Billu - Mediocre on all panoramas

Banner: Red Chillies Entertainment

Production: Shah Rukh Khan

Direction: Priyadarshan

Star-casts: Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Shah Rukh Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and others.

Music: Pritham

Priyadarshan has been the one auteur who loves remaking the best flicks into Hindi and has been witnessing mixed results. Not all the time he does strike gold with this as it's more illustrious with his previous ventures. So, what about 'Billu Barber'? Has he spelled something more proficient?

Prior to film's release, the filmmaker had a statement that 'Billu' isn't a remake of Tamil 'Kuselan' neither the original version 'Katha Parayum Pol' for only the motif has been taken while the narration is completely different. Perhaps, it shot on everyone's expectations and soon as you're out of show, there's nothing such difference do you feel between the original and remake versions.

Finally, the results are often the same as what you witnessed for the Tamil version. Overdosed with commercial stuffs, the emotional factors that were present in Malayalam version is completely missing here.

Billu Barber is a story of a simple ordinary man who led an extra ordinary life. Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan) was living in his village with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two great kids. Life was bitter sweet... we can say more sweet than bitter.

One day a superstar Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) came into their lives and everything changed. Life changed, people changed, friends changed, the village changed but one man did not... Billu Barber.

Will this ordinary man redefine the words ordinary? Will the words see the greatness behind his small existence? And most of all, Will life ever be the same for Billu Barber again?

Irrfan's performance is top-notching and he's up with his best decent efforts on the screen. Shah Rukh makes it all happen with his charisma and his acting is extraordinary when it comes to the penultimate sequences of last 20 minutes. Lara Dutta's performance is spellbinding, but getting to see her in the role of a despaired house wife from poor family background is ridiculous. She's so rich in her looks and never spots herself ridden by poverty. Rajpal Yadav's comedy tracks are entertaining throughout the show. Kareena's looks of size zero is really pathetic in the song 'Marjaani' and better SRK could have opted for some other actress. Why not Sushmitha Sen? Ditto to Priyanka Chopra and only Deepika Padukone's dance is stunning.

Pritam's musical score for 'Kudhaya Kair' and 'Love Mera Hit' are nice to hear. Manikandan's cinematography is mind-boggling as he offer visual fiesta to the eyes of audiences..

Priyadarshan's screenplay middles all through and there aren't any innovative pick from the director and Billu is no different from the original and remake versions..

Verdict: Average