Nine years after its theatrical release, Bareilly Ki Barfi continues to hold a special place in Kriti Sanon’s acting journey. As the much-loved romantic comedy completes nine years, Sanon has reflected on the role that she considers an important milestone in her career and one that helped audiences recognise her as a performer capable of taking on layered and unconventional characters.
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and released in 2017, Bareilly Ki Barfi combined romance, humour and small-town storytelling with a distinctly modern perspective on relationships and individuality. The film featured Kriti Sanon as Bitti Mishra, a spirited young woman from Bareilly who refuses to conform to traditional expectations of how a woman should behave.
Alongside Sanon, the film starred Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao in pivotal roles. Their performances, together with the film’s warm storytelling and quirky characters, helped Bareilly Ki Barfi establish itself as a memorable Hindi romantic comedy.
For Sanon, however, the film represented something more significant than a successful project. It became an opportunity to demonstrate her acting abilities and show audiences that she could move beyond the conventional image often associated with leading actresses.
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Kriti Sanon Looks Back at a Career-Defining Role
Reflecting on the ninth anniversary of Bareilly Ki Barfi, Kriti Sanon described Bitti Mishra as one of those rare characters that gives an actor the opportunity to genuinely perform.
The actor recalled that certain roles can become turning points because they allow audiences to notice an actor’s craft rather than focusing only on their appearance or screen presence.
“I think there are certain roles that allow you to really perform and give people an opportunity to notice you, and I think Bareilly Ki Barfi was one such role,” Sanon reflected.
Her comments highlight why Bitti remains particularly significant in her filmography. The character required her to portray a young woman who was confident, outspoken and unconventional while still being deeply connected to her family and surroundings.
For an actor building a career in mainstream Hindi cinema, such a role can be particularly valuable because it allows for emotional range while remaining accessible to a broad audience.
Sanon also emphasised the importance of appreciation for an actor.
“As an actor, it feels good when your performance and the work you have done are appreciated and noticed,” she said.
The sentiment reflects the importance of recognition not simply in terms of box-office performance but also in terms of how audiences perceive an actor’s growth.
Bitti Mishra Gave Kriti Sanon a Different Identity
When Bareilly Ki Barfi arrived in theatres in 2017, Sanon had already appeared in several commercial Hindi films. However, Bitti Mishra offered her an opportunity to move into a more grounded and character-driven space.
Bitti is introduced as an independent young woman living in Bareilly. She is not interested in fitting neatly into conventional expectations and is comfortable expressing her opinions and making her own choices.
At the same time, the character is not presented as an unrealistic rebellious figure. She has vulnerabilities, insecurities and emotional complexities that make her relatable.
This balance became one of the strengths of Sanon’s performance.
Rather than portraying Bitti simply as a rebellious small-town girl, Sanon brought humour, confidence and emotional vulnerability to the character. The performance helped establish the character as one of the film’s biggest attractions.
The role also allowed Sanon to demonstrate that her acting could work effectively within a smaller, more intimate narrative.
A Small-Town Story With a Contemporary Perspective
One of the reasons Bareilly Ki Barfi continues to resonate with viewers is its setting.
The film takes place in Bareilly, but its themes are not restricted to one city or one particular social environment. Bitti’s struggle between individuality and social expectations is familiar to audiences across different parts of India.
The film explores questions about identity, love, family expectations and the pressure to conform.
Bitti’s personality challenges the assumption that a woman from a smaller city must necessarily follow a predetermined path. She is educated, outspoken and independent-minded, while still maintaining a complicated relationship with her family and community.
This combination made the character feel both distinctive and relatable.
For Sanon, the film provided an opportunity to explore precisely this kind of character — one who was rooted in her surroundings but unwilling to allow those surroundings to define her completely.
The Story Behind Bareilly Ki Barfi
The narrative of Bareilly Ki Barfi revolves around Bitti Mishra, a free-spirited young woman living in Bareilly.
Her life takes an unexpected turn after she reads a novel that deeply affects her. Believing that the writer understands her personality and way of thinking, Bitti becomes determined to find the mysterious author, Pritam Vidrohi.
Her search eventually leads her to Chirag Dubey, the publisher associated with the book.
The story becomes more complicated when Bitti discovers that the man she believes to be the writer is not exactly what he appears to be.
Rajkummar Rao plays Pritam Vidrohi, while Ayushmann Khurrana portrays Chirag Dubey. Their contrasting personalities create the central comic and romantic tension of the film.
At its heart, however, the story is also about perception.
Bitti develops an image of the author based on his writing, while the people around her attempt to shape her understanding of love and relationships.
This allows the film to explore how people can fall in love with ideas, personalities and versions of individuals that may not correspond entirely with reality.
Kriti Sanon’s Chemistry With Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao
Another important factor behind the film’s appeal was the chemistry between its three principal characters.
Sanon’s Bitti is caught between two very different men.
Ayushmann Khurrana’s Chirag is confident, clever and deeply involved in the publishing world, while Rajkummar Rao’s Pritam Vidrohi is presented as a dramatically different personality.
