Film
Bareilly Ki Barfi
- Romantic comedy
- Light-hearted
A spirited woman from a small Indian city falls for a progressive author she's never met, then enlists a lovably bumbling printer to help track him down. It's a warm, funny romance that finds genuine heart in mismatched characters and celebrates the joy of being unapologetically yourself in a place that might prefer you weren't. For anyone who loves charm over cynicism.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like light romantic comedies that find their warmth in small-town chatter, quirky family squabbles, and characters who are a little too stubborn for their own good.
Skip it if you need your romance sleek and your jokes to land every time, since the film is talky, loose, and happy to wander off on side routes.
What it asks of you: Two hours of patience with a gentle, meandering rhythm, where the gags arrive in conversation rather than in bursts, and feelings build through ordinary days.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Pyaar Ka Punchnama2011
Sharp, affectionate comedy about modern love and friendship in Delhi. The banter feels real, the characters are specific and flawed, and it nails that balance between making fun of romance and believing in it completely.
But The famous rant is funny, but the film occasionally lapses into the kind of gender stereotyping it claims to critique. Some scenes haven't aged brilliantly.
Khosla Ka Ghosla!2006
A Delhi family comedy with real affection at its core—funny, clever, and genuinely touching without ever feeling sentimental. The ensemble cast makes every scene pop, and it captures small-city life with actual warmth.
But The plot is relatively slight and the comedy is understated; if you want big laughs and plot twists, you might find it a bit gentle.
Luka Chuppi2019
A Mathura-set romance that plays similarly warm games with small-town India and modern relationships. It's funny, the chemistry works, and it has the same good-natured spirit without trying too hard to be clever.
But It treads very familiar ground and doesn't reinvent anything. The second half loses some momentum and slips into more conventional rom-com rhythms.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bareilly Ki Barfi
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Lunchbox2013
Both films understand that the best romances are about seeing someone clearly—recognizing them, choosing them, pursuing them despite obstacles. Both Bitti and the characters in The Lunchbox fall in love with who someone *is*, not what they represent.
A quietly devastating Mumbai love story between a housewife and a widower, told almost entirely through glances and the exchange of dabas. It's gentle, achingly romantic, and has more emotional depth in 100 minutes than most films manage in two hours. Beautifully shot, perfectly acted.
But There's almost no plot and very little dialogue. It requires patience and quiet attention; if you need clear story beats and dialogue-driven comedy, it will feel like nothing is happening.
More like this (8)
Vicky Donor2012
A Delhi comedy that uses a taboo subject to explore family, identity and what it means to be decent. Sharp writing, genuine humor, and an unexpectedly moving heart beneath the jokes about sperm donation.
But Some supporting characters slip into caricature and the film occasionally leans on sentiment when it could stay funny. The tonal shifts aren't always smooth.
Angrezi Medium2020
A father-daughter story set in a small UP town, full of warmth and specificity. Irrfan is wonderful, the humor comes from character rather than setup, and it genuinely loves the people it's laughing at.
But It's baggy in places and some scenes feel indulgent. The emotional register shifts can be jarring if you're not in the mood for that kind of tonal mixing.
Dum Laga Ke Haisha2015
A Delhi romance that's genuinely funny about relationships, body image, and self-acceptance. Varun Dhawan and Bhumi Pednekar have real chemistry, and the film doesn't condescend to either its characters or its audience.
But The setup relies on some conventional rom-com mechanics and the ending is thoroughly predictable. It also occasionally veers into the very stereotypes it's trying to push back on.
Happy Bhag Jayegi2016
A border-town romp with genuine chaos and humor. It's lighter than Bareilly but shares that same love of specific places and characters doing absurd things for love with complete sincerity.
But It's quite scattered and the plot is thin even by rom-com standards. You need to be okay with enjoying a film that doesn't really want to make narrative sense.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan2017
A Delhi romance that tackles sensitive subjects with humor and humanity. It's warm, genuinely funny, and doesn't shy away from tenderness. The two leads have lovely chemistry and the supporting cast is sharp.
But The film occasionally prioritizes sentiment over comedy, and some jokes don't land as well as others. The pacing sags in the middle act.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge1995
The gold standard of Hindi romance. Beautiful to watch, endlessly rewatchable, and somehow both a product of its time and timeless. It has genuine wit alongside the sentiment, and the couple actually seem to like each other.
But It's long, it indulges in melodrama, and the gender politics are dated. If you want lean, modern storytelling, this is not it.
Raees2017
Both films find their story in place—Gujarat for Raees, Bareilly for Bareilly Ki Barfi. Both use location as character, and both understand that small towns have their own logic, their own way of seeing the world. The specificity is the romance.
Shah Rukh Khan as a charming, dangerous Gujarat businessman; it's a crime drama dressed in romance trappings, energetic and beautifully shot with real stakes and a lead character who's genuinely morally complicated in ways mainstream Hindi films rarely attempt.
But It's stylish over substantive and the romantic subplot can feel tacked-on. The plot occasionally sacrifices coherence for set pieces, and the violence is harder-edged than you might expect.
Raman Raghav 2.02016
Anurag Kashyap directed both this and Bareilly Ki Barfi, and his signature is the same: he sees India with a clear eye, finds humanity in unexpected places, and refuses to prettify or judge his characters. The tone and genre are opposite, but the integrity is identical.
A dark, grimy Mumbai crime thriller anchored by a tense cat-and-mouse dynamic between a cop and a serial killer. It's visually inventive, morally murky, and utterly uncompromising—a completely different register from mainstream Hindi cinema.
But It's violent, nihilistic, and offers no comfort or catharsis. If you're looking for warmth or humor, this will feel actively hostile. It's genuinely difficult to watch at times.
People
Cast
Kriti SanonBitti Mishra
Ayushmann KhurranaChirag Dubey
Rajkummar RaoPritam Vidrohi
Rohit ChoudharyMunna
Pankaj TripathiNarottam Mishra
Seema PahwaSushila Mishra
Semwal SwatiRama
Naila GrrewalBabli
Sapna SandVidrohi's Mother
Javed AkhtarNarrator
Sahil AroraSAHIL ARORA
Directing
- Ashwiny Iyer TiwariDirector
Writing
- Arko Pravo MukherjeeLyricist
- Puneet SharmaLyricist
- Shabbir AhmedLyricist
- Ashwiny Iyer TiwariScreenplay
- Nitesh TiwariScreenplay
- Rajat NoniaScreenplay
- Shreyas JainScreenplay
Production
- Mukesh ChhabraCasting Director
- Priti ShahaniCo-Producer
- Madhav Roy KapurExecutive Producer
- Satish ManeLine Producer
- Renu ChopraProducer
- Sahil AroraProducer
- Vineet JainProducer
Recommended by
Kapoor & Sons, Badhaai Ho, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Luka Chuppi, Happy Bhag Jayegi, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Fukrey Returns, Khoobsurat, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, O Kadhal Kanmani, Running Shaadi, Lost Ladies, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Govinda Naam Mera, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana