Movie Review: Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Tanu Weds Manu Movie Review (Source: Google Image)

Movie Details. . .

Title: Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Director: Anand L Rai

Music: Krsna Solo & Others

Genre: Romantic Comedy / Family Drama

Running Time: 128 Minutes

Language: Hindi

Rating: 3.75/5

Plot Summary. . .

Albert Einstein had remarked once, “Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.” Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) explores the similar terrains of the marital life. It starts where the first part Tanu Weds Manu ended. The opening shot takes us to the wedding celebrations of Tanuja Trivedi (Kangna Ranaut) and Manoj Sharma (Madhvan). But unlike the normal adage of “…and they lived happily thereafter”, the couple’s trouble starts within four years of their dramatic and hard earned marriage.

While Manu matures further after the marriage, Tanu refuses to grow up and as the relation matures the things start getting out of control. The opposites who were attracted in first part start discovering the other side of the story post marriage – whereas our commoner Manu is striving hard to meet their both ends in London, leading a normal eventless and unspirited life; the lack of romance and adventure makes our lively, adventurous and spirited Tanu restless. Their respective struggle for survival takes a toll on their relationship and they find themselves in the middle of a typical marital rut so much so that they have to seek professional intervention to keep the wheel rolling. However, the things take a nasty turn at the counselling session and our poor Manu finds himself amidst jitters and shocks (read electric shocks) in an asylum. Tanu leaves for Kanpur and their parting ways instead of joining back, separates even further.

Tanu, back in Kanpur attempts to re-live her wild old days in a wit to reconnect with her past and discover her inherent senses to have some sort of assurance and comfort to her otherwise dwindling life. She connects with Chintu (a law student and tenant in Tanu’s father’s house), who develops crush on her while meeting with Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Shergill, her ex-lover), who is now all set to marry. Manu, on the other hand, also returns to India to his parent’s home, unsettled and disturbed with the turbulence in his married life. Both of them fight with their turmoil within while agreeing that they don’t want to be with each other anymore.

While Tanu attempts to find a solace in Raja Awasthi, Manu tries to re-connect with Datto (a Tanu look alike from a small village in Haryana studying in Delhi University). Manu’s thoughts inadvertently get involved with Datto (Kangna Ranaut) and unknowingly a different story starts unfolding amidst them. Strangely enough, the two loose ends of Tanu’s & Manu’s life intervene again with Raja Awasthi (who was the third angle in Tanu & Manu’s love story) turning out to be Datto’s probable fiancée.

What follows next is the series of dramatic twists and turns leading to the point where Manu is all set to marry Datto. Does Manu marry Datto? Does Raja Awasthi again lose this time too to Manu? Do Chintu succeed in playing spoilsport in Tanu & Manu relation? What happens to Tanu? Do Tanu & Manu re-unite? Watch the movie to unveil answers to the above and also to experience the journey of Tanu’s and Manu’s post-marriage life.

My Thoughts. . .

The irony of the recent times is that with the larger quantity of movies being churned out in Bollywood, the quality of the movies is surely put at a stake. The audiences do shell out a handsome amount of money (considering the ticket rates in a multiplex) for a family entertainment and it’s not always they come out content and satisfied.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) holds an exception to his. It brilliantly does what it is expected to do. It entertains you well through-out at all the arenas of film making and kindles varied chords within making you feel joyous, happy, sad, euphoric and restless, all at once. Rather than being a witness, you feel a part of Tanu and Manu’s journey to self. What set this film apart from most of other movies is its characters who enchants you well with their act, taking the movie much beyond the expectations level and in their stride even takes care of the minor flaws or lapses therein.

Direction, Script & Story

Making a sequel has its own advantages and disadvantages. While on one hand, you don’t need to invest much into shaping the characters or creating space for them; however on the other hand you need to bang on to the labels of expectations the prequel has attached to it. TMWR succeeds in both the departments.

The best part of the Anand Rai’s movies is the characterization of the roles and dialogues which ensures visual treat to the viewer. The director does a fine job and efficiently handles the well-written script by Himanshu Sharma. The way each of the character has been written and then delivered on screen is truly commendable, nowhere any character appear going amiss. The roles and dialogues of even the supporting casts have been written with such finesse that it binds the whole film immaculately. Anand Rai’s direction is superb as it serves every class of the audience with its simple yet impactful narrative style. There is no single moment in the movie when the boredom creeps in and amidst all the drama that unfolds, the family quotient is kept intact. Here too the characters wins the battle for him, be it the Kanpur-wale offering their wits in every dialogue they render or the bihar-wale accent whenever Swara Bhaskar renders the punch.

Himanshu Sharma also deserves a special mention for shelling out a script which is a sequel in real sense. While it takes the story of the central character forwards, the stories of the supporting characters also progresses be it the married life of Tanu’s friend Payal (Swara Bhaskar) & Jassi (Eijaz Khan), our very own Pappiji (Deepak Dobriyal) or that of Raja Awasthi.

Consider the introductory lines of Kangna’s second character in typical Haryanvi style, “Hamara nam hai Kumari Kusum Sangwani. Yo hamri saheli Pinky. Hum Ramjas College Delhi University mein Padhu Chu. Sport kote se admission liya, National level ka Athletes hun...Jila Jajjhar ....124507 pin aur phone number dohun ko na..” Or when the reaction of Tanu, when she learns of Manu’s planned second marriage, “Hum thode bewafaa kya hue ... aap toh badchalan ho gaye.” And needless to say that there are in numerous instances of the similar punchy one liners that are bound to make cine watchers go gaga.

