Billu movie review, Billu is a 'cut' above the rest!

Billu is yet another brilliant work from Priyadarshan. He has set his tale on fictionalized village of Budbudha. Director Priyadarshan has proved his mettle on making movies based on fictitious villages like Malamaal Weekly and he does not disappoint this time with Billu. The best part about Billu is that the movie looks straight out from a Balbharti school text book. A very pleasing tale of friendship, the movie is inspired by the mythical tale of Krishna and Sudama.

Story of Billu: Billu(Irrfan Khan) is an extremely poor barber who is trying hard to make ends meet. People in the village choose to be aloof from his family. Even Billu’s children are removed from the school due to his inability to pay fees. Enters in the village, the biggest superstar of the country Saahir Khan(Shahrukh Khan). Billu’s family including his wife(Lara Dutta) and the kids sort of know that Billu has had close friendship with Saahir. But when they know that the star is in their village, they begin to spread news about the friendship between Billu and Saahir Khan. The whole village comes to know about this and they begin to bribe, pamper, cajole and persuade Billu to make them meet Saahir.

Billu who has his own reasons not to meet Saahir, tries his best to dissociate himself from the star and the set-up. So much, that the villagers smell a rat and abuse Billu for spreading falsehood. It is only in the climax, which is sensitively handled, that we know about the deep, underlying relationship between Billu and Saahir Khan

Best points of Billu:
1. Deft direction by Priyadarshan who develops the plot in an interesting manner
2. The characterization of Irrfan Khan.
3. Manisha Korde comes up with some smarty, witty dialogues.

Performances in Billu:
Irrfan Khan has given an applause-worthy performance. Catch him at his best in the scene when he calls Saahir Khan’s guest house from a public phone. Shahrukh Khan is brilliant as usual, though he does not have much to do, except in the last few scenes. He even indulges in self-deprecatory humor where he talks about his fight with another popular Khan.

Final point: Billu is one of the finest works of director Priyadarshan. The best part about Billu is its simplicity. Billu is a nice, feel-good film. And yes, you can take your kids along! For barbers(oops!), Billu should be a ‘cut’ above the rest.