When Rajkummar Rao stole Ayushmann Khurrana-Kriti Sanon’s thunder in commercial entertainer Bareilly Ki Barfi

There have been many makeovers in Indian and Western cinema, when an individual who is not conventionally good-looking is transformed into society’s stereotypical definition of ‘classic beauty.’ But more often than not, this so-called ‘ugly duckling turning into swan’ trope has been reserved for women (read Anne Hathaway in Princess Diaries, Mona Singh’s Jassi in Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, Preity Zinta in Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai; you get the g).
However, men are never told that they have to change themselves to impress someone. Not in real life, and rarely if ever in the movies. But Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s 2017 release Bareilly Ki Barfi was a little bit different in this respect. Because in the feature, Rajkummar Rao‘s innocent Pritam Vidhrohi undergoes not only a physical but an ‘attitude’ transformation as well, thanks to the bully disguised as a hero played the talented Ayushmann Khurrana. Rajkummar’s character is coerced into changing himself so that Kriti Sanon’s Bitti, who has fallen in love with Pritam Vidhrohi the writer, falls out of his spell when she finally meets the ‘rowdy’ author in person. At least that is Ayushmann’s character, Chirag Dubey’s hope.

Bareilly Ki Barfi, narrated the delightful and engaging voice of lyric-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, is basically a love triangle comedy which is brought out of the regular, straight tropes of its genre its wonderful performances. It also helps when you cast lovely actors like Pankaj Tripathi, Seema Pahwa, Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao. Kriti Sanon, who played the female lead, was a revelation, and her chemry with Tripathi was one of the highlights of the film.

And although Ayushmann and Kriti are in all sense the ‘lead pair’ of Bareilly Ki Barfi, their thunder was stolen Rajkummar’s transformatory act. Rajkummar, who is known for taking on versatile roles and making them his own, did the same with this more familiar character which audiences have seen versions of in previous movies. Rajkummar showed through this film that he can be as good in masala, commercial space as he is in serious, meaningful features. From Pritam’s meek, timid body language to the ‘badass babua’ he finally becomes, the role not only provided comic relief, it represented the sheer range of Rajkummar the arte, who can shape-shift before you even get a chance to utter the word. Remember the iconic bit when Pritam throws attitude after parking his bike in the middle of the road? Someone had commented underneath the YouTube clip, “That’s when Ayushmann realised he was the supporting actor in Bareilly Ki Barfi.” Although slightly bitter, the comment is not without its share of truth.

Throughout the movie, Rajkummar‘s Pritam is hit, tortured and mocked Chirag and his buddy. He is belittled, his profession is laughed at. Consequently, Pritam deems himself a failure and is too afraid to stand up for himself. However, in the process of becoming the ‘swag master’ with a bit of a dangerous edge to him, Pritam realises he can actually be who he wants to be. And it is at that point Bareilly Ki Barfi became Pritam’s story of self-actualisation (at least for me). A far more interesting angle than that of an age-old love triangle which we have seen countless times before. But perhaps Ayushmann’s Chirag would disagree.
Bareilly Ki Barfi is available to stream on Netflix and ZEE5.