Film Review: TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS

If you want to see the film for its performances, leave your brain behind at home! 

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub
Director: Anand L. Rai

I had missed watching Tanu Weds Manu in 2011. I so wanted to see it but no one else showed interest; while the film left the theatres too soon. When Tanu Weds Manu Returns was announced, I decided to watch the first one online and did just that. It’s very well made and I decided to catch the sequel despite mixed reactions from the public.

THE STORY

Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Manu (R. Madhavan) have been married for four years and they are facing marital trouble. After a visit to a marriage counsellor, Manu lands up in a mental asylum. Tanu ups and leaves London to go back to her mother’s home in Kanpur. She gets back to flirting with her old boyfriends.

Chintu (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) has taken Tanu’s old room on rent. He is on his way to becoming a lawyer and has been living there without paying rent for many months. Tanu finds him a useful buddy – to drink with and to offer transport around town on his two-wheeler.

In the meanwhile, at Tanu’s instigation, Manu’s best friend Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal) goes to London to rescue his friend from the mental asylum. Manu decides to file for divorce. What happens when he sees Datto (Kangana Ranaut), an exact replica of Tanu, and gets attracted to her? Then there is Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Shergill), the local goonda. This time round, he is engaged to Datto. Will he let this fiancée go as easily as he did the first one?

MY PERCEPTION

Kangana has performed brilliantly as both Tanu and Datto. R. Madhavan makes a perfect partner in his inimitable style.

Deepak Dobriyal as Pappi has a chunky role and was excellent – very natural. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub has been consistently good in many films. I have seen his performances in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Raanjhanaa and both were really good. He’s splendid in this film too. Swara Bhaskar is also good.

Having done away with the good parts, let me get to why the film is so bad:

The producer and director have tried to ride on Kangana Ranaut’s popularity and created a faltu film that makes no sense. To begin with, why would a marriage counsellor sit like a judge; speak Hindi; in a mental asylum of all places; that too in London? How the hell did the director miss this glaring error? If a guy is unable to adjust in his marriage of four years, on what basis would they declare him mentally unstable? And over and above that the psychiatrist-counsellor-whatever addresses Manu as Mr. Sharma. Isn’t Manu Sharma a doctor? Amazing!

Manu Sharma is 40. He fell in love with Tanu four years back for the very qualities (or so it seemed) that she has now. Fair enough that “familiarity breeds contempt” and their marriage is falling apart. Fair enough that he wants to divorce her. But, a big BUT here, what the hell does he see in Datto? She’s half his age, going to university on sports quota, is from a small village, and looks ugly. How can a suave, 40-year-old married doctor from London fall for her? And is he in love or in lust or what the hell? I couldn’t understand the logic.

It’s Tanu’s character that stays true to form. She is exactly what she is. And Manu had bloody well accept that. Jimmy Shergill has been wasted. Even his character has no zing, his being a goonda and all that.

And where does that moral lecture by Datto’s brother (Rajesh Sharma) fit in? Datto’s father treats her badly because she’s a girl-child. But that sudden lecture, out of the blue, grates. The villagers stand around doing nothing. I thought our film-makers have moved way beyond that.

Then the “saat phere” – Manu is determined to get married to Datto till the end. Why? How? I can understand his wanting to divorce Tanu. But why this desperation to tie the knot? It doesn’t fit with Manu’s character at all.

Then there is the episode of bride-kidnapping. She says she’s not interested in Pappi. He thinks he knows better and kidnaps her. What happens to her otherwise? Were the director and editor sleeping?

VERDICT: If you can leave your brain at home and watch the film for some of the actors’ performances, then maybe you should watch it.

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

Film Review: BANG BANG

You can watch Bang Bang for the mind-blowing action 

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Jimmy Shergill, Jaaved Jaffrey, Danny Denzongpa, Pawan Malhotra
Director: Siddharth Anand

Even though Bang Bang didn’t receive raving reviews, Venkat and I were keen to see it and went to Cinemax for the Sunday evening show. How could we miss the Hrithik-Katrina starrer! We did not regret it.

THE STORY

Viren Nanda (Jimmy Shergill) is an army officer who goes to London to get terrorist Omar Zafar (Danny Denzongpa) extradited to India. Omar’s associate Hamid Gul (Jaaved Jaffrey) storms the London prison to help the former escape. Omar kills Viren on the spot. Omar and Hamid decide to terrorise India by getting someone to steal the Kohinoor Diamond from London. Enter Rajveer (Hrithik Roshan) who manages to do the impossible by stealing the diamond. But he refuses to hand it over to Omar’s goons as they act tough. On the run, he meets Harleen (Katrina Kaif) in Shimla. Harleen doesn’t have a boyfriend and likes Rajveer when she meets him, unaware that he is a jewel thief. Rajveer drugs her and takes her along with him as he runs around the globe, away from both the police and Omar’s men. Why would he want the Kohinoor Diamond if not to sell it to Omar? Is he what he appears to be? Will Harleen be able to get together with Rajveer? You need to watch the film to find out.

