February 9th, 2009
The fact that Lara Dutta is essaying the role of a village housewife in Shahrukh Khan's home banner production Billu (earlier titled Billu Barber), is known to all who follow regular Bollywood news updates. But her character is so real and in keeping with the story line that any common village woman can relate to it.
As per the latest news, Lara wore a no make-up look throughout the film for the first time. Her sarees were old and crumpled, soaked in tea and dried. And she wore them because that fitted the character as she is essaying the role of a simple, in fact, poverty ridden wife of a common village barber. She also had to walk bare foot (which was very difficult) as her character could not afford to buy proper footwear.
Apart from Lara's (much talked about and reported) chance encounter with a snake, she also had to put up through some extremely hostile terrain when they went on location for the picturisation of a song. The unit had to walk through muddy water and pot holes since there was no proper road to the desired location. But when they reached the locale, the effort was worth it as the scenery there was breathtaking. Talk about perfection, this is as perfect as it can get! And we thought that this kind of dedication is only seen in off - beat movies!
Well, for that we must commend Lara (for putting up with such difficult situations), and the director Priyadarshan for giving so much thought to her character, as also the large hearted producer Gauri Khan. We are sure that apart from Shahrukh's extended appearance and his scintillating item numbers with top heroines and Irrfan Khan's characteristic but much loved style of acting, Lara's character will be one of the highlights of the film. And, for those who thought Priyan only makes senseless movies, Billu will surely prove to be an eye opener for his detractors.
