Bareilly Ki Barfi

It is the best Bollywood film of this year till date. It has everything which a film should have with it! Ayushman Khurrana and Rajkumar Rao's chemistry is the highest plus point of this beautifully made sweet and logical rom-com. Kriti is doing good here. The voice over by Javed Akhtar gives the film uniqueness. The dialogues are very subtle. And which makes this film re-watchable for many times. It is already going good at the box office, but whenever it will come to TV, the TRPs will going to be high always. Ashwini had made 2 fantastic films- Nil Battey Sannata and this one. So, she is entering in my favorite director's list. Kudos to the makers for the sweetest film.

When I saw its trailer first, I knew that this would be a rajkumar rao show. And my guess didn't turn wrong. My 7 stars are only for rajkumar rao. Its his performance that makes this film worth watching. Rest things story, script and other performances are nothing great.

There was an age in Hindi Cinema where doyens like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterji made some of Hindi cinemas finest comedies featuring the middle class man. The story revolved around the man's life and the movies were clean and simple. Golmaal, Itni Si baat, Chupke Chupke were some of the finest movies that came out from this duo.

Bareilly Ki Barfi (BKB) belongs to that forgotten era and I thank Ashwiny Iyer and Nitesh Tiwari to take us back to that era and make a film that connects with today's audience.

Set in Bareilly in UP and inspired from Sajan, the movie is one hell of a romantic comedy from start to finish. The story of 20 something yr old Bitti who works for the Electricity Board who smokes, drinks, eats non veg, watches English movies and does break dance on her terrance and falls for a writer of flop book is an interesting premise. Her Dad is loving caring and supportive but her mom thinks her as a pain.

The 1st half is hilarious with some great one liners and well written scenes. Everything shown on screen is so authentic that I felt I was transported to Bareilly and I could connect with Bitti, her parents and Chirag the man loves Bitti and who also has secretly written the book Bitti loves. There are no heavy scenes and the humour never goes over the top.

The 2nd half is taken to another level thanks to the entry of Rajkummar Rao at the end of 1st half. And here I thank the writers who ensure not to stretch the story to long and wrap the movie with a predictable sweet ending. Believe me this movie is just 2 hours long which is awesome as per Hindi movie standards.

Coming to performances, Kriti Sanon as Bitti finally gets an author backed role and shines but still needs a few movies like these to showcase her acting chops. Khurana is turning out to be the Amol Palekar of our times and does is part well and with ease. Pankaj Tripathy and Seema Pahwa as Bitti's parents are hilarious as the bickering couple and have some of the best one liners in the movie. And Rohit Chaudhary as Khurana's friend is very good.

However, the star of this film is Rao. And he deserves an award of this film and if not an award, at least a nomination. The actor is brilliant from the word go. He brilliantly plays the meek and timid Vidrohi and switches to the rash hooligan Vidrohi which such ease that I was spell bound. He is a great actor and I hope he gets more films to show that he is in a league of his own. Watch out for the bike and pan scene.

The music is simple and not too many songs and I loved the way Bareilly has been captured.

This is a movie that you can watch with your family irrespective of the age groups and its great to see a clean rom com after a long time.

If Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania was a modern take on DDLJ, Bareilly Ki Barfi up to some extent is a modern take on Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt's Saajan. The former was less comedy and more drama and this one comes with more comedy and less drama. The characters are very well chosen and the screenplay gives you light moments to keep smiling throughout the film. Most of the time you remain neutral on who is going to get the girl. The movie has been edited at places to keep the length short and this is where many people will find holes, in the last half an hour. Overall the movie is an excellent one time watch with family.

Apart from a weak beginning and a predictable and loose ending, I thoroughly enjoyed Bareilly ki Barfi.

After a lousy start, I was pleasantly surprised by how cohesive and tight it became. Rajkumar Rao's introduction and everything following it was brilliantly written, acted and directed. It would leave you laughing with a smile on the face up until the final act.