watched the movie it lacked subtitles so i depended on my poor Hindi and emotional body and facial expression. The movie lacked depth to me in its first parts. Till it reached the climax the quality of emotions got some depth. Second time i viewed it my impression got better. The first part was classic Priyadrashan movie which i don't like AT ALL. Most of his films don't leave any mark on me and they slip out of my mind. I was surprised that SRK chose him for such a story that depicts a moral and values we are in desperate need in these days. However, the shooting and photography is brilliant and eye catching. I am a fan of Irrfan and Shahrukh so i got my fill of both. But the last part of the movie meant much more with adequate understanding. I actually cried a lot, especially parts where Sahir recites similar stories of his youth that overlap with shahrukh's himself. I still feel more Irrfan was required, more passionate and sorrowful but i guess its a priyadrashan movie anyway. watch it for the scenery, watch it for Irrfan and SHahrukh.. Lara dutta does a good job too. for once two hours are not enough for the story.

What could have been an excellent satire is brought down by poor writing and Priyadarshan's lousy direction. 'Billu' required some heavy editing. All the sequences with Shahrukh Khan in the first half (including those horrible item numbers) could have easily been left out as they provide nothing. His appearance in the second half was enough. The so-called comic scenes are typical Priyadarshan, which is irritatingly loud and seriously needs toning down. The mob sequences and Billu's attempts to meet Sahir are overdone and repetitive. The ending is melodramatic, which is typical of Priyadarshan films. All the songs are poorly executed and, with the exception of the last three songs ('Marjane' being the best), they are horrible to listen to. Shahrukh Khan plays himself. Nothing new there. Lara Dutta is decent and she looks the part. But, it is Irrfan who manages to rise above the poorness of this movie. He is quite exceptional as the down to earth almost out of work barber and is the reason to watch 'Billu'. Asrani and Om Puri are good in their roles. Rasika Joshi is cast against type and she too turns in a decent performance. The rest of the cast (including Rajpal Yadav) are terrible (which is usually the case in Priyadarshan's films). To sum it up, the best thing about 'Billu' is Irrfan Khan who makes what would be an otherwise bad film to mediocrity.