MY PERCEPTION

The film is a copy of Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight and Day and is an out and out masala flick. Leave your brain back at home and just enjoy it for the fun and frolic along with intense action. 

Hrithik Roshan looks handsome with fantastic eight-pack abs. But he does look old and tired. That could be the result of his surgery and intense working out. Felt quite sorry for the guy actually.

Katrina Kaif as Harleen is pure eye-candy with not much scope for acting. She’s sailed through the film. 

Danny Dengzongpa, Jimmy Shergill, Pawan Malhotra and the others have good roles and have all performed well. 

Jaaved Jaafrey looks awesome with a tattoo on his throat and makes an excellent villain as Hamid Gul. Kudos!

I am still not able to wrap my head around the story that says Rajveer drugs Harleen and takes her around the world right from the spot where he meets her. Isn’t there something called the ‘Passport’ and then the ‘Visa’ for someone to travel out of the country? This is why I told you to leave your brain at home. No one warned me and I had taken mine along to the film. 

VERDICT: You can watch Bang Bang for the mind-blowing action 

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

Film Review: MY NAME IS KHAN (from the epiglottis)

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Wahab

Director: Karan Johar

Before I talk about the film, I have to mention that we went to Cinemax Sion where there was a lot of security against the Shiv Sena that had threatened to stop the screening of MNIK. And here I thought we were living in one of the hugest democracies in the world! But luckily for us, there was no problem there. If this was a promotion gimmick, they could not have done it better.

The Story: Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. This particular problem is named after Dr. Hans Asperger who first noticed it in children. It does not mean that the one suffering from this is not intelligent. The person takes everything at face value. He cannot understand it when people say one thing while meaning another. He understands only straightforward talk.

At the beginning of the movie, Rizwan is on his way to meet the President of the USA. He wants to tell him, “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”. The film goes in flashback to show us why Rizwan feels the urge to do so.

Rizwan is brought up by a loving mother who does not understand what his problem is but encourages him to do his best in everything. The most important lesson she teaches him is that there are only two types of people – the good and the bad. Rizwan is privately tutored as the other kids treat him badly at school and learns to repair all electronic stuff. He goes to settle with his brother (Jimmy Shergill) in California after their mother’s death.

He meets Mandira (Kajol), the divorced single parent of Sameer. Rizwan woos her in his own style and they get married despite her being a Hindu. Soon after, the 9/11 attack happens and the safety of all Muslims is threatened. The film goes on to show how this affects the life of the Khan family and why Rizwan sets out to meet the US President.

My perception: Shah Rukh Khan has yet again proved that he is the King Khan. He is simply amazing in his role as Rizwan and it is his movie throughout. Considering that the role is quite different from the romantic or negative ones that we have seen SRK in, this was just fabulously portrayed. I was not too impressed with the promos that I saw but I am glad that I went to see the film. There is just nobody in this generation of actors who could have done better in this role.

Kajol as Mandira and Rizwan’s wife is just perfect and no other actress could have done the role better than she. The scene where she cries her heart out over her only child’s death breaks your heart. Kajol also looks gorgeous in her part as a beautician, divorced single parent.

The film has been made very well and thankfully without the usual over-the-top extravagances that one gets to expect from Karan Johar.

It did make me wonder why there is should be one more movie on the 9/11 attacks nine years after and whether this will create more ill-will and negativity. But the subject has been approached from a totally different angle that is a must to the public. It has beautifully shown the angle of those innocents who bear the brunt of the actions of a few fanatics.

What was kind of irritating was that some of the dialogues have been jabardasti converted to Hindi while the film is in Hinglish. While Rizwan speaks a lot of English, his speech at the church in Wilhelmina, Georgia, in front of an Afro-American audience is in Hindi or that’s how it has been shown to the viewers. And then, Mandira’s best American friend Sara leaves her a voice message in pure Hindi. I fail to understand how these things could have escaped the notice of both the director and the editor. And just for this I will need to give four stars instead of five for a super film.

To see or not to see: Do not miss it. It is most definitely worth the time and money spent.
Rating: ****Snazzy

* Silly

** Shaky

*** Smart

**** Snazzy

***** Super