Billu Barber

The ‘King Khan’ is back and he plays himself again in this Hindi remake of a Malayalam and Tamil hit. Will superstar Sahil (Shah Rukh Khan) remember his childhood friend Billu (Irrfan Khan, excellent) when he visits a remote Indian village to shoot the Bollywood version of ‘The Matrix’? Prolific Priyadarshan’s return to form is an engaging, perhaps utopian, delve into rural country life. The sumptuous Tamil Nadu location will make you want to emigrate and a simple story about a simpleton is effectively related without most of the excesses of the masala formula. The usual bolly oddities exist but this is wholesome family entertainment. It never soft-pedals the trials and tribulations of an ordinary Indian living in a rapidly developing, corrupt modern India. Incidentally, it’s huge fun.