Billu - Movie Review
Published: March 20, 2010
Starring Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Shahrukh Khan
Billu is a commentary on fame, brought to you by the most famous movie star in the world, Shahrukh Khan. The actor essentially plays himself—a mega-wattage celebrity—whose name is Sahir Khan. Sahir is supposedly the long-lost friend of a humble village barber named Billu, played by character actor par excellence Irrfan Khan. Billu’s business is failing because a fancy new hair salon across the street has taken all his customers, who don’t want to frequent his dilapidated shop, which he can’t afford to fix up, and his young son and daughter are going to get kicked out of school if he doesn’t come up with the tuition he’s behind on paying. Sahir shoots some scenes for his upcoming movie in Billu’s village, rumors spread that Billu knows Sahir, and suddenly Billu becomes a local celebrity, which he reluctantly accepts since his business picks up and his wife (played by Lara Dutta) can hold her head high again. The problem is he can’t get past Sahir’s security to meet him, and the villagers, including his family, start to doubt if even he knows the star—and they turn on him. Such is the tenuous nature of fame. There’s an intentionally sharp contrast between Billu’s simple, authentic world and Sahir’s glitzy, artificial one, but the contrast is so sharp that it’s jarring, and it’s exacerbated by the disorienting item numbers.
Some critics of Bollywood (usually Western) mistakenly believe that item numbers (as suggestive dance scenes are called in Bollywood) are superfluous, when in fact they’re integral to the movie, but not in the manner that Westerners are used to seeing in Broadway-style musicals. Like nearly all Bollywood musical numbers, item numbers exist not to advance the plot but to express emotion—in this case, bawdy desire. They’re a sexy element in films that otherwise don’t depict any sex. The lead dancer, called an “item girl,” usually doesn’t appear in the film otherwise. (Thankfully, we’re starting to see more “item boys” these days as well.) That way, the audience can indulge in a little fantasy without thinking less of the heroine (or hero) for being so overtly sexual. The problem with Billu is that the item numbers truly are superfluous because they’re item numbers for another film—the film Sahir is making within the film. Therefore, they’re confusing interruptions from the story. Which is too bad because at face value, they’re examples of spectacular Bollywood item numbers at their best—and loaded with star power no less, with actresses Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor appearing as item girls.
Billu is rated Worth Watching.
Community - News - Reviews - Commentary - About
