This post is dedicated to my friends N and M who having been through a lot in their life, found each other (again?) and have just recently got married.
The process of getting married can be exciting, funny and even irritating at times. All these depend on how you are involved in the whole process. Those of you who have probably got “settled” by your family’s standards would probably understand what I’m trying to say. So how often do we hear of people finishing a post graduation from a prestigious institution or getting a good job being faced with pressure from family to get married immediately? I’m sure the numbers would be huge and probably many of us have faced it as well. Now whether one succumbs to the pressure straight away or battles it ahead to chart his/her own course depends purely on the individual. So why am I talking so much about marriage and associated stuff? Well once you watch (or rather while watching itself) Tanu Weds Manu ( TWM from hereon )you just cannot help but think along these lines.
1.Image 1- you are far away from your family/motherland and its probably old nostalgic Hindi film music that keeps you going and helps you stay connected 2.Image 2- small town India (in this case North India- U.P and Punjab to be more specific) being showcased for all their glory 3.Image 3- you fall in love with a girl at first sight without even sharing any dialogue with her, you know its strange but its also true 4.Image 4- you go through the ritual of “ladki dekhna” to keep your family happy but mentally you know that you are putting on an act, since your heart is no more with you 5.Image 5- life can be made a lot more interesting at times by people around you, with you and those who care for you
If you are the type who can relate to most of the images mentioned above then TWM is just the film for you. Before I elaborate more on the images let me briefly talk about the movie itself. By now all of you must be aware that TWM is all about Tanu (Kangna Ranaut), a girl who believes life is cool only when you rebel and Manu ( R.Madhavan ) , a doctor from the U.K who is on vacation in India. Well his parents feel he’s been living alone for rather too long and hence want him to get married soon. So “officially” Manu and his parents go across to Kanpur to meet Tanu and her family. Manu doesn’t actually talk to Tanu but falls in love with her nevertheless. But just as the whole family is all set to take the blessings of Mata at Vaishno Devi the bubble bursts as Tanu tells Manu that she likes someone else and cannot get married to Manu.
The action then shifts to Punjab as Manu goes there with his trusted aide/friend/companion Pappi (Deebak Dobriyalat his effervescent best) to attend the wedding of another friend,Jassi ( Eijaz Khan ). So for all of us who have been watching romantic movies from time immemorial, its not difficult to fathom what happens next. However having said that I’d say that there is still a lot of earnestness in the film when it comes to showing the story of Tanu and Manu. The 1st half is interesting, funny and has some really wonderful moments. When Maddy tells Jimmy Shergill on the rooftop that he’s got nothing against marrying his sister but his heart is not into the prospect of getting married, I could feel what Maddy was going through. Also the scene at Vaishno Devi as Deebak Dobriyal implores Maddy to break the “news” to his folks will put a smile on everyone’s face.
So for all these itself the director Aanand Rai and the writer Himanshu Sharma deserve a lot of credit. Aanand Rai also deserves credit for capturing the nuances of small town India be it a Kanpur or a Kapurtala very well. What’s also interesting is the choice of actors in the film. It’s refreshing to see veterans like K.K.Raina and Rajendra Gupta essay the roles of the fathers of Manu and Tanu respectively. These are 2 actors whom we have gone on to look up to over the years and yet who continue to appeal to us and are not over-exposed. Rajendra Gupta doesn’t speak much in the film but nevertheless conveys a lot through his expressions. When K.K.Raina explains his feeling of pride on what his son is doing or when he conveys that he understand his son’s feeling, you root for this character. What do I say about Deepak Dobriyal who thankfully has been given a role, which is right up his sleeve. As Pappi, Deepak is completely in control and remains in character right till the end. Also to be singled out for sure is Swara Bhaskar as Payal, the friend of Tanu and the one who gets married to Jassi.
Kangna Ranaut may have her share of detractors but I felt she did a fairly decent job as Tanu. The role of Manu required Maddy to underplay himself and he did that wonderfully well.The film has an amazing soundtrack composed by Krsna, with lyrics by Rajshekar and the songs are already very popular. Chirantan Das’s camera work acts as the right foil to the narrative. Having said all this does this imply that it’s the perfect romantic film? Of course not- the film has its fair share of flaws as well. For a film that starts off rather well and leaves you completely smiling at the interval point the 2nd half, especially the later half of it is a dampener. Probably the biggest culprit here could be the way the character of Raja (Jimmy Shergill) has been conceived. Towards the end you do wonder as to why the flow has been disturbed this way. Though I’d not prefer to compare I’d still say that the film lacks the consistency that a film like Band Baaja Baaraat (a film that I feel is a benchmark now for films of this genre) has. Having said that I’d still say that it’s a worth a watch as the positives far outnumber the negatives.
Tanu Weds Manu- of course unlike poles attract 
Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/tanu-weds-manu-movie-review-sometimes-nice-guys-do-get-the-girl/
No comments:
Post a Comment