Friday, May 22, 2015

TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS: Ho gaya hai pyaar phir se

***SPOILER ALERT***

Please read after watching the film. PLEASE. Do read after watching. For those who want to know what I think about TWMR in general, I will say that it is a laugh-a-minute fun ride. If nothing else, 'Oye hoye Pappiji' will keep you in splits throughout the film. I think it is high time director Aanand L Rai makes Pappi Weds Pinky or some such - Deepak Dobriyal is that awesome! I would watch this sequel of Tanu Weds Manu again, just to see him chew every scene that he is in.


Flashback:

Please watch this song from Tanu Weds Manu.



When I first watched Tanu Weds Manu, and this song played - I was sobbing like a baby. I had to leave the theatre as many old memories came flooding in and my crying was a little too loud, and I didn't wish to embarrass myself any further. I bought a ticket for the next show, and cried some more for Manu, and myself, at a bar close by.

I didn't cry as much during the second viewing, but I knew that Manu was doomed. There was no way in hell that he could live happily ever after with a flawed-so-messed-up-in-the-head Tanu.

I knew our brother Manu has travelled all the distance to come and shove a cactus up his ass and live with it for the rest of his life. Manu was a simple guy after all. He only knows how to love. He can't deal with Tanu who is but a bag of various stages of fuck ups. I had sensed it back then that they were headed for a divorce. End of story. Sad panda. What to do? Move on.

Back to present day.

Now I am a happily married guy, and the word 'divorce' scares the shit out of me. Not because I am afraid of the alimony business, it's only that I know nobody can love me as much as Rani does, and vice versa. That's the thing about hopeless romantics - for us it is either the whole hog, or none at all. Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a testimony of that. Tempt me with the best alcohol in the world, but I will only choose my Old Monk rum. Also, Old Monk rum is the best alcohol in the world.

It takes some serious talent, a combo of director Aanand L Rai and writer Himanshu Sharma to make the funniest film about something as sad and devastating as a divorce. I will not be surprised if they make a film about people dying, and their funerals that follow, and I will still be laughing my ass off. These guys are made of something else. More power to this team. As much as I respect A. R. R. sir, I still hope and pray that for music in his films, Mr. Rai sticks to Krsna sir & Rajshekhar sir.  

If you don't believe me, listen to this song:



Coming back to Tanu Weds Manu Returns, it is as flawed as it characters, but it is also as endearing as its characters. I want to hug all the characters in the film - especially Raja Awasthi aka Jimmy Shergill. I think the writer Himanshu Sharma is a bloody sadist deep down - he writes characters that you fall in love, and wish the world for them, and then he puts them through the worst shit imaginable. Just imagine, I was trying to convince myself that Tanu will get better post shaadi..

Alas, Tanu gets worse and poor Manu has to pay the price. And poor Kumari Kusum aka Datto aka Kangana Ranaut. Yaar just hand over all the 'Best Actor' awards to Kangana already. I don't know what spoon she was born with, but she converted that spoon into a golden spoon now. Just how many female actors in Hindi cinema get such author-backed roles? She seems unstoppable. I think she can play the role of Manu too, in the next TWM franchise and still be as awesome, even better may be.

Sample this: I overheard a guy during the interval sutta break saying, "Yaar Tanu aur Kusum kahan se ek jaise lagte hain? Apna Manu bhaai baawra ho gaya hai pyaar mein." One smart guy was speculating that both Tanu and Kusum were the same person. Another genius brain in the smoking zone had decoded the double role by saying that Manu is just imagining things - Chemical Locha. When you hear such things, you know that the actor has triumphed.

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO R. MADHAVAN. Like among the female actors, nobody cries like Vidya Balan; amongst the men, nobody cries like Maddy. I can't see him cry. I don't want him to cry. I hate everyone who makes him cry. I will personally go punch people who make him cry. He is a happy guy. When he says that he doesn't even lech at his wife, I believe him. Maddy has been that guy for me ever since I first watched him cry in 'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein'.

It was a surreal feeling to watch Tanu Weds Manu Returns at Chandan (Juhu), and see the audience go apeshit each time Deepak Dobriyal was in the frame. Also, it was the first time when the audience gave a standing ovation to a film, first when the interval was announced, and then after the end credits were rolling. That sums up my TWMR experience. Guys who watch a film at Chandan and other such single screens are those, whose verdict you can trust.

Before I sign off, listen to this:



Go watch Tanu Weds Manu Returns. We all need those laughs.   

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