Tanu Weds Manu Returns (Hindi)
Director: Anand L. Rai
Cast: R. Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill
Tanu Weds Manu was the love story between a fearless, feisty Tanuja Trivedi (Kangana Ranaut) and the docile Dr. Manu Sharma (R. Madhavan).
This chalk-meets-cheese story made-for-a-fun film, climaxing in marriage – but what happens after the ‘happily ever after’? Especially when your ‘ever after’ is with someone you have nothing in common with?
Tanu Weds Manu Returns opens four years into their marriage in a hilarious yet outlandish counselling session, where the couple argue about how intolerable they have become to each other. As Tanu puts it, she stills loves Manu but does not like him anymore. Driven mad by Tanu’s tiring zest for life, a trait more endearing in a lover than a wife, Manu explodes and is admitted to the asylum. Tanu returns to good old Nagpur.
Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal) joins in and so does Chintu (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, an Anand Rai staple, who plays a lawyer who has moved into Tanu’s room), and the first half of the films rolls on like a German sports car.
After reaching India, Manu’s father advises him about the compromises required to make a marriage work. Ignoring this, Manu decides to file for divorce. Later, when Manu attends a medical conference, he sets his eyes on Datto (the Haryanvi look-alike of Tanu).
It is love at first sight for him and what ensues is a beautiful little love story during which we keep cursing the film’s title that suggests an inevitable return of Tanu and Manu. For Manu, Datto is a Tanu of a more manageable kind. As the divorce gets expedited, Tanu tries, immaturely, to make Manu jealous by bringing ex-lover Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Shergill) back into the picture.
It is when Tanu meets Datto for the first time that we get the film’s best scene. Like the director’s earlier films, we begin to see cracks in the narration, leaving us to wonder why he gets things right early on, only to falter in the second half.
As the film comes to a predictable ending, one realises just how selfish both Tanu and Manu are.
At each stage, we see them doing exactly what they want to, paying no heed to people around them. Considering how selfish both Tanu and Manu are, we shouldn’t be surprised to see a Tanu Weds Manu Returns Again … and if they do, I hope they bring Datto back.
VISHAL MENON
Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Genre: Comedy-drama
Director: Anand L. Rai
Cast: R. Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill
Storyline: Marital discord brings Tanu and Manu back to India where old flames meet new ones
