Barfi! and the Lessons of Love

The lessons of love are evident in every good Bollywood romance movie, and that's what they are special to me. That's the thing about Bollywood movies; they are not so interesting plotwise as they convey feelings as a whole. The lessons of love are difficult to understand and often very confusing, especially in understanding romantic love. Romantic love in itself is as complex as its components. Understanding this complex emotional connection has been a personal obsession; Barfi's story makes it all the easier.

The storytelling device of narration is a tricky one. The movie BARFI also uses narration to its benefit. In the film, the narrators are Barfi's loved ones or, more likely, the people who loved him. Thus, the narration has a bit more emotional impact. The characters embody their personalities; Barfi accepts his disability with him being happy as he is, while Shruti is confused and regretful. Yeah, she should be, as she lost her chance with Ranbir Kapoor. Jhilmil is marvellous, and in my opinion, it's Priyanka Chopra's best role. And these three make up the love story of BARFI.

Murphy "Barfi" Johnson is deaf and mute, but he is more than that as he proves over and over how charming and optimistic he is. His zany antics cause trouble all over town, not unlike famous silent characters such as The Tramp. He does this specific thing with lampposts as he cuts them that they fall and shatters a bottle he placed on the ground. These lampposts will come into play later.

Shruti comes to Darjeeling betrothed to some guy whose name I forgot. Through the charming stunts of a deaf prankster, she falls in love with Barfi, but her mother comes between them. She eventually ends up marrying herself into an unhappy relationship and moving away from Barfi. She eventually reconnects with Barfi but is left even sadder, knowing that she lost her chance to be with Barfi as he has found someone who loves him.

Jhilmil is an autistic rich heiress who is Barfi's childhood friend. He kidnaps her hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his father's hospital bills. But after the shenanigans, he leaves her at her home, but she refuses to leave him. They eventually move away to Kolkata, where they both fall in love with each other. (IT'S MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!)(Sometimes, I think I'm a teenage girl on the inside. Please don't cancel me.)

The lamppost thing; when it falls, Barfi stands below close to the area of impact always with someone. We see this done three times in the movie. One with his best friend, the other with Shruti and lastly, with Jhilmil. The best friend and Shruti, who feared the lampost falling on them, flinched from Barfi at the last second. But Jhilmil didn't; she stayed till the glass shattered at their feet. The lamppost is done for a specific reason and is the reason why Barfi loves her. It's a question of trust and value that is so important for a relationship to be long-lasting.

That act can be easily looked over as Jhilmil not knowing what was happening. That is not the case as, to her, she was there with Barfi and, to her, that was everything. She trusted him enough to know that he would not do anything to harm her. She did not care if the lampost fell as she was completely unphased, clinging to Barfi's shirt as she always did. Jhilmil seems like, at first glance, a blank slate. Chopra's spectacular performance allows us to interpret Jhilmil as she, like Barfi, talks through her actions more than words. Her love for Barfi is her trust in him, not her need for him. She loves him. That is all that matters.

Trust is the purest, straightforward act of love unconditional. There can be no true love without trust, as love made through just faith is positively artistic. Jhilmil's love for Barfi started due to his charms and inherent belief in him, and Barfi loved her since he loved her confidence in him. She gives him all he wants from a partner, she gives him her love and conviction, and that's all he needs. These simple values produce the well-built romance that I love to watch.

Love that is simple to understand doesn't make it innocent; instead, it's more akin to true love not bound by attraction but their care for each other. And no one can ask for something more than that. In a way, it's better called Love Limitless than Love Unconditional (Yes, I know they both mean the same thing. But humour me.)