Tanu Weds Manu - Movie Review

Cast: R.Madhavan, Kangna Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Swara Bhaskar, Deepak Dobriyal

Director: Aanand L Rai

Producer: Vinod Bachchan, Shailesh R Singh, Surya Singh

Rating: **1/2

Aanand L Rai directed 'Tanu Weds Manu' is an adequately endearing romantic comedy that could have ended being a much better film. But the 'too often seen that' moments in the muddled second half brings the graph of the film down.

London based doctor, Manoj aka Manu Sharma (Madhavan) comes bride hunting to India on his parents' insistence. The soft spoken and introvert Manu flips for the first girl he goes to see in Kanpur. Their arranged match is fixed but soon all his dreams come crashing down. The care a damn attitude girl, Tanuja aka Tanu (Kangna) tells him point blank to shoo off as she is already having a boy friend and intends to marry him by running away. With a heavy heart, Manu breaks the arranged match. He goes to see more girls but cannot take Tanu out of his mind and heart. But then destiny brings them together soon. As Manu goes to attend his best pal Jassi's (Eijaz Khan) in Punjab, Tanu too comes in there being the bride Payal's (Swara Bhaskar) best friend. While at first Tanu leaves no chance to take advantage of Manu's niceness, they manage to strike a good friendship. However, twist in the tale takes place with the arrival of Tanu's ruffian boyfriend Raja (Jimmy Shergill). How Manu tackles the situation and does Tanu really weds Manu forms the rest part of the film.

A very realistic setting of small town North India and situations one can easily empathize with, the first half of TWM proceeds like a breeze. While director Aanand L. Rai (Strangers) handles them very well, writer Himanshu Sharma's script and dialogues keeps you engaged. Two distinctive North Indian cities, Punjab's Kapurthala and UP's Kanpur and their milieu has been perfectly captured, be it the ambience or the characters. Mohammed Rafi songs on Vividh Bharti, Ameen Sayani and old world traditional charm of North India are marvelously incorporated. The perfectly casted supporting actors also lift the film up. Deepak Dobriyal playing Manu's best buddy Pappi keeps you laughing with his one-liners. But as the second half begins, predictability strikes and you start losing interest rapidly with the dropping down of narrative speed. One can catch on many references from Jab We Met to Socha Na Tha to even Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Without giving in a spoiler, a big flaw that stands out is that of Manu's photograph that Raja's henchman (Ravi Kissen) was shown carrying. The climax too unnecessarily goes on to be heavy worded. Most importantly the final process of Tanu falling for Manu doesn't really appear convincing. Add to that the complete lack of chemistry between Madhavan and Kangna.

Madhavan underplays well. He showcases his mastery of delivering lines with a lump in his throat while opening his heart out to Kangna. Kangna has been perfectly cast as the free spirited non-conformist rebel girl. However, her dialogue pronunciation continues to grate on your nerves. But then she is more bearable doing comedy than those typically psycho roles she has been type casted in. Jimmy Shergill commands terrific screen presence and in a well written part delivers one of his best acts. With a perfect Bihari diction and very confident debut act, Swara Bhaskar is very impressive. Deepak Dobriyal is excellent but gets limited scope in the second half. Eijaz Khan is very good while veterans Rajendra Gupta and KK Raina are faultless. Ravi Kissen is completely wasted in a half baked part.

Krsna's music merges well with the narrative. Chirantan Das's cinematography is good.

'Tanu Weds Manu' leaves you a little disappointed at the end despite its attempted right mix of romance, comedy and drama. The film could have been a fantastic romantic comedy had the second half writing been more imaginative. Watch it for some really good performances.

By Abhijit Mhamunkar / Sanskriti Media & Entertainment