Spoilers ahead…
What an odd title: Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Considering the audience just needs to be told that this is a sequel, was Tanu and Manu Again unavailable? Tanu Weds Manu Returns sounds like Tanu weds and Manu returns. The blue-penciller in me kept wanting to insert a comma midway. Though, really, it’s Tanu who returns. As the film begins – this, too, is directed by Anand L Rai – we see the Tanu-Manu wedding which was promised in the earlier film. Soon, we are told it’s four years later. The festive Indian colours give way to chilly Western ones. Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Manu (R Madhavan) are in England. Their marriage is on the rocks. So they do what every troubled couple does. They go to a… mental rehabilitation centre. Yup. Clearly, marriage counsellors are so last century. He says she’s bipolar. She says he’s boring. He says she’s a flirt. She says he’s a pervert, alluding to the best scene in the first film, where he took a picture of her as she lay sleeping. It was a creepy-cute moment that made you wonder where things were going. Nowhere special, it turned out. Anyway, Tanu gets Manu committed and returns to her hometown, Kanpur.
This is an awful, outlandish contrivance and I could never get past it. I see what this scene is doing. It’s trying to remind us how impulsive Tanu is. But why not think up something more plausible to tell us the marriage is over? I would have believed it if Tanu had simply woken up in the middle of the night, packed her bags and headed to the airport. Because she is that way. That’s why we like her. That’s why we are maddened and frustrated by her. And it’s easy to see why Manu feels all these things too. What’s not so easy to buy is the whole marriage. The fact that they are separated after four years is less surprising than the fact that they lasted that long. She’s a firecracker. He’s a bath towel. It might have helped if we’d seen a few scenes from their marriage.
Once Tanu is back in Kanpur, the film picks up speed for a while. Rai is the anti-Zoya Akhtar. He thinks in Hindi. This isn’t just about the great lines dripping with ghee (I howled when a translator went from “[night]club” to “Gymkhana”), or the rooted, small-town atmosphere. It’s that his reference points are all from Hindi cinema. He likes to feature old songs. Tanu Weds Manu Returns begins with Sun sahiba sun playing over the wedding. And near the end, we get a song sequence where a heartbroken Tanu dances at Manu’s wedding – he’s back in India too, and he’s getting married to Kusum (Kangana again), who looks like Tanu. Through the song, I kept thinking what a strange, Pakeezah-like moment this was – Sahibjaan dancing at Salim’s wedding – and sure enough, a poster of Pakeezah is glimpsed a little later. The lookalike, of course, was a staple of Hindi films of a certain era – you could point to Sharmilee, say. (In a Zoya Akhtar movie, you’d have pointed to Vertigo.)
And somewhere in between, we have a nod to another love triangle, Aar Paar. Ja ja ja ja bewafa plays on the soundtrack, and it could have been written for this film. Tanu accuses Manu of bewafaii, infidelity. That’s not a word you hear very often in the post-multiplex Hindi movie. This stretch of song is lovely. It’s night. There’s Geeta Dutt’s voice. And Rai stages nice little bits. Tanu, a glass of whiskey in hand, stumbles upon a beggar. She steps into a beauty parlour and tries on a wig that makes her look like Kusum. But the song comes out of nowhere. This level of sadness, this level of longing needs to be built up to. I was reminded of last week’s Bombay Velvet, where Dhadaam dhadaam erupted out of nowhere. Songs this big need the grounding of equally big emotions. Think Tanhayee in Dil Chahta Hai. It works because it’s the culmination of a journey; it’s the epiphany the film has been building towards. This film uses its equivalent of Tanhayee as if it were just another song, as if it were Jaane kyon log pyaar karte hain. I was relieved when O saathi mere – sung exquisitely by Sonu Nigam; my favourite in a very strong soundtrack by Krsna Solo – was simply used as background music; otherwise, we’d have been wondering at what point Manu was feeling what Sonu Nigam was feeling.
It’s understandable that Rai doesn’t want to get too emotional, he wants to keep things light and entertaining – but the premise is anything but. Or maybe I should say premises. There’s a lot in here. Empowerment messages. A subplot about artificial insemination. A khap-panchayat scenario. There are many characters and they keep cluttering up the plot. Of course, this gives us the chance to see a lot of good actors – Swara Bhaskar, Deepak Dobriyal, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and especially KK Raina, who plays Manu’s father and has a standout scene where he advises his son about marriage, even as his wife keeps screeching in the background. But these characters are given very little to do, and you wish more time had been devoted to Tanu and Manu. Early on, he refers to their sex life. Wouldn’t that have been something to see? Tanu blindfolds Manu and he thinks there’s been a blackout. Or something.
