Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kriti Sanon, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Seema Pahwa, Rohit Choudhury, Swati Semwal
Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
A house where nothing is normal
A free spirited girl
A broken-hearted boy
A little secret
Bareilly and all its small town charm
Bareilly ki Barfi had all the ingredients for a hit film.
The film starts with a voiceover of Javed Akhtar telling us about “Mishra Sadan” where nothing is normal. We are introduced to Bitti Mishra and her parents. Bitti shares amazing chemistry with her parents and we laugh at the events happening in their lives.
After 20 minutes, Ayushman Khurana makes his
entry and the story starts taking a predictable turn.
Like a typical small-town story the hero has a best friend who is his partner in every crime but doesn't hesitate in telling him that,“Bhaiya, aap bahute neech ho”.
After some time the story takes us to the third character, Rajkumar Rao and his opening scene is so hilarious that our hopes are raised.
There are many small incidents which make us laugh and with Javed Akhtar telling us
“Ek chalbaaz nahi, doosra Rangbaaz nahi par ek chaal Bana Raha hai, doosra jama Raha hai”, the first half comes to an end.
After interval the story manages to keep us entertained for another 15 minutes and then as if the writer/director has lost all interest in the plot, the story goes in all directions and ends in a very predictable manner.
Initially, Kriti Sanon gets good screen space and her body language and dialogue delivery is good too. She ends most of her lines with “Hai ki Nahi” or “laga lo 100-100 ki”, which is both cute and funny. But once the heroes make their entry she is reduced to being a showpiece, dancing to the occasional songs.
When Ayushman Khurana is being bad he is really good but as the love bug bites him he loses his charm. By the time he says with a long face, “Aakhir pyar ne hame doosre ki khushi mai bhi khush hona sikha hi diya”, everyone in the audience yawned in boredom.
Rajkumar Rao has got the best scenes and lines and he has played them to perfection.
Pankaj Tripathi, who plays Bitti's father is too good. In the scenes where he speaks with guthka in his mouth, he does it with so ease we forget that he's acting.
Seema Pahwa as the typical “log kya kahenge” Mummy gives equal competition to Pankaj Tripathi. In every guy who comes to her home, she sees a prospective groom for her daughter. When she asks them, 'Shadi ho gayi hai kya tumhari’ and the boy says “No” you can feel her happiness and the interest with which she serves them tea and snacks.
When the director, Ashwini Iyer Tewari has debuted with a socially relevant yet entertaining film like Nil Battey Sannata and the writer has given us the film of the decade, Dangal, we expect nothing less than a masterpiece.
In the film Javed Akhtar says in the end
“Agli baar jab aap Bareilly aye to jhumka dhoodne ki jagah Bareilly ki Barfi khana mat bhooliyega.”
Sadly the film hardly leaves any long lasting impression on the minds of the viewers and Bareli will still be remembered for the, “Jhumka gira re, Bareli ke bazaar mein” song from Mera Saaya (1966).
In a line, Bareilly Ki Barfi is just a light hearted film which one can watch for few funny scenes and hilarious dialogues.
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