Billu is perfectly lodged in the zone above "so-bad-it's-good" and below "poor" - a zone which the director Priyadarshan has made his home, which he barely steps out of except for the odd plagiarized version of some average Hollywood or hit Mallu film. But this one is truly special - it manages to lay Irfan Khan to waste.
Essentially, it is a retelling of a retelling of the age-old Krishna-Sudama story - only, the "Krishna" (Shah Rukh Khan as some superstar whose name I can't recall) receives much, much more footage than the deserving "Sudama" (Irfan as Billu, obviously). It hurtles down the path of inane humour, ridiculous dialogues, out-of-place song sequences coupled with brain-jarring music and a flabbergasting plot so typical of most Bollywood features; even the sets seemed to be crying out that they're as fake and unbelievable as they come. The sudden hairpin bend which you encounter right at the end cannot possibly evoke any sort of emotion, no matter who you are - SRK was probably trying to do another 'sattar minit' there, but I for one definitely did not care to notice.
This film was in the eye of a storm just before it released as barbers felt offended by the title. After watching the film, one wonders why they didn't rename it after the sort-of title song, 'coz that would've been perfect. The song, by the way, is 'Billu Bhayankar'. So now you know.view less
Essentially, it is a retelling of a retelling of the age-old Krishna-Sudama story - only, the "Krishna" (Shah Rukh Khan as some superstar whose name I can't recall) receives much, much more footage than the deserving "Sudama" (Irfan as Billu, obviously). It hurtles down the path of inane humour, ridiculous dialogues, out-of-place song sequences coupled with brain-jarring music and a flabbergasting plot so typical of most Bollywood features; even the sets seemed to be crying out that they're as fake and unbelievable as they come. The sudden hairpin bend which you encounter right at the end cannot possibly evoke any sort of emotion, no matter who you are - SRK was probably trying to do another 'sattar minit' there, but I for one definitely did not care to notice.
This film was in the eye of a storm just before it released as barbers felt offended by the title. After watching the film, one wonders why they didn't rename it after the sort-of title song, 'coz that would've been perfect. The song, by the way, is 'Billu Bhayankar'. So now you know.view less
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