Even Kusum is a bit of a cipher, though Kangana plays her beautifully. (Tanu and Kusum truly seem to be portrayed by two different actresses. It isn’t just the externals. This is acting from the inside out. I hope that the fact that this is a “light” movie doesn’t prevent Kangana from being recognised richly for her work.) Manu answers our question when he says he doesn’t know why he’s fallen for Kusum, though it’s clear that he loves the idea of Tanu and because he can’t seem to live with the version he has, he’s looking for a close-enough replacement. But we know he’s going to end up with Tanu – and besides making the film extremely boring after a point, this makes Kusum collateral damage. (She’s got Jimmy Shergill’s Raja for company. He, too, is hurt in the crossfire between Tanu and Manu.)
But maybe this is what makes Rai’s films at least a little special. Whether in Raanjhanaa or in his Tanu-Manu outings, he isn’t afraid to show us unlikeable, borderline-crazy people – and this is unusual in a mainstream love story. People get hurt in his films. People die. The Abhay Deol character in Raanjhanaa was killed in the crossfire between Dhanush and Sonam. Kusum and Raja just happen to be in a lighter movie, with great sight gags like the one where we see Sardars dancing the dandiya. Remove these gags and you have the push-pull romance between two terribly self-absorbed people. Despite his stolidness (and solidness, I must say; Madhavan is doing for heroes what Bhumi Pednekar and Vidya Balan are doing for heroines), Manu is as much a flake as Tanu is. He seems to care more about his promise to Kusum that he’ll marry her (again, a Hindi-cinema thing, that whole vachan concept), even after Tanu re-enters his life and makes him re-evaluate his feelings. For the first time, I felt that he did belong in a mental rehabilitation centre.
At least Tanu is more fun. She’s a magnificent flake. When she returns to Kanpur, she sees an old friend – an old flame, maybe – who’s now a rickshaw-wallah. She hops in and asks him, “Meri yaad aati hai? Kab?” This question is as impulsive as the hug she gives him when they reach her home – her parents look on horrified. Another lovely scene has her wondering if she should call Manu and say she’s sorry. As if it’s all a game. But Rai grounds Tanu, he tells us why she is this way – because her father (Rajendra Gupta) has spoilt her, not raising his voice ever. He’s someone else I felt the movie could have used more of, because when a couple splits up in the India of Anand L Rai, the smaller towns and cities, the parents end up as collateral damage too.
Copyright ©2015 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Vasisht Das
May 23, 2015
dr.rangan, apart from some rootedness and wit, isn’t anand rai, sort of, the madhur bhandarkar of small town north movies… if you know what i mean ? 😉
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Rahul
May 24, 2015
“This is an awful, outlandish contrivance and I could never get past it.”
I think it was a deliberate choice – unlike TWM this film is not just a romantic comedy , it is a comedy , and the director wanted to soften the melodramatic blow of a marriage breaking up Again, a comedy needs some drama to hang on to, but a seriously discordant marriage would really be too much, is my opinion.
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anuj
May 24, 2015
Disagree with you, for once. I was able to move on from the bizarre first sequence fairly quickly. But interesting point you make here about Pakeezah as the reference point for Tanu’s wedding dance. Made me think though that Ram Teri Ganga Maili’s climax is more literally the reference point here, with Ganga coming to dance for her husband’s second wedding. This film also begins with ‘sun sahiba sun’ (RTGM’s first wedding song 🙂
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Sutheesh Kumar
May 24, 2015
This is the first movie featuring Kangana i watched and by God what a performer she is. Oh the swag, Banno teri swagger Saaxy, seriously. And that guy puppy, he had me in splits.
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brangan
May 24, 2015
Rahul: I think it was a deliberate choice
But isn’t everything in a film — any film — a deliberate choice? I’m just saying it didn’t work for me.
anuj: Of course. (slaps head) It is a throwback to “Ek radha, ek meera” – and therefore a bookend to “Sun sahiba sun.”
But I guess that song situation from RTGM is itself derived from the Pakeezah prototype — hence that poster in the background.
BTW, am a big fan of RTGM. Was a great way to sign off for RK.
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MANK
May 24, 2015
Kangana is really on fire these days. So Brangan,do you think that Kangana is the best contemporary Indian film actress?
