Trama

In an Indian village, a struggling barber sees his luck begin to turn when residents learn that a famous actor he once knew is coming to town.

Based in Budbuda, Uttar Pradesh, Billu Vilas Pardesi barely makes a living as a barber. His wife, Bindiya, looks after the household, and his children, Gunja and Ronak, are on the verge of being expelled from Gyaan Bharti Vidyalay Higher Secondary School due to non-payment of fees. Then everything changes when Bollywood actor Sahir Khan makes an appearance to film a movie in the town. Rumors spread that Billu is Sahir's close friends, and he becomes a celebrity virtually overnight. His shop gets donations and clientèle, and the school decides to educate his children for free. The trouble begins when townsfolk want to meet with Sahir but Billu is unable to contact him.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Billu is a movie about a barber residing in a village who is friends with a well known actor. The thing is Billu is poor and thinks his childhood friend has forgotten him and thus stays away from making any move. When the news of shooting a film at the location where Billu stays comes up, the family of Billu lightens up - but will that stay?—muvi-fan-73

Billu/Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan) is a poor barber who lives with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and their two children, Gunja (Mitali Mayekar) and Ronak (Pratik Dalvi) in the village of Budbuda. He also spends time with his close friends Budbudiya/Zallan Kumar (Rajpal Yadav) and Naubat Chacha (Asrani). Billu's shop is in a very bad condition, and he has no funds to get new equipment. He applies for a MSME loan with the Govt but is rejected since he cannot afford to pay a bribe. Principal Gehlot (Rasika Joshi) has kicked Gunja and Ronak out of school since Billu cannot afford to pay the school fees.

'Modern' Madan (Jagadeesh) runs a barber shop right opposite Billu and does brisk business as he has better equipment and staff to service customers. Sahukaar Daamchand wants Billu to take a loan from him, but Billu has resisted the offer since Daamchand is a loan shark and is known to gobble up businesses and people.

Billu lives an uneventful life until Bollywood superstar Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) comes to the village for a film shoot. Sahir's new film had a village sequence and he suggested that it be shot in Budbuda. His forward team travels to the village and books the local guest house, and all groceries from the local markets to feed the shooting team.

Billu has mentioned to his family that he knows Sahir from the past but has never elaborated how he knows the star. Billu is reluctant to meet Sahir, since he doesn't want Shir to think that Billu is trying to take advantage of their friendship by asking an undue favor. When his children talk about their father's friendship with the star, word spreads throughout the village. Virtually overnight, Billu, who had previously been scorned by most due to his lowly state, becomes the center of attention. People who had spurned him only the week before now call him a close friend so that he will introduce them to Sahir. Billu refuses and downplays the friendship.

The school principal is willing to forgo fees for Gunja and Ronak if Billu can get Sahir to the annual school function as chief guest, but Billu refuses. Bindiya intervenes and promises the principal to get Sahir to the school function. Damodar Dubey (Manoj Joshi) is part of the school board and threatens Billu that his kids will be kicked off unless Sahir attends the function. Billu is in a dilemma and says yes under public pressure. Billu calls Sahir's guesthouse, but the secretary scolds Billu for calling and for wasting his and Sahir's time.

Even so, the powerful businessman Sahukaar Daamchand (Om Puri) demands to see Sahir and offers Billu expensive gifts (a new hair cutting salon chair and all supplies for a modern barber shop) in order to gain such a meeting. When Billu consistently fails to introduce the people of the village to Sahir (who had all given him gifts, food and money in order to get something of Sahir's in return from Billu), his situation changes once again.

Billu attends Sahir's shooting to try and meet him, but he is not even allowed to get close to him. Meanwhile the school board gets agitated about getting no confirmation from Billu on Sahir's attendance at the school function. Damodar decides to use his political connections to try and get Sahir to attend. Damodar's call to the local MLA gets him and the principal a meeting with Sahir. But Damodar offends Sahir by taking him for granted and misbehaving with him. Sahir refuses to attend the school function and tells Damodar to leave. Principal Gehlot tells Damodar to leave and apologizes to Sahir, and convinces him to attend. Sahir agrees.

Daamchand loses his patience and takes Billu with him to the shoot to meet Sahir. The police arrest Daamchand and his entourage. The inspector makes Daamchand realize that there is no proof that Billu is actually a friend of Sahir. The inspector alleges that Billu has been lying to the whole village. Daamchand is enraged and takes all his stuff back from Billu's shop. Billu is arrested as well & later released on bail. Billu is accused of lying about his friendship and everyone - including his wife and children - begins to doubt his character and integrity. Rather than defend himself, Billu remains quiet about the nature of his and Sahir's friendship.

On Sahir's last day in the village, Sahir speaks at Gunja and Ronak's school function. He tells the children about his own impoverished childhood when he had nothing but a special bond of friendship with another young boy, named Billu. It was Billu who had taken care of Sahir and eventually helped him travel to Mumbai by giving him his gold earring where Sahir became a star. Billu, who is standing at the back of the event, leaves during the talk without revealing to Sahir that he is there. However, the townspeople realized their error, and take Sahir to Billu's house. Billu's children come home and apologize to their father. Then, Sahir appears in his car and is reunited with Billu. In the end, Sahir must leave for another shoot but promises that his and Billu's friendship is reignited and will remain friends.