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28 March 2024

Ranbir 'Barfi' Kapoor lives life king size

Published
By Sneha May Francis

Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor unveiled their latest, heart-tugging romantic tale ‘Barfi’ in Dubai on Wednesday.

Apart from showcasing trailers of the film and its songs, the stars along with their film producer and Disney-UTV head honcho Siddarth Roy Kapur lost no time in getting nostalgic about their journey with ‘Barfi’ and how it’s bound to bring immense happiness in the lives of the audience.

When Emirates24|7 quizzed about his role behind the ingenious online tool where in Barfi plays out a user’s command, (https://bit.ly/PNgiba), Ranbir refused to take credit for the initiative, insisting it was UTV’s brainchild. “I did go online yesterday and tried out a few tasks myself. I did make Barfi do really weird things but I can’t tell you what they were,” he chuckled.

Like most Bollywood movies, even this is essentially a love story that throws the spotlight on the happy-go-lucky Barfi and his romances, first with an upper-class beauty Shurthi, and then with an autistic girl, Jhilmil. The actors insisted that Barfi’s and Jhilmil’s physical challenges are only incidental in the film and it is not an attempt at sending out a social message.

Their show of camaraderie and fun almost made up for their delayed entry, and a missing (second) female lead, Illeana D’cruz, who apparently missed the trip due to “passport issues”. Even director Anurag Basu was missing in action.

Barring those minor hiccups, ‘Barfi’ remained the only focus.

“It’s on the lines of ‘Life is Beautiful’,” echoed its lead star Ranbir, before describing how he has taken inspiration from comic greats like the legendary Charlie Chaplin, his renowned grandfather Raj Kapoor and the loveable Roberto Beninni.

“I had fun on the (film) set. I had no dialogues so I just went out there and played dumb charades every day,” revealed Ranbir.

“I didn’t even have to wear make-up, so it was easier for me,” chipped in Priyanka.

On a more serious note, she elaborated on how she was confused about approaching the role of an autistic, and took to intense research and home work, but eventually ended up creating Jhilmil without any influences. “It took me nearly four or five days to really get around to understanding Jhilmil, but I felt I was over-emphasizing it. But, as soon as I stopped thinking about it, she (Jhilmil) happened.”

Ranbir too shared her school of thought, and quickly abandoned attempting any rehearsed antics, and landed up on the set each day with renewed enthusiasm, allowing his spontaneity to create the affable charmer Barfi.

Both actors praised their director Anurag Basu, with Ranbir claiming, “he’s a child who is still in his mother’s womb”. The actor, in fact, even poked fun at his eccentricity by warning us never to pull his finger, as it might lead to dire consequences as portrayed in a comic scene in the movie.

Barring the fun work environment, it was the magical story that tugged at their hearts, and even changed them a bit. “It taught me to enjoy every moment in time,” revealed Priyanka.

“The film just unmoralistically tells you to live life king size,” chipped in Ranbir.

The stars didn’t dodge any question, even those that expected them to talk about their role in renewing ties between Pakistan and India, with Priyanka insisting, “that’s what I will look into when I become the Prime Minister, but until then, I will do what an actor is supposed to do… act”.

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