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brangan
May 24, 2015
MANK: Why “the best”? Why not just be happy that there’s one more actor getting and doing a lot of good work? 🙂
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MANK
May 24, 2015
Oh Brangan, I forgot, you don’t like to rate anything-films or actors. Sorry my bad
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brangan
May 24, 2015
MANK: No, it’s not just that 🙂
It’s tough enough to try to put into mere words the complex experiences of music/movies/art. In addition, we keep trying to rate everything. It’s not enough that Kangana is great here. She has to be “the best” 🙂
I’m just happy that we got this performance, and yes, I do think it’s one of the great double roles ever. Happy? 🙂
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MANK
May 24, 2015
Oh, brangan you brute 🙂 you made me feel guilty now, as if I forced you to do something against your will. Anyway, I will try to make you happy in return by stating that you are the only critic who would go that extra mile to make your readers happy. in my appreciation there is 2 smileys for you 🙂 🙂
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sanjana
May 24, 2015
I think one has to read between the lines instead of extracting something forcefully. There are some grey areas besides black and white. It is always interesting to understand what is unexplained.
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Usha
May 24, 2015
The zany tone of the movie is set when Tanu returns home and people ask her where her husband is. She replies with aplomb: In a mental asylum! You then sit back and just enjoy the ride!
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VikarmS
May 25, 2015
So much laughing was there through out the movie. Totally paisavasool movie. Do not you think Tanu was shown puzzled while mental hospital guys were dragging Manu out of the room. It happened all of a sudden and she could not guess it what was happening. She was sad afterwards. Once she dreams about electric shock being given to Tanu, she immediately calls to Pappi and instructs him to go to London and get Manu back from mental hospital. Perhaps she did not think things would go that far while she was putting charges on Manu infront of Doctors. She was angry and they both were quarreling with each other before Doctors and they both forgot what they were saying and doing.
There was so much fun in the film, that I did not notice unless I read about it in this post post, that Komal, the chandigarh girl disappeared from the film all of a sudden 🙂
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Vanya
May 25, 2015
Spoiler ahead
For me, the ending of TWM was the weakest part, and with TWMR, the beginning turned out to be just as irksome. But the remainder of the movie more than made up for it, IMO. And to add the obligatory praise for Kangna, her portrayal made you love Datto so much, you wanted Tanu and Manu to get together already so she could find the happiness she deserved sooner (and the ending paves the way for the inevitable second sequel to focus on Datto’s happy ending).
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ThouShaltNot
May 25, 2015
Doesn’t the line from Banno, “Haath lagaade jis subject pe usme nikle topper..” put to rest all doubts about Kangana’s supreme skills? Ain’t seen no swagger so sexy 🙂
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Uma
May 25, 2015
Just watched this movie in LA. Hardly 20 in a matinee show on a memorial day weekend.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. There was never a dull moment. There are outlandish scenarios like Madhavan at a mental asylum, falling for kusum right away and Tanu longing for Manu towards the end. Also after the effort that went into kidnapping Payal, we dont see the character latet except for one scene at the end. No mention of what happened to her wedding. But the great performances and dialogues made it a thorougly enjoyable watch.
Did anyone notice that Tanu’s character(kangana) has a mole on the left side of the neck. In a few scenes we see that for Datto’s character it is covered with makeup but we see the mole in a few other scenes:) Also i found it weird that Kangana who wore skirts and stuff in Tanu weds Manu, would be wearing sarees with Burberry Trench coats and Sindoor in London and once she lands in India, is wearing all these beautiful skirts with tank tops.
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Dhdjd
May 25, 2015
A dig about Maddy? Dude, do u want all your female readers to abandon your blog?
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Gargi Mehra
May 25, 2015
Loved the movie. Laughed throughout. Agree totally that the initial contrivance was a bit much – I too had a tough time getting over that. But I enjoyed the rest of it, though I think they needed subtitles for Kusum’s strong Haryanvi accent. My mother called it a Punjabi/Haryanvi version of Piku.
As for Kangana Ranaut, I think if I hadn’t known it was her I might have believed it was two different actresses with just some physical resemblance. She was that convincing!
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sanjana
May 25, 2015
It is interesting to read between dislikes too. Who will be disliking and what maybe the reasons. When you are disliked so much either you must be very important to be disliked or you are getting on someone’s nerves than some genuine reason! Even if I write milk is white and sugar is sweet someone may dislike it!
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sanjana
May 25, 2015
Kangana is poor man’s Deepika! Or Deepika maybe richman’s Kangana.
Sridevi nailed double role in Chaalbaaz and Hema tried her best in Seeta aur Geeta. Bachchan did a nice job in Don and Satte pe Satta. Sanjeev Kumar did it in Angoor.
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Apu
May 25, 2015
I totally agree with Vanya, the sequel worked for me much more than the original, especially due to the ending of he original. The ending did not work for me in TWM, more so because I never felt Tanu loved Manu. I am not sure if Tanu really loved anyone else or wanted to settle down anyways. So here, when Dattu tells her about earning her own living, it was like, ok someone told her something, though it might not be relevant for Tanu. Yes, the initial scenes were a little far fetched, even Tanu hugging the rickshaw puller was far fetched. I do not remember the first one too well about this part, but here everyone seems too much in awe with Tanu to tell her anything.
