Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz are all set for the September 14th release of Barfi! It was sadda Punjabi puthar Ranbir Kapoor who led the way to London to start off promotions for the movie. Off I went to get a taste of this delicious piece of Barfi 😉
Q. Tell us about your character in the movie?<
Ranbir Kapoor: I play Barfi. He’s a happy go lucky, carefree, Charlie Chaplin/Mr Bean kind of character. Yes, he can’t speak, he can’t hear. We consciously tried to portray the character in a way that is more relatable to the audience. This is not the kind of character where people say, “oh he’s done a lot of prep as an actor.” We just wanted him to be fun loving, engaging and endearing. That’s the effort, I don’t know, but let’s hope. We’ll find out on the 14th of September!
Q: Where did the name Barfi come about from?
RK: There was a time in the 70’s where every pregnant woman wanted their kid to look like the ‘Murphy baby’. There was a Murphy advertisement for a radio in India, with a small two month year old baby on it. So everyone used to get a picture of that baby and put it in their house and people would think their baby would turn out to look like the Murphy baby.
So his name is Murphy after the radio, but because he’s deaf and mute in the movie, you can’t really differentiate between ‘M’ and ‘B’, because you can’t hear it, you can only see it. When he tries to say ‘Murphy’ it actually sounds like ‘Barfi’. (You can see this particular scene in the trailer.)
Q: Was this role challening for you?
RK: I thought it was challenging when I heard the script. The director wanted me to understand that we wanted to make it more fun and more relatable. So it was like playing dumb charades everyday on set. I had no dialouges to remember. We worked at it day to day and thought about how this character would be more explainable, because there is no reference to this. The inspirations were Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean and my grandfather Mr. Raj Kapoor from his early days.
When we came to work on it, there was no actual script, I had to physically express myself. It’s really just a sweet, joyful, romantic comedy – that’s the genre of the film. The challenge was how do you do it an entertaining and engaging way. It’s like if your voice has gone for a day how would you communicate – with actions. It wasn’t as easy as that. There were good days and bad days. It’s like going to the office, you come home, wash your face and eat dinner and your lke, ‘what the *beep* did I do today?!’. I had lots of those days but they were good. I always maintain that when you come home from work and you really don’t know what you’ve done. Especially in the creative field sometimes you are not aware of what you are doing.
Q: What was it like working with Priyanka Chopra after working with her in Anjaana Anjaani?
RK: Initally it was a bit awkward to see her look so different, as she is playing an autistic in the film. But after a few days she settled into the part so well. It’s a very tricky character because you could be over acting or you can become the part, and she became the part. She is an amazing talent; she has wonderful accomplishments. It’s added to my performance in the film, because seeing a co-actor respond in a certain way challenges you and inspires you, so it’s been wonderful.
Q: How was it working with newcomer (in Bollywood) Ileana D’Cruz?
RK: It’s Ileana’s first film, she’s a very big star in the South. It was hard for her to adapt to this film especially a film of this nature when it’s not your regular song, dance and glamorous costumes but the dignity, the poise of the role she has portrayed, is amazing.
Q: What is next for Ranbir?
RK: I am currently shooting for a film called ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ with Deepika and directed by Ayaan Mukherjee, who I did ‘Wake up Sid’ with. It is expected to release in March 2013 and that’s pretty much about it right now.
Ranbir Kapoor certainly enjoyed a warm welcome in London. There comes a time when a star has to spread his wings and make an effort to woo the international audience, just like he did for Rockstar promotions. Seems like the world is on it’s way to becoming Ranbir’s oyster!
Directed by Anurag Basu (who Ranbir Kapoor was nothing but all praises for), Barfi! is a complete departure from his last film Kites, and it looks promisingly different. Barfi! is said to be a heart-warming tale of selfless love, and about finding happiness in the smallest things in life. It tells you no matter how tough your life may be, “Don’t Worry. Be Barfi!”
(Definitely a yummy piece of Barfi I had that day ;))