The contrast between the characters gives the film much of its humour.
Sanon had to navigate the emotional and comic requirements of scenes involving both actors, while maintaining Bitti’s independent personality.
The character could not simply become a passive participant in the romantic plot. Bitti’s decisions drive much of the story, making her central to the film’s progression.
This is one reason the role became important in Sanon’s career.
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Direction
The film was directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, who brought a distinctive storytelling approach to the project.
Rather than relying solely on conventional romantic-comedy formulas, the film combined humour with character-driven storytelling.
The small-town setting was also treated as more than a backdrop.
Bareilly became an important part of the film’s identity, influencing the characters’ behaviour, relationships and everyday lives.
The director’s treatment allowed the characters to retain their quirks without turning them into caricatures.
That balance helped the film maintain a warm and accessible tone.
Why Bareilly Ki Barfi Remains Important to Kriti Sanon
For Sanon, the importance of Bareilly Ki Barfi goes beyond nostalgia.
She has repeatedly spoken about wanting to grow as an actor and use each project as an opportunity to improve.
“With every film I do, I want to grow as an actor – that has always been my motive,” she said.
She also emphasised the importance of being able to see that growth over time.
“I want to keep evolving, so it’s very important for me to see whether that growth is visible or not,” Sanon added.
These comments provide an insight into how the actor views her career.
Rather than treating individual films simply as isolated projects, she appears to view them as part of a longer journey in which each performance contributes to her development.
That perspective makes Bareilly Ki Barfi particularly meaningful because it represents one of the projects through which audiences began to recognise her acting potential more clearly.
From Commercial Cinema to Diverse Characters
Since Bareilly Ki Barfi, Kriti Sanon has continued to explore different genres and character types.
Her filmography has included romantic dramas, comedies, action-oriented projects and more performance-focused roles.
This evolution has helped her establish herself as one of the prominent contemporary actors in Hindi cinema.
The progression also reflects the challenge faced by actors who initially become known through mainstream commercial projects.
Once an actor develops a particular public image, choosing unconventional roles can become an important way to demonstrate range.
For Sanon, Bitti Mishra was an early example of such a departure.
The role showed that she could carry a character who was not defined solely by romance or glamour.
The Lasting Appeal of Bitti Mishra
Nine years after the film’s release, Bitti Mishra remains memorable because she represents a type of female character that audiences can identify with.
She is ambitious without being presented as perfect. She is confident but also vulnerable. She wants independence but remains connected to her family.
Most importantly, she is allowed to be flawed.
That complexity gives the character longevity.
In many romantic comedies, the female protagonist can become secondary to the romantic storyline. Bareilly Ki Barfi gives Bitti enough agency to influence the direction of the narrative herself.
Sanon’s performance was central to making that possible.
The Film’s Broader Themes
Beyond romance and comedy, Bareilly Ki Barfi explores several themes that continue to remain relevant.
Individuality versus social expectations
Bitti’s personality challenges conventional assumptions about how a young woman should behave.
The complexity of identity
The film repeatedly plays with the difference between who people appear to be and who they actually are.
Love and perception
Bitti’s fascination with the novel demonstrates how people can develop emotional connections with imagined versions of others.
Family and independence
The story does not portray independence as complete separation from family. Instead, it explores how individuals can maintain family relationships while developing their own identities.
These themes give the film greater depth than a conventional romantic comedy.
Nine Years Later, the Film Remains a Career Milestone
As Bareilly Ki Barfi completes nine years, its significance in Kriti Sanon’s career remains clear.
The film gave her a character that required humour, emotional expression and individuality, while allowing her to move beyond a purely conventional leading-lady role.
Kriti Sanon own reflection on the anniversary reinforces that significance.
“Bareilly Ki Barfi will always be special to me,” she said.
That sentiment captures the enduring relationship between an actor and a role that changes the way audiences see them.
For viewers, Bitti Mishra remains one of the film’s defining elements. For Sanon, the character represents a point in her career when audiences and critics had an opportunity to recognise another dimension of her abilities.
Nine years after its release, Kriti Sanon Bareilly Ki Barfi continues to stand out as a warm, humorous and character-driven Hindi romantic comedy.
For Kriti Sanon, the film represents something even more personal: a milestone that helped demonstrate her potential as a serious performer.
Bitti Mishra gave her the opportunity to portray a young woman who was independent, unconventional and emotionally complex. The role allowed Kriti Sanon to showcase a different side of her acting and became an important step in her continuing evolution.
As Kriti Sanon looks back on the film, her emphasis remains firmly on growth.
Kriti Sanon journey since 2017 demonstrates how individual roles can shape an actor’s public identity, while her continued focus on evolving as a performer suggests that Bitti Mishra was not an endpoint, but an important beginning.
Nine years on, Kriti Sanon Bareilly Ki Barfi remains special not only because audiences remember its characters and humour, but because it represents the kind of performance that can become a lasting milestone in an actor’s career.