A couple of places that had delightful coincidences:
(1) when Manu and Paapi are following Dattu in the bus, Paapi says that if they know that these people are following them, then they would be thrashed and reduced to a squeaky doll. Later, when they meet Dattu’s brother, he is holding a squeaky rubber dinosaur and goes not squeaking it.
(2) and later when Dattu’s brother lectures the villagers, he asks if they are from the dinosaur family.
Loved the new characters: the wannabe lawyer (who goes from being Kandha to Majnu) and of course Dattu.
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Apu
May 25, 2015
Sanjana: really? Kangana is a poor man’s Deepika? I don’t see how Deepika matches up to Kangana when it comes to talent at all.
Loved the movie, and it just tells me that a movie to succeed and involve, you need good actors too, direction and writing notwithstanding. Else, it remains a good effort. Kangana just nailed it!
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sanjana
May 25, 2015
I am not talking about talent but stardom and ranking. That is how this industry works. Only Mumtaz was able to crack that and become a top heroine. Irrfan is more talented than many of our superstars but his stardom is not equal to any of them. Welcome dislikes! We are just not tolerant of different opinions.
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ThouShaltNot
May 26, 2015
I am not talking about talent but stardom and ranking. That is how this industry works.
Maybe so. Mostly? However, the point, is that Kangana is an aberration in such an industry. She is an unpretentious natural with oodles of acting talent in a tinsel town that cherishes synthetic thinking. That someone with as unbollywoodesque an outlook as her (relatively speaking) has carried at least 2 movies on her own should dispel the notion that glamour / stardom / ranking in the conventional sense are indispensable to make it enviably big in this industry.
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darpan
May 26, 2015
I liked the entire movie except the end.. manu is completely a moron who is confused and doesn’t know what decision should he take until the final moment comes. at the end he take says no to kusum which is disappointing who accepted him even after knowing that manu is divorced. he should not have made kusum fall in love with him if he was confused.
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Apu
May 26, 2015
Sanjana: “I am not talking about talent but stardom and ranking”
Now this is confusing. You used the words “rich man’s Deepika”. AFAIK, those words are supposed to mean whenever a director/producer with less money or clout could not get Deepika, they would choose Kangana. So it confused me because (1) they are pretty unlike so mostly directors, an actual director who has a vision of his movie and characters, would not think of replacing one with the other. For eg cannot think of Deepika doing Gangster or Life in a Metro (and TWMR) (2) Kangana seems to be a pretty busy actress too and I do not think she is charging any less in terms of money, so I do not think your statement is correct.
Which is why I said that if you could get either one of them and you want talent, you would choose Kangana, though DP seems to be improving a lot.
“We are just not tolerant of different opinions”
???
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Apu
May 26, 2015
Brangan, I had two questions about this movie, probably stupid ones 🙂
(1) Is Madhavan/Manu a doctor or an engineer in terms of qualification? In the first part, he was referred to as a doctor but mentioned to Tanu that he helps design pacemakers. In this movie, he is invited to speak about heart diseases and stuff, but Tanu mentioned that during weekends, his IIT friends land up at their place.
(2) Did they have a mutual divorce before his attempted wedding with Kusum? Does that mean that they need to wed again? (Cue for third part)
I liked how you mentioned the fact that the movie talked about infidelity as an accusation and commitments, and they seemed like things of the past. Another scene that stands out is Dattu’s break up with Manu – so simple and drama free, but touching. Also, Manu’s marriage proposal to Dattu, when he says there must be something in her that gives him courage to try again. Yes, they all seem old school, and I wonder why. It is not that these things do not happen any more, umm, right? Is it that they are no longer fashionable to show and seem cliched?
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sanjana
May 26, 2015
I prefer Kanganas and Mumtazs as they struggled to reach where they are. Not born to famous parents or have connections. Their victories are to be savoured much more. Ditto for Nawajuddin and Irrfan. I have a soft heart for underdogs who achieve great success inspite of great hurdles.
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Amrita
May 26, 2015
@ BR: perhaps it should have been christened Manu weds, Tanu returns instead 😉 ? I loved the movie, maybe more than you did. I was able to look past the initial WTF-ness of the asylum scene only on the premise that if Tanu was crazy enough to suggest it (it had got to be her idea right 😀 ?), she had a Manu by her side who went along with her ‘madness’. I mean, this got to be a match made in La-La land. Things got progressively better & what clinched it for me was that by the intermission, I had really begun to care for the characters. A part of me wished that Manu ends up with Datto, though I knew it was highly unlikely.
