By Rediff, February 13, 2009 - 14:19 IST
7 of 15 people found this review helpful When Bollywood takes a crack at children's cinema, it usually does so with such condescending formulaic tripe that it's hard to sit through the forcefed emotions and the like. Billu is definitely a more sincere product, one that tries hard to keep the story and morals straight, and let the rest work on its own...
By Buzz18, February 13, 2009 - 15:05 IST
5 of 14 people found this review helpful Watching Billu made me wish for something simpler, shorter perhaps; something that would make me go back to the dung-caked house where stories were all about human relationships and even came with a little moral at the end of it.
By Glamsham, February 14, 2009 - 08:59 IST
4 of 9 people found this review helpful While Irrfan is outstanding, SRK lends his class and appeal to the script. Lara Dutta is a revelation. She blends well into Billu's life. Irfan's kids played by Pratik Dalvi and Mitali Mayekar are first rate. The rest of the cast combine well with their support...
By Indicine, February 14, 2009 - 09:00 IST
3 of 6 people found this review helpful 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!
By Indya, February 14, 2009 - 09:02 IST
1 of 4 people found this review helpful Shah Rukh Khan plays Sahir Khan the superstar. He is an extension of SRK in today's Bollywood. He has the screaming fans, shining Bentley, huge bodyguards and hit films. On the other hand in a small village is Irrfan Khan who is finding it difficult to make ends meet as a barber. His kids are close to being thrown out from school...
By Realbollywood, February 14, 2009 - 09:03 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful Billu's basic story premise is based on the legendary Krishna-Sudama friendship story. But full marks to Priyadarshan for adapting it well to a present day North Indian village setting. The maker who has always been more associated with mindless comedies shows he knows his job well when handling a serious subject as well...
By Hindustan Times, February 14, 2009 - 09:06 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful The flamboyant SRK has colourful sets, slick costumes and three of Bollywood's current hotties — Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor — for arm candy. Irrfan has his crumpled shirts, bewildered expression and his trusted umbrella hooked on to his arm...
By Movietalkies, February 14, 2009 - 09:07 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful The story and its premise is simple and sweet and one can see Priyadarshan's masterly comic touch in play even here. He has an eye for human foibles and uses them brilliantly to create characters who are so real and yet to so funny. His favourites, Om Puri and Rajpal Yadav, add to the comic flavour of the movie...
By AOL, February 14, 2009 - 09:09 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful Billu is pretty much a regular Priyadarshan movie – right from dialogues to colours to treatment. And this is one factor which could make this film quite big with the target group of single screens...
By indiatoday, February 14, 2009 - 09:10 IST
2 of 3 people found this review helpful The climax, like Kuselan, mines every tear in the audience. Shah Rukh is in spending form, crying and making people cry, in a final speech at a school function where he reminds the children to enjoy every moment of their lives because it is not likely to last long, and to cherish their friendships, just as he cherishes his, the boy who shared his tiffin with him...
By Apunkachoice, February 14, 2009 - 09:11 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful The best moment of 'Billu' comes at the end, when Sahir Khan recalls his childhood at a school function and Billu hears it from across a faraway fence and walks away after hearing it. His wife, who had been so eager to see Sahir, joins him. The movie doesn’t end there. But what follows is worth sitting the whole movie through.
By DNA India, February 14, 2009 - 09:12 IST
1 of 4 people found this review helpful Billu is the story of unconditional love and friendship, of simple people's ordinary lives and the ordinary pasts of extraordinary people. It's a comment on people's blind faith, obsession with movie stars, need for escapism and desire to believe whatever they need to. Thanks to the two Khans, the film touches you in an unexpected way.
By Filmfare / Times of India / Indiatimes, February 14, 2009 - 09:13 IST
1 of 2 people found this review helpful The film may not have done well in its Tamil version (Kuselan), but Priyadarshan has suitably peppered it with some heart-tugging moments to make it a moving ode to friendship and ordinariness. Of course, Irrfan manages to invest the ordinary with kingly glow, even as Shah Rukh lends the glamour quotient with his filmy naach-gaana...
By Indiaglitz, February 14, 2009 - 09:15 IST
3 of 4 people found this review helpful 'Billu' is a film that could be enjoyed by those if they hadn't watched the original version. Though filled with bits and pieces of absurdities, the final 20 minutes of the film deserves appreciation getting you to applaud for Shah Rukh's performance.
By Sify, February 14, 2009 - 09:17 IST
4 of 5 people found this review helpful The film's art direction is praiseworthy. For a film on cutting (even if hair), there's hardly any editing present. Scenes go on and on with repetitive dialogue and response, and no one remembers the audience. One of the most unbearable scenes was that of Khan's guesthouse landlord doing an inspector role and messing up his two lines...
By Businessofcinema, February 14, 2009 - 09:21 IST
2 of 3 people found this review helpful The film beyond the fact that seems like a celebration of being King Khan unravels the life of a small town barber, Billu (Irrfan Khan). When famous actor Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to Billu's villiage to shoot for a film, it is Billu's life that turns to hell...
By Zee News, February 14, 2009 - 09:26 IST
2 of 3 people found this review helpful The movie is about Bilas Rao Pardesi aka Billu (Irrfan Khan), a smalltime barber in a village. Life for Billu, his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two kids is bitter-sweet. But things take a turn when superstar Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to the village to shoot his next film.
By Ibnlive, February 14, 2009 - 09:28 IST
2 of 3 people found this review helpful Billu Barber works smoothly as a simple, moral tale, its charm interrupted every time the director goes for broader, more 'commercial' appeal. But it's enjoyable and heart-felt too, and for that reason deserves to be watched. I'll go with two out of five for director Priyadarshan's Billu Barber, it's an above-average entertainer...
By Planet Bollywood, February 14, 2009 - 09:29 IST
4 of 6 people found this review helpful The film doesn't get to its intended point until the intermission and quite annoyingly many scenes tend to be repetitive ultimately leading to a very predictable and forced emotional climax. Dialogues by Manisha Korde are average and SRK's lines for the climax seem to written in a hurry...
By DNA India, February 17, 2009 - 11:01 IST
The script is to be blamed. Priyadarshan takes part-credit for it, like he does for every other film he's remade. Funnily, the original Malayalam Katha Parayumbol just doesn't seem to be an easy film to emulate. Even the demi-God status of Rajinikanth couldn't save the Tamil remake, Kuselan and this one too, is just about average.
