Sweet offering, a modern master •

ilences seldom spoke so elo9uently. It's been a while since we saw a film chat set style at a subsidiary state to substance, put the characters' inner life ahead of tbe flamboyant manifestarions o f self-idenrity in a world governed by benevolence and cbarm.

Barfi! is a very charming film, remarkab l)7 devoid of vanity. The story of a deaf-and- mute man who could have grown up watching Chap lin and Raj Kapoor's c.inema, and an aurisric girl who has definitely not seen Shah Rnkh Khan in 1\lfr Na111e ls Kh,m, is to ld withom the props of loud background music and other prompters to get audiences' involved in the proceedings.

Th.is is a picaresque world of artless charm which invites you i.o without band baqja or baaraati. Fanfare is for the circus. Ba,ji! is pure cinema.

Goodness1 l am already gushing. lc's the oarcocic effect that Barfi ha s on yo u. With.in n o rime at all you are swept into the protagonist's wor ld, the cwo lovel) women who breeze in and out of his existence and various other characters, all etched witb a compassion and vividness that o ne associates w ith the cinema of Frank Capra and Ricwik Ghatak. Barft! exudes the warm glow of a life well Lived. This dazzling glow originates from the protagonist Barfi who Jives h is life king-s ize with many Chaplinesgue antics creating a chain of comic -boo k adventures for our ' happy-golooking' hero, even though he can't speak or hear. Bm then speech was always supposed to be the least essential component of cinema. Ask Ingmar Bergman or Satyajit Ray. Their cha:racre.rs spoke through lingering silences.

Ic's been a while si nce any protagonist on screen said so much ro us witbouc speaking Rani

Mukerji in Sanjay Lee la Bhansali's Black said ic all through her muted mode of communi cation. But she had tl1e formal s ign language plus a vo iceover for anicuL-tte support.

Significantly Anurog Basu, a masle.r scoryceller (and never mind the tormenting tepidity of his la se film Kites) does away with the crutches of sign language and voiceover.

Ranbir Kapoor as Barfi (or Murphy, whatever!) is left to his own devices. An incredibly enterprising actor, he brings a Chaplinesgue aura ro Barfi 's character. Blending a ve.ry physical pie-in - the- face sryle of comic acting w ith an intangible poignancy, Ranbir rums his character and the fi lm into a muted celebracion of life. The tears are hidden from view. Bur tl1ey are the re.

His grand father, Raj Kapoor, has ne,,er been ,, ery far from Ran bi.r's acting skills. Raj Kapoor was highly influenced by Chaplin. Ranbir brings both the legends inro tl1e same line of vision, and yet ere.ates a charactet which is unique in its buoyancy and optimism, never mind the sleep ing dogs. Just let them bark in their sl eep.

Priyanka Chopra as the auti stic Jhi lrnil sceals tl1e show from

Ranbir, if that's possible. Lately, she has been found LO be guilty of overacting in ./lgneepath and .r l1ifam1a ./lnjarmi (with Ranbir again). 1n Bo,ft! all her recent sins of excess are washed away.

Pri yanka's inherent gl amorous personality simply disappears into her cbaracter. We don't see the actress on screen at all! We see only Jhilmil who reminds us in a very pleasant war of Sridevi in S11dma This is one of the most flawless interpretations of a physical-psychological disability seen on cellulo id.

While Ranbir and Priyanka effordessly prove themselves the best actors of t heir generation, Ileana D'Cruz makes a confident engaging debut into H.indi cinema. ls she here to stay? Time will tell.

As for Basu, in his earlier films Gangster - A Lo,,r Story and Life f!I A Aietro, h e proved himself a maestro of tl1e inner life. Bmft! too is shot on location w ithin the hearts of the characters. Not just the memorable pro tagonists, even the smaller players specially Roopa Ganguly and A.kaash Khurana aod

Haradhan Bandhopadhyay, leave a lingering impact.

Bmft! ce lebrates life without dismissing the dark passages and roadblocks chat we often encounter as we trave l thto ugh that craggy road to death.

To be able to celebrate life so warmlir and sensitively the fil mmaker has to know death dose ly. Basu, a cancer survivor, has been there.

Ba,ji! comes as clo se to being a modern masterpiece as cinematical.ly possible. To miss it would be a crime. To embrace it is to serenade cbe sublime.

Subhash I\. JI ,a