Billu Barber starring Irfan Khan and Lara Dutta in the lead also has Shahrukh Khan playing a superstar, a role pretty close to his real-life self. Directed by Priyadarshan, Billu Barber is a simple story about Billu (Irrfan Khan) a barber, his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and his two kids. Billu’s life is just like any ordinary man, but it turns upside down when superstar Sahir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) enters his village to shoot for a film.
Back in school days, much before Sahir Khan climbed the ladder of success in the Hindi Film Industry, the now barber and the superstar were childhood friends. The news that Billu is Sahir’s childhood friend spreads like wildfire and suddenly, the barber is now the talk-of-the-village. But does Sahir remember his friend after all the wealth, fame and success that he has achieved since? Watch the movie to find out as Billu Barber is indeed worth a trip to a nearby theatre.
Bilu Barber Review
Popular Priyadarshan films this decade have all mostly been comedies with a tad bit of emotions in the second half. But Billu Barber is different; it’s a realistic take on what could happen when a life of an ordinary barber clashes with that of a hugely popular superstar. Its also about how ordinary people are passionate about their cinematic heroes, who in some way is a part of their lives.
The pace of the pre interval portions is slightly slow, but the film picks up in the second half. But its the last 30 mins of Billu Barber that makes the most impact! The speech delivered by Sahir Khan on stage, is filled with morals on why one should never forget their roots regardless of the heights of success or wealth achieved.
The narration is very entertaining, the 3 songs of SRK with Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor are visually brilliant and placed perfectly. The music is good. Love Mera Hit Hit and Mar Jaani are the pick of the lot. Billu Bhayankar is funny and stays with you long after the credits roll.
Bilu Barber belongs to Irrfan Khan. The highly talented actor is splendid as Billu displaying a huge array of expressions and emotions on screen. Lara Dutta compliments Irrfan pretty well, it has to be her best role to date. Character actors like Om Puri, Ansari, Rajpal Yadav and the others, entertain.
Coming to Shahrukh Khan, he is convincing in the role of Sahir Khan. Playing a character that is very close to his real life self, Khan is surprisingly restrained and delivers an extremely warm performance. This is undoubtedly his best short role in any film so far!
Overall, Billu Barber isn’t an out-n-out comedy but a well directed Priyadarshan film on relationships and emotions. It has something in it for everyone and in particular a must watch for children.
The film is not expected to shatter box-office records, but should open well thanks to SRK’s presence and not to forget the well-promoted songs featuring the hottest female stars in the industry. A lot should depend on the audience verdict too, strong word of mouth should ensure yet another success for SRK and Red Chillies Entertainment!
Rating: 
Other Notes – Bilu Barber turned out to be better than I expected it to be. The first half is slow and bores at times, but the second half more than makes up for it. And one of the reasons the film is a must watch is Irrfan Khan, he’s truly brilliant.
SRK has a short role, but he is there in bits and pieces throughout. His screen time should be about 35 – 40 mins, which is great and big enough to warrant a trip to theatre if you happen to be an SRK fan.
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March 1st, 2009 at 6:05 am
prince khan and fathiya, listen carefully srk time is up! only reason srk got all those awards is because indian awards are fixed! akshay receives over 20 crores per movie and srk receives below 10 crore per movie. so stop putting akshay kumar down because he is the king of bollywood now and he is more popular than that fag srk, only reason srk still exists is because of that ass karan johar and yosh rar, thank you
billu was an average movie thats it……..
March 1st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Salman: Wrong.. all the awards aren’t fixed.. jealous actors who never get awards would say this!! Shahrukh is the king and will remain the king, and will rule bollywood for another 10 years.. your Akshay did 2 big flop movies this year, and by the end of 2009, you’ll change your mind.. wait.. and I will remind you of what I’m saying.. all his upcoming movies are crap for sure.. only his SIK, Namaste London & Bhul Bhulaiya were good movies for the past 2 years.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
Fathiya, I will see whose films do better in the future, ok then we will see who is the true king of bollywood. billu was a piece of crap and his upcoming movies are not gonna do good!!!
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Salman: My Name is Khan will be a super hit for sure.. Karan Johar is a good director.. Billu wasn’t Shahrukh’s movie.. it was Irfan Khan’s as Irfan was in the leading role.. it was only Shahrukh’s home production.. Shahrukhs acheived 3 blockbusters in less than 2 years: Om Shanti Om, Chakde India and then Rabne.. and Inshallah, My Name is Khan will be a big hit too.
I got nothing again Akshay.. I like him, really I do, but I don’t like his choice for movies and that’s the difference between the 2, Shahrukh & Akshay.. Akshay needs to be more serious and select good scripts, if he does, then he’ll grow big and will never have flop movies.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 pm
To me Billu is a flop and nothing more to me. A big disappointment in that sense. 2009 has not been good for Bollywood till now. CC2C, Raaz-2, Victory, Billu, and then Delhi6 all were disappointing movies. Moreover upcoming movies in near future also don’t seem to be promising. God knows when we will see some quality good movies.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:49 am
First half was sooooooooooo boring!! Second half was good. Climax is superb. They could have made this movie more nicer. Cos It has a nice story. The directing is poor. Irfan, Shah Rukh and Lara did a good job. Songs and the dances are very nice. I’ll give 2 and a half stars out of 5.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:09 am
billu will be the biggest flop of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 7th, 2009 at 12:47 am
You are mad….Salman…..Dont simply make some rubish assumptions like this.I dont think you are matured enough to analyse good movies like this.According to me ,the only 2 good movies i watched in recent times is luck by chance & billu.They really had something to think of after we leave the theatre.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Nitu…..Are you normal or what.You like delhi 6 but not billu….huh?…What sense of judgement you have friend!!! Re analyse the way you think about life in general.I think fathiya is the one who gives perfect reviews.I like the wat she judges.So true she is.Maybe that is the reason why she is getting lots of opposition.
March 7th, 2009 at 4:55 am
I just want to add to the last comment. That is so true!! I have posted something similar many times, in that fathiya just speaks her mind and is just direct to the point, which is why people are opposing her so much. I guess people don’t like to hear the truth and they want to watch all masala filled movies that don’t have anything to do with reality by miles, and fathiya’s words force them time again and again to come back to reality. It’s like all the people here who hate fathiya are practically begging in their minds and saying “no no please don’t try to bring us back into reality, we cant handle the real world or something”. I’m surprised this movie is still getting so many comments.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
it is a nice movie but srk sucks
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm
well all you Guy fight like kids ,and I dont see why we should keep on comparing
Akshay and Shahruk.They both Kings and some sort of gods but my opinion is that
Sharuk is the King of Bollywood and Akhaye is the King of the universe.
I love Akshay to bits ,Kya smile Hai?Kya physic hai?whow! kya talent hai?
I am sure I am his no fan,Shah ruk is my first love still like him and love his dimples
and he is very special and unuque in his way if he can only stop overacting sometimes.
Lets stop all this battle.
I have a list of favourate actors Saif,Aamir,and many more
guys billu barbar wasnt so bad
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Last night I was watching Billue Barber again for second time, and the last scene where Shahrukh gives speech made me cry again. Then I watched the special features, the interviews with Shahrukh & Irfan Khan.. and a word for ppl who consider shahrukh as an arrogant person.. do u know what he said during this interview? Shahrukh said that he gave this role to Irfan that he learns from him how to act! Where’s shahrukh as a superstar and Irfan Khan as a bignner or an actor in a second category in bollywood?! Sahrukhs wants to learn acting from Irfan!!
This way he’s a humble person!
June 18th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
this film is so good