Bareilly Ki Barfi starts on a promising note - a warm and lighthearted delivery makes for an interesting watch where we also get a nice commentary on the state of women in middle-class families. Bareilly is portrayed beautifully, and director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari shows a true middle-class sensibility. Sadly, what goes on later as the story develops is one big mess, the film loses direction and adopts a rather senseless sort of narrative, which is more of a typical love triangle of sorts ridden with caricature characters and little credibility.
And not only in the narrative will you see an unwelcome change. The film's initial portions focus pretty much on the leading lady, relating her story in a beautifully realistic way. It takes just about half an hour to relegate her from the protagonist to a secondary part of the love interest, where a corny subplot involving two guys takes precedence. The entire track of taking a nerdy guy and turning him into a cool sort of guy hardly rings true and is really quite childish. Everything happens too fast, including the nerd's revenge, the heartbreak, and the conclusion.
This is not to say the film is not enjoyable. It is - it's funny and entertaining and despite its poor development, the overall feel remains warm and simple in terms of both setting, dialogue, and the small characters. That's why the disappointment. The production design is really the film's prime asset, giving it a certain charm which fades away as the story gets embroiled in its own mess. What's more, the sound design is often awful, the dubbing is bad and sometimes the line delivery does not sound genuine (a complete mismatch between picture and sound).
The dynamic between the two leads, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao, is like that of Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan in Kal Ho Naa Ho, but less credible. Khurrana does well at first but then is turned all of a sudden into this suffering lover. One moment he was able to make the nerd do as he'd command, and the next he's helpless and can't stop him from stealing the woman he loves. I just couldn't understand his motives at all, particularly why he never told the girl that he wrote the book and why he didn't fight when time was due.
Rao is better - okay, the alternation between the two personalities is not very credible, he overdoes the two of them quite a bit, both the goofy, awkward and the seemingly over-confident bit. That said, he is still good within the comic context of the film and is likable all through. Kriti Sanon is the one most deceived by the film, initially being its main protagonist and ending up becoming a sort of object with no character. The ones who shine are the parents, particularly Seema Pahwa, who is wonderful as the mother. Nice film overall, but nothing great.
And not only in the narrative will you see an unwelcome change. The film's initial portions focus pretty much on the leading lady, relating her story in a beautifully realistic way. It takes just about half an hour to relegate her from the protagonist to a secondary part of the love interest, where a corny subplot involving two guys takes precedence. The entire track of taking a nerdy guy and turning him into a cool sort of guy hardly rings true and is really quite childish. Everything happens too fast, including the nerd's revenge, the heartbreak, and the conclusion.
This is not to say the film is not enjoyable. It is - it's funny and entertaining and despite its poor development, the overall feel remains warm and simple in terms of both setting, dialogue, and the small characters. That's why the disappointment. The production design is really the film's prime asset, giving it a certain charm which fades away as the story gets embroiled in its own mess. What's more, the sound design is often awful, the dubbing is bad and sometimes the line delivery does not sound genuine (a complete mismatch between picture and sound).
The dynamic between the two leads, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao, is like that of Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan in Kal Ho Naa Ho, but less credible. Khurrana does well at first but then is turned all of a sudden into this suffering lover. One moment he was able to make the nerd do as he'd command, and the next he's helpless and can't stop him from stealing the woman he loves. I just couldn't understand his motives at all, particularly why he never told the girl that he wrote the book and why he didn't fight when time was due.
Rao is better - okay, the alternation between the two personalities is not very credible, he overdoes the two of them quite a bit, both the goofy, awkward and the seemingly over-confident bit. That said, he is still good within the comic context of the film and is likable all through. Kriti Sanon is the one most deceived by the film, initially being its main protagonist and ending up becoming a sort of object with no character. The ones who shine are the parents, particularly Seema Pahwa, who is wonderful as the mother. Nice film overall, but nothing great.