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Aravind Ramachandran
May 26, 2015
Another good review but really dude, you need to prune down the length of your reviews. Got great content but it is getting a tad long …
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Jay
May 26, 2015
Some really cool comments on this website. Liked it.
I saw the movie and was just blown away by the Kangana’s performance. Have seen lot of double roles, and liked esp. Sridevi, Hemaji and Dilipjis roles, but this one from Kanagana was sheer brilliance and tops anything so far seen in bollywood.
There are many good scenes, but two scenes that stand out for Kangana is – one where Tanu dances on the roadside in a baaraat, followed by that walk – OMG. So much confidence and attitude. She is like a rockstar.
The next scene is the emotional one where Datto returns the earrings to Manu. The emotions and dialogues are so subtle and beautifully handled by Kangana. Hats off to her.
I hope she keeps surprising us with her talent.
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Anu Warrier
May 26, 2015
Tanu accuses Manu of bewafaii, infidelity.
Actually, she accuses him of badchalni – waywardness. She says Hum thode bewafaa kya hue, aap toh badchalan ho gaye? I found that interesting – she is unfaithful, a bit – and that is said so matter-of-factly. Like it shouldn’t really matter.
I loved Kangna in this film. Like someone mentioned above, if I hadn’t known it was Kangna in a double role, I would have sworn they were two different actresses with a passing resemblance.
Actually, I liked everyone in this movie – the acting was superb. I wish the movie had been better, though.
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Anu Warrier
May 26, 2015
I prefer Kanganas and Mumtazs as they struggled to reach where they are. Not born to famous parents or have connections.
Sanjana, Deepika may have been born to a famous father, but he had nothing to do with films. And so Deepika too had to work her way up through the industry. She was lucky she was signed opposite SRK, yes, but that was not ‘connections’.
Also, I don’t see where dissenting opinions are not welcome on this blog. Disagreeing with your comment doesn’t mean your comment is not welcome. It just means that people disagree with what you said.
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Ram Murali
May 26, 2015
@Sanjana – I agree with your comment on star-kids having a bit of an advantage in Bollywood and I think it’s perfectly valid for you to have a soft corner for the Kanganas and Irrfans that have established themselves despite having no filmy background. So, that part I agree with. (For the record, I “thumbs-upped” your comment!)
you also wrote, “Even if I write milk is white and sugar is sweet someone may dislike it!”
The truth is, and I am sure you know this, the biggest boon AND bane of the internet is the comfort of anonymity. It is the same internet that creates hilarious cartoons about the Ammas and Vijaykanths (that would be impossible to do elsewhere given our overly sensitive fanatics of these politicians/stars) that gives people the complete freedom to click on a thumbs up or down for something that someone writes. It could be milk, sugar or kheer, people could still disagree or thumbs-down something that’s seemingly benign. When I discussed this topic with a writer friend of mine, he told me that the best experience online is gained when you actually strive to minimize the black/white, hate/love thing and instead have an open-ended discussion, stating things AND posing questions that would encourage people to think of what you said instead of sounding like you are closing out a discussion even before it’s begun…
Any thoughts, peeps?
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Olemisstarana
May 26, 2015
Damnit BR – now I can’t read the title without a comma. Also, this is an example of a movie that I will not see because of your review. I think you owe Anand L. Rai my $10.
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sanjana
May 26, 2015
It will be nice if somebody explains why they disagree so that one can introspect. Nice to see some people are giving reasons.
A privileged background gives many advantages and this makes it easy to achieve with some hard work. It is not only in bollywood but in other fields too. It is news when a student of a rikshawpuller tops entrance exam or some such thing. But it is not that kind of news if a student from well to do parents achieves that feat. We take it for granted.
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Anu Warrier
May 27, 2015
Sanjana, just a thought, and I say this kindly – you say It will be nice if somebody explains why they disagree so that one can introspect.
But in your earlier comment, you also write When you are disliked so much either you must be very important to be disliked or you are getting on someone’s nerves than some genuine reason!
So you have already decided that someone who disagrees with your post disagrees with it only because you are very important OR because you are getting on their nerves. Not because they have a genuine reason to disagree. That, coupled with your “Even if I write milk is white and sugar is sweet someone may dislike it!” implies that your opinion is of course, correct, and people who disagree with it, only do so because you have gotten on their last nerve.
FWIW, I don’t usually click on the ‘thumbs down’ ratings. But I did, on that post of yours. Because I disagreed with the sentiment expressed.
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karrvakarela
May 27, 2015
Really liked this one, much better than the original. The writing was rich and funny, and really celebrates the swagger of the vernacular. If the title weren’t already taken, “In Praise of Messy Lives” would be a good description for this movie.
