Director: Priyadarshan 
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Irfaan Khan, Lara Dutta, Asrani

Priyadarshan’s latest offering Billu, like most of his movies these days is a remake of the Malayalam original Kadhaparayumbol narrating a tale of friendship between a Bollywood superstar and an ordinary barber in a remote village. Kuselan, the Tamil remake of the original featuring Rajnikanth was a huge box office disaster. Mushtaq Sheikh’s adaptation of the Malayalam version lacks the effervescence of an SRK movie, especially given the fact that the King Khan himself plays a superstar in the movie.

The story is set in UP village called Budbuda where Billu or Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irfan Khan), the barber his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) along with two kids leads his insignificant life struggling to make ends meet. Billu’s life changes when Sahir Khan(Shah Rukh Khan), the reigning film star along with his production unit land in the village for the filming of his ‘futuristic’ film. There are so many discrepancies in the narrative right here. For example, Bindiya, who lives in a village and is the wife of a person struggling to put food on the table, somehow manages to wear lipstick and look glamorous all the time. And the reasoning for a shooting a so called futuristic movie in a village randomly suggested by Sahir Khan is never explained. Also, the village square where Billu’s shop is located feels like a set borrowed from one of the Hindi serials and in one of the scenes we see a display of the Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines in a village setting. The lack of attention to detail is overwhelming. 

Villagers that either ignored Billu or harassed him for money change their stance and start treating him well. All they want in return is a piece of Sahir Khan, who they found out was Billu’s childhood buddy. Billu is not ready to meet his superstar friend given his current state of affairs, but people simply start sending in favors, even though Billu repeatedly tells them he cannot return their good will gestures. Since the story requires a superstar, the director diverts his focus to establish the stardom of Sahir Khan, so much so that Billu is left behind and the audiences fail to really relate to Billu and his problems. When Shah Rukh Khan plays a superstar in a movie, there is little need to really push the envelope in stating the fact. The director however does not utilize this natural advantage and spends too much time glamorizing the story. 

When the villagers erroneously conclude by a series of events that Billu is not Sahir Khan’s friend, they taunt him and his family. The movie concludes with a long speech of Sahir Khan talking about his childhood friend Billu and ultimately Billu is redeemed, but the movie, not so much. Shah Rukh delivers the speech with poise and it strikes a chord with most people who ever had dear friends. 

Pritam’s music is aimed for the masses and Shah Rukh shakes a leg to 3 item numbers with three of the industry’s hottest properties, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor. While V. Manikandan's cinematography captures Kerala in all of its lush green glory, it is sometimes hard to picture UP in place of Kerala. 

The Khan v/s Khan issue is also raked up in the movie. And Sahir Khan defends "Abhay" Kumar (guess who? ) in a scene when disparaging comments are passed against the actor saying everyone in the film industry treat each other as family. Somehow none of these scenes establish the friendship of Sahir Khan with Billu and feels like more effort could have been put into showcasing the depth of friendship shared between the modern day Krishna and Sudaama, the story which this film is supposed to be inspired from. The comparison of God to a movie superstar is noteworthy here, symbolizing the pedestals we place our celebrities upon these days. But then I guess this is Kali Yuga and not Dwapara Yuga in which Krishna and Sudaama lived, times clearly have changed. 

The story itself is simple and endearing but the execution of Billu lacks the finesse to tell a tale that has a predictable ending. But you expect more from someone like Priyadarshan who gave us the likes of Virasat. The director uses lame comedy which further cripples the flow. Most of the talented cast such as Rajpal Yadav and Om Puri are under utilized. With all its flaws, there is a way to appreciate this movie. Billu is a clean entertainer especially if you are planning to take your kids with you to watch a movie. It is almost like a fairy tale for the kids in maybe a grown up version. This is of course hoping your kids do not expect student- parent meetings mentioned in the movie in a village school!