Barfi

As is common with films starring major actors portraying disabled people, I expected the film to be an actor's vehicle, a film existing solely to showcase ability rather than craft. Boy, was I wrong.

Anurag Basu channels his inner Jean Pierre Jeunet and to some extent Wes Anderson to create a world of whimsy and impossible art decoration. Barfi never once goes into ultra histrionics, and while not subtle, Basu manages to keep it sweet and human. For a mainstream Bollywood film with a hearing- and speech-impaired leading man and an autistic leading lady, the avoidance of Bhansali....