Kangana Ranaut is fierce; I completely agree with you about feeling the two roles were inhabited by two different actresses. Thrilled also to see some other good actors, especially Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaskar and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub. Madhavan just stands around looking like a pretty, overripe boy.
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Utkal
May 27, 2015
As I sit down to pen my immediate thoughts after seeing Tanu Weds Manu Returns, I wonder whether I should start by doing aarti to Goddess Kangana or by taking the foot-dust of sage Himanshu Rai. Since I have done some or the other kind of writing all my life, I pick up the latter. ( Kangana, no, I cannot aspire to be like you. ) Take a bow Rai Saheb, aapne toh tabiyat khush kar di. I happened to be reading Oscar Wilde’s collected plays at the moment ( ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ and ‘An Ideal Husband’, since I know ‘Importance Of Being Earnest’ more or less by heart.) and I am amazed how this guy built his career as a major playwright by sprinkling these brilliant epigram, bon mots , on-liners, whatever you call them, over serviceable plots of social comedy. Rai can match Wilde one-liner per liner, and he does one better: he comes up with heart-breaking insights into man-woman relationship that are cunningly cloaked under hare-brained tomfoolery lest people avoid his films as ‘serious’. Here I must be thankful to most reviewers who gave no clue as to the film’s serious content and left me free to be sucked into the film’s poignant core without any prior warning.
In fact the film is as meaningful musing on marriage you will ever find on screen, and not just in Hindi films, and it gets established right in the first interrogation scene in the mental institution, so reminiscent of the similar scene in the Iranian film ‘A Separation’. The marriage counsellor is replaced by the mental institution to create comedic momentum. But like the vacuum birth scene in 3 Idiots it is not as far-fetched as it is made out to be by some – people do go to NIMHANS with marital problems. Manu’s father sums it up thus, “You fall in love. You get married. You get bored. Then…? Then you can drink it with water, or ice…or even neat. Bas kisi tarah jhelo.” It helps that the father is played by someone like KK Raina. That’s the thing with Anand L Rai…he picks up such consummate actors for every small supporting role and crafts every little scene featuring them with such care…Raja Awasthi, Pappi, the lawer-tenant, Tanu’s father, Kusuma’s brother, Jassi, Payal. Needless to add Madhvan as Manu is pitch perfect even though he may be a bit like a tuber of ginger, as Tanu says, growing in any which way. Tanu’s antics and Kusuma’s charms won’t have worked without our lovable and believable Manu.
Coming back to the opening interrogation scene, it establishes how so much understanding in a marriage is a result of Rashomon vision of the same event by two different people. “Spark. From where will I produce spark? I am not a lighter.” “You are a pervert, you kissed me when I was sleep? You did or did not?” “Sex? The last time was in 2013 on Bhai duj.” Bhai duj! That’s the Anand L Rai and Himanshu Rai touch; and the whole film is peppered with similar gems.
The best thing about the film is that the double role of Kangana as Tanu and Kusuma does not turn out to be just a gimmick but a device to reflect on the nature of love and obsession much in the way it was treated in Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Manu is enticed by Kusuma because she looks like Tanu but with a different persona inhabiting the visage. Raja Awasthi too agrees to the match after four years of search only because she looks somewhat like Tanu whom he doted on. (He says he is a building contractor. He wants brick to join with brick, and for that he needs cement. Doesn’t matter if it is Ambuja or JK.) And in the end when Kusuma is sitting over a soft drink with Raja Awasthi, she asks him, “When you look for the third one , will you gain look for someone who looks similar? (Thankfully Anand L Rai does not Kusuma accept Raj on the rebound. As she tells Manu, “I am an athlete and a consolation prize can never make me happy.” She by now has realized neither Manu nor Raja love her or want her for who she really is. This visage and identity angle is further explored when Tanu puts on a Pixie-cut wig and tries to move like Musuam. But like the Deepika character in Cocktail says about Diana Penty who has enticed Saif from her says, “This hair and all I can do, but from where will I get that adaa?”
“ Can no one hear the sound, if a heart breaks with lot of funny gags and one-liners strewn all around?” There are a lot of hearts breaking all around in the second half and in case we weren’t paying heed because hum log ‘thoda busy mein thay’ laughing at the gags and lines and all that, Tanu brings us to attention with that superbly times smashing of the bottle in the restaurant with the scream, “ Can’t you see, we are talking!’ Kusuma makes us cry when she goes behind the curtain and breaks down after proffering this piece of advice to Sharmaji / Manu: “What do they tell you before take off on a flight? First put on the oxygen mask on yourself then help your neighbor. So you take care of yourself and your lugai first, then think of me.”
