The Bechdel Test might have made sense for Nil Battey Sannata but in this romcom, Tiwary is forced to depend on the Rao-Khurrana playoff. Beyond this, the plot concerns of Bareilly Ki Barfi are minimal. It's not for nothing that Chirag, who can be the evil incarnate if he wants to, is named for a source of light and the innocent, loyal-to-a-fault Pritam's surname translates to rebel. That mantle is thrust on Pritam, the resident Bareilly simpleton. Khurrana plays the writer of a pulp novel for the second time this year in a romantic comedy, but the problem is that Chirag never announces it to the world. That's a line she says to Chirag Dubey (Ayushmann Khurrana) with whom she develops a friendship and the irony is biting when you consider what Chirag goes on to do with Pritam Vidrohi (Rajkummar Rao). Her feelings towards the kind of men she meets is encapsulated in one line - khud ko pata nahin kya samajhte hain, samne wale ko kuch bhi nahin. Working in the electricity board office, she is hardened enough to listen to complaints all day, but not from men who come with a checklist and know nothing about her. She is independent both financially and socially, but she is still the girl from Bareilly who is a willing participant in the arranged marriage process. Except for the smoking, Bitti isn't smothered by the "liberated woman" cliches because she isn't one. Abnormal not because the daughter of the house - Bitti Mishra (Kriti Sanon) - smokes cigarettes, but probably because when her dad (Pankaj Tripathi who at the moment can do no wrong) runs out of them, he goes looking for Bitti. It begins with a voice-over that says the town is small, the houses are normal except for the Mishra household that is abnormal. While Nil Battey Sannata dealt with a character living in the fringes but in constant struggle to breakout, Bareilly Ki Barfi, like Lipstick Under My Burkha few weeks ago, is set in the fringes between a small city and a metropolis.