However, personally speaking there were fewer instances in the story which didn’t go well with me. Particularly, the manner in which Manu gets hooked to Datto (Kusum) in an instant, agreeing to marry her did turn me off a bit. Considering the effort, pain and endeavour he has put in in the first part to win her from Raja, the extreme shift in his approach and preference didn’t go well with me. The problem with the sequel is that if the first instalment of the movie is phenomenal, the baggage of the expectations permeates to the next part as well. TWMR no-where disappoints  in that front but it’s just than after perceiving Manu as sincere, honest, in love guy who thinks from his heart in the first part, seeing him abruptly turning away for the love of her life and opting for the marriage with someone else, slightly disappointed me. The saving grace, however, was that Datto was Tanu’s look alike which was, perhaps, intentional to show that no matter how hard he tried, it was difficult for Manu to think about anyone except Tanu.

Music

As I said earlier, the burden of directing a sequel is that almost at every aspect of film making, the comparison with the prequel is liable to happen. The prequel scored heavily on the music with numbers like “Rangrez” or “Piya” or “Yun Hi” still holding afresh on the mind of music lovers like me. Strangely enough the music of TWMR, though good, remains below its predecessor.

There are ten songs in the album including two version songs of existing numbers and one mash up song. The remix versions and mash up are avoidable. The album as a whole is nice with its own highs and lows, having songs for every mood and genre. However, it is burdened with the weighs of its predecessor.

The music album starts with “Banno tera swagger” rendered by Brijesh Shandllya, Swati Sharma, which is a typical racy dance number with traditional tunes in the backdrop. On the similar lines “Ghani Bawri” is again a traditional foot tapping number composed and rendered aptly. Singer Jyoti Noora’s vocals do give this song the apt amount of brightness and zing, which makes this as one of the better song of the album. There is also one remix version of this song which surely is a passer.

“Mat Ja Re” rendered by Ankit Tiwari is a soulful song which (for a change) doesn’t resemble to the typical Ankit Tiwari Song. It’s not really out of the box number but does stay with the listener for a while.

“Old School Girl” rendered by Anmol Malik (Haryanvi version rendered by Kalpana Gandharv) is a revelation and exception to the album which primarily rests upon the traditional beats. This is an English number with Jazz beats with saxophone playing in the background, complementing well to the overall feeling of the song. This is surely a hummable number thanks to the melodious music and simple lyrics and not to forget the manner in which it has been rendered. Bother the versions score well with the listener.

Sunidhi Chauhan’s “Move On” starts of well but does loses the steam somewhere in the between. May be due to plenty instruments and fusion attempted in the song, consequently it does become too loud and crowdy at places. In the end it doesn’t come out to be a winner as such, but is still a descent number from the album.

“Ho Gaya Hai Pyar” by Dev Negi is a beautiful composition, perhaps one of the better songs of the album. It, perhaps, attempts to re-create the magic and aura of “Yun Hi” and they don’t fail completely in doing so. Dev Negi’s brilliant rendition complimented with wonderful lyrics works well for the song making it a lasting number.

Sonu Nigam enchants well with “O Saathi Mere”, which is again a soulful number. There is some inherited finesse in Sonu Nigam’s voice which makes even a slightly descent song sound great…surely a heartfelt number, a bit short of a masterpiece but certainly one of the better tracks of the album.

Acting & Other Aspects

If there is one aspect where this sequel maintains or even overtakes the predecessor, it’s the characters. Almost all the characters take their performance a notch higher. Kangna Ranaut delivers a powerhouse of performance. While carrying on the Tanu from the predecessor, she adorns the Haryanvi cap splendidly, be it the accent, mannerism or the body language she scores ten out of ten in every department. In the male dominated industry, she (like Vidya Balan) surely carves out a place for herself with continued stellar performances from Queen to TWMR.

R Madhavan is sincere in his effort and performs his role meticulously doing complete justice to the role of Manu who badly needs love in his life, at whatever cost it comes. He is one of those under-rated actors of the Industry who have time and again showed his mettle to the audiences with his justified performances (remember 3 Idiots, Ramji Londonwale, RHTDM). Same is the case with Jimmy Shergill, who once again excellently delivers his role again making a case for under-rated actors whom the audience surely would love to see more.

If there is any actor which stands out along-with Kangna, he is Deepak Dorbriyal. He is impeccable in his enactment and rendition. He plays out his part effortlessly and gives superb performance. His comic timings and expressions are commendable.

Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub and Swara Bhaskar (charming us with her typical Bihari accent) shine well in their small roles. These have earlier showed their worth in Anand Rai’s earlier movies and watching them again in TWMR is a treat. All other actors like Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Sharma, K.K Raina, Eijaz Khan etc. also play their part well.

The Final Word. . .

Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a complete family entertainer with the highest level of entertainment quotient. It entertains you well through-out at all the arenas of film making and kindles varied chords within making you feel joyous, happy, sad, euphoric and restless, all at once. You will come happier watching the movie and the after-talks of the same will surely leave you in splits.

Comparison with the first installment is undeniable but this one doesn’t disappoint either – though comparatively a bit low on story, richness in performances and class makes up for the same. Commendable performances by the actors, near to perfect characterization, nice music and great background score binds the whole movie well making this one a must watch affair.

Rating: 3.75/5

Watch The Trailer. . .

Watch the trailer of the movie here.

~Shubh Life . . . Om Sai Ram

© 2015 Manish Purohit (Reserved)

Heartfelt thanks for visiting here. . . While the thoughts are woven with the strings of the words, what remains to be seen whether they does manage to form a bridge for you to cross and listen to the beating. And if it does, do drop in your beat in the comment box . . . it always feels great to hear from you :)

Linking back to Write Tribe