But she gives it to Tanu when she tries to slight her with her taunts about her being an inferior substitute for the real thing – “ Reebok nahin toh Ribuk?” – with the rejoinder “ I can feed my family rotis , unlike you who buys her underwear with the husband’s credit card.’ Below the belt but like a true athlete, punched where it hurts.’
I like the way Tanu has been painted as an incorrigible flirt. When she asks the rickshawalla does he remember her ever and he replies’ Kabhi kabhi’, she asks ‘Kab?’ “ Kab,’ she repeats as he blushes. She uses her charm on the lawyer-tenant who forgets to call her didi when he is especially happy; and she happy to see for herself the power she still has over Raja Awasthi. But it is so mature of the two Rais to avoid being politically correct and impose some ‘ goodness’ on her. She is everything Kusuma accuses her of being and yet this is the woman Manu had fallen for and this is the woman she is going back to. You don’t fall in love seeing someone’s character certificate.
Of course it is going to be the Groundhog Day once again as revealed by the blue tie that Manu wears to the disrupted second wedding and we know the rumblings will repeat. That concluding scene is such a lovely punchline (as effective as the final four commandments given by Aamir to Ranbir in PK) for a film that maintains a very high level of witticism throughout.
It is vastly superior to the first part in almost every department. Firstly, there is the powerful central theme and a coherent narrative built around it. The filmmaking too is more measured with a more sophisticated narrative style. Songs here are not used as item songs. The heart-strealer ‘ banno Teri’ is picturized very naturally without trying to focus too blatantly on Kusuma and her killer moves which we can see from miles any way. The song ‘I am sentimental. Don’t be judgmental’ is used so intelligently, morphing from its funny version in a Haryanvi accent to proper version when the mood is meant to be poignant. There are many beautiful songs used only in the background in sntaches. There are many scenes staged with perfect detailing even though they are not critical to the narrative. Take the scene where A drunken Tanu collides with another stray drunk on the road. Or the scene where Pappi is shouting “ Koi mera kyun nahin soon ta ‘ as he is trying to get a quarter of booze among a crowd of drunks. These add texture to the film, making it feel so lived in.
But more than anything else it is the triumph of good writing. You do not want to miss a line becayuse no line is ordinary here. If Kusuma’s brother wants to castigate his clansmen for asterism, he says, “ Is your biradari that of dinosaurs that by marrying outside it you will become extinct?’ Raja Awasthi expresses his exasperation at Manu trying to marry his betrothed thus: “ Woh toh original bhi rakhna chathta hai, aur duplicate bhi.’ But there are even more subtle and elegant ones. Take this line by Tanu said to Manu for example, “Hum thoda bewafai kya kar di aap badchalan ban gaye!’ Look who is talking! Many years back I used to watch Deewar again and again just so I could remember EVERY line spoken in the film. I am absolutely determined to do so with Tanu Weds Manu Part 2. The writing is that good.
But if I started by partaking of the foot-dust of Himanshu Rai, there is no way I can close without doing a full-scale aarti of Goddess Kangana. We have seen Sridevi in Chaalbaz, we have seen Hemamalini in Seeta aur Geeta, and we have seen Nargis in Raat aur Din. But no one can hold a candle to this tour-de-force – no one has made us double up with laughter and tug gently at our heart strings at the same time the way Kangana does. This is a performance that will be remembered for a long time.
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Utkal
May 27, 2015
Must be ‘ waqt and umar’ as Tanu says in the film. For some reason (ignorance and not reading and remembering actually) I have assumed Himanshu Sharma to be Himanshu Rai. Maybe I thought they were the talented siblings.
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palanisamya
May 27, 2015
@sanjana: What’s wrong with “thumbs down”? It’s another opinion based on the individuals judgement…….Freedom of speech gives the right to judge (just like you do) but no censorship.
To quote Mr. Christopher Hitchens: Its not just the right of the person who speaks to be heard, it is the right of everyone in the audience to listen and to hear, and every time you silence somebody you make yourself a prisoner of your own action because you deny yourself the right to hear something. In other words your own right to hear and be exposed is as much involved in all these cases as is the right of the other to voice his or her view.
Thumbs up to you, if you agree and Thumbs down to you if you don’t agree with me!
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Olemisstarana
May 27, 2015
@Sanjana – I don’t read tabloids, or invest much time into the background of actors. Sometimes, yes, it is impossible to ignore all the noise that comes with being a netizen, so I am aware that Deepika Padukone was Prakash Padukone’s daughter, and that Sonam Kapoor was spawned from a mustachioed sweater vest called Anil Kapoor. But that goes only so far, I don’t grudge a good performance just because the father or the mother or the grand uncle twice removed of the actor was a marquee light. Katrina Kaif didn’t have any connections, but she has the emotive depth of a sleepy labradoodle. Do I celebrate the fact that she snags huge banners on the regular… mmmmnope. The same goes for Priyanka Chopra who has never impressed me.
