Movie Review: Bareilly Ki Barfi, Welcome To Sugarland
Rajkummar Rao rocks the show in director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s sweet-toothed romcom, with Ayushmann Khuranna and Kriti Sanon in tow
Uh huh.She smokes (cigarettes), swigs booze, kinda limborocks and won’t suffer fools – or creepy prospective grooms – gladly. This streak of wilfulness is intended to convey that Hamari Bitti girl is independent and has a mind which ticks-‘n’-tocks on its own. In sum, she’s in a modern-day zone.
Okay, so the heroine of Bareilly ki Barfi, directed by
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari of Nil Battey Sannata fame, could well be a sanitised
version of those uber gutsy women of Lipstick Under My Burkha. Just saying. Now
if you’re willing, and I am, to see how and where the dreamstruck love story of
this Bareilly.com goes, welcome to the multiplex for a racy romp through cotton
candy land. So deviyon or sajjanon, Tiwari’s mithai bhandar turns out to be one
of the few likeable movies of the year which has so far been quite bereft of
purely pleasant entertaintainers.
A Still From Bareilly Ki Barfi
Hang on for a sec though. The plot’s an acknowledged
adaptation of a mid-brow French bestseller, The Ingredients of Love by Nicolas
Barreau, dealing with a young woman whose heart beats for the author of a mushy
novel. Merde, c’est la vie helas. The mush novel has been ghost-written. Now
just for the record, it would be enlightening to know how many bhoot lekhaks
abound on the Indian publishing scene today. Ergo the plot premise seems to be
much too European and its retread, suffers from the nagging flaw of
improbability.
Instead of Paris, then, we’re transported to the northern
smalltown of Bareilly, so far stored in the memory files of Bollywood
retrophiliacs with that Madan Mohan song, Jhumka gira re Bareilly ke bazaar
mein, performed by Sadhana for Raj Khosla’s whodunnit Mera Saaya (1966). Just
saying again.
Ayushmann Khurrana In Bareilly Ki Barfi
Today Bareilly’s galiyans and chaubaras are the venue for
the tripartite prem kahani between the aforecited Bitti Mishra (Kriti Sanon), Chirag
Dubey the lovelorn ghost writer (Ayushmann Khurrana), and his friend Pritam
Vidrohi (Rajkummar Rao) who sells saris expertly and has been, by a sleight of
circumstances, credited with the authorship of the novel called what else but, Bareilly
ki Barfi? Incidentally, I’m tempted to sample some of those much-mentioned
barfis. Any givers?
The ensuing rigmarole could have fallen flat, if it
weren’t for three prime factors: (a) the colloquial, jokey, constantly
ha-ha-inducing writing by the Dangal director Nitish Tiwari in league with
Shreyas Jain, (b) the refreshing characterisations of the Mishras, Bitti’s
chalk-and-cheese parents excellently acted by Pankaj Tripathi-Seema Pahwa, and
(c) the effortless chemeleon-like performance by Rajkummar Rao whose
change-over from a mousy sort to a swaggerdacio street smarty.
Rajkummar Rao In Bareilly Ki Barfi
Result: a situational comedy which at long last returns
the smile to your face. This despite the fact that this 123-minute isn’t quite as engrossing when Bittiji and
that official hero saab, Chirag bhai, muddle through the thicket of
complications. In terms of acting chutzpah, Kriti Sanon is serviceable, preoccupied
with exuding the glamour quotient rather than in springing any surprises in the
emotive department. And Ayushmann Khurrana is okey-dokey, looking either sullen
or smiling his dimpled smile to the point of ennui.
Of the music score, the catchy Sweety tera drama and Teri
kamariya, are rambunctiously composed and picturised.
Unsolicited suggestion: If it’s a sugar rush, you crave,
make your matinee with the Barfiwalas.
Image Source: youtube/jungleepictures & instagram/bariellykibarfi
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