Barfi enters Oscars

Set in the fairy-tale world of 1970s Darjeeling, ‘Barfi’ is a story of a deaf and mute boy, Murphy.

" Barfi is the Indian entry to the Oscars. We selected it to represent the country out of 20 films," Supran Sen, Secretory General of Film Federation of India told media persons.

'Barfi!' beat 19 other films like 'Kahaani', 'Gangs of Wasseypur Part I and II', 'Gattu', 'Jalpari' and Dirty Picture' to represent India at the Oscars.

Directed by Anurag Basu, Barfi, has made Ranbir Kapoor a new superstar in the Hindi film industry.

Ranbir, who has managed to impress critics and his fans with his acting despite having no dialogues, said he took inspiration to portray the character from Hollywood legend Charlie Chaplin and his grandfather Raj Kapoor.

On the nomination, Ranbir, 29, said, "We all are very happy.... It is a team effort but we should not be that excited as the film just got an entry from India.
     
"We are yet to be selected for the main entry. If the film gets a go ahead, we would take advice from Aamir (Khan) about how to go ahead," Ranbir said.

After hearing the news, Priyanka Chopra said,  "Yay! Congratulations team Barfi! This is such amazing news.”

"This film was a labour of love for all of us and to see it receive such amazing success is so gratifying. This has been the toughest character of my life and to see everyone loving Jhilmil is such a dream come true.
 Disney UTV's managing director Siddharth Roy Kapoor, the producers behind the film, also hailed its selection from India to represent Oscars.

"We are honoured that Barfi has been selected to represent India as it official entry to the Academy Awards 2013.

Actress Ileana D'Cruz, who began her career in Bollywood with the film said, " The news of ‘Barfi’ being selected as India's entry to the Oscars is an honour and a privilege and a matter of pride for the Barfi team."

So far in the history of Indian cinema, only three Bollywood films, including Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay (1988) and Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan (2001), have made it to the nomination stage.

Storyline

Barfi is the story of three young people who learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society's norms of normal and abnormal.

One being Murphy as his parents call him, but everyone else calls him Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor), a hearing and speech impaired boy always ready with a prank up his sleeve.

Barfi is quite the charmer, especially with the ladies in Darjeeling.

He falls in love with Shruti (Ileana D'Cruz). In spite of her deep affection for Barfii, Shruti gives into societal and parental pressure to marry a 'normal' man and lead a 'normal' life.

Many years later their paths cross once again when Barfi, now in love with Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra), is on the run from the police. Barfi is desperately seeking Jhilmil, who has gone missing. Shruti realizes that Jhilmil is mentally-challenged and so makes her recognize that true love is really blind.

Caught in a cat and mouse game, in the search for the girl Barfi loves, Shruti realizes that she is still in love with him. She must now choose between her happiness and his.

A heart-warming tale of selfless love and about finding happiness in the smallest things in life; that tells you no matter how tough your life may be, 'Don't Worry. Be Barfi!'