I see your point, and I can only imagine what the actors you mentioned – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Irrfan Khan, Kangana – have had to do in their formative years to manage to get here. I’ll add some names here for you – Huma Quereshi, Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit, Richa Chadha, Nimrat Kaur. After a certain point, it stops mattering – of course, I speak for myself alone, and I would never go watch a movie because of a last name alone. Also, Irrfan breathes rarefied air nowadays – he broke into international circles in a way that Anil-sweatervest-Kapoor only wishes he could.
BUT, I won’t allow that to be the only (or even the most important) hallmark of a talented actor (See Kaif, Chopra above). Also, the like dislike stuff – don’t let that get to you. I love that this is a safe space and when one goes off the rails (as I am sometimes wont to), it still remains so civilized… it’s like the Green Place in Mad Max, except that it’s real.
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Pranesh
May 27, 2015
@Sanjana: I disagree with your posts for two reasons:
I don’t agree with your specific examples. While not in Kangana’s range, Deepika has done a few nice roles. She’s not the 0 to Kangana’s 1….. Acting in commercial movies is a skill, because you can become irritating like Tamil heroines. I think Deepika did that part well.
In most of your posts (in this article), you state a weak(IMO) point X, then say something like “We are just not tolerant of different opinions”. That pisses me off. I disagreed because I thought your opinions were stupid, not because they were different. (Examples of opinions I think are stupid: Deepika star kid, Kangana poor man’s Deepika(?)). I downvoted because you said
I do agree with “Or Deepika maybe richman’s Kangana.”. Deepika is fairly adequate in several movies (Piku the latest), and brings a higher star value to the movie.
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Hithesh Devasya
May 27, 2015
I loved Kangana’s performance. I am not able to remember an instance where the double role was played like there actually are two different people and not the actor playing two different roles. Even great actors let their trademark expressions liven up dual characters.
My big problem with the film is that it makes Tanu a woman with commitment issues but treats Manu like a saint until he refuses to back down from marrying Kusum. The very reason we love Tanu is that she can be lovely and imperfect. The domestication and “karz chukana” are not her. It would have helped had Madhavan had more to do in the film than almost be martyred and then vilified later. If his character had changes after 4 years of marriage, maybe it’d make sense to see Tanu trying to change.
The privileged spoilt girl speech makes for good viewing thanks to Kangana but in terms of character development, why is it that a problem for her issues with long term commitments?
I like Tanu Weds Manu more because it is a more rounded and rooted film. This has writing all over the place and goes nowhere.
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Hithesh Devasya
May 27, 2015
@Sanjana It needn’t be news either way. A state first is a good achievement no matter which background one comes from. It maybe more heart tugging when a person from a economically backward (Is this a politically correct term :P) background makes it to the top but as news it isn’t a bug deal. We already have news shows behaving like reality shows and newspapers acting like advertisement reels, making a big deal out of social background and socially accepted norms of success would make news items a Vikraman film, which I am sure most of us would gladly do without.
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Salman
May 27, 2015
This didn’t totally work for me either. There was a lot that I liked but too many bizarre flashes of Sajid Khan. Was Deepak Dobriyal as over the top in the first one? I liked that they made a more lighthearted film than the original, which I felt started off great but was weighed down by the seriousness in the second half, but this was hard to take seriously, and maybe spread too thin with its characters. I never cared much for what was going on, and it didn’t have enough screwball energy to work as a comedy. Even the scenes I found to be hilarious in the trailer worked less in context.
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Utkal
May 27, 2015
The definition of small town keeps changing, because the goalposts keep shifting. Small towns keep getting bigger, and systematic overuse has leached them, for the purposes of Bollywood, of freshness and flavour. It’s time for the rise of a new genre — the subaltern film, glimpses of which were visible in Tanu Weds Manu Returns. It replaces Bollywood’s artificially lit-up small towns with locations and characters not confined to, or defined by, their “small-town quirks”. It gives us Tanu, a girl with multiple exaggerations; it also gives us the gloriously provincial Datto, a first for Bollywood.
The heavily Haryanvi Datto’s idea of a hot date is to pedal around the slimy lake outside Delhi zoo, not a spot your average multiplexer would set foot in. She races off to the bus “adda” to go to Chandigarh. A bus? Not even a deluxe one? Kangana Ranaut is startlingly svelte, but Datto’s tracks and tees look as if they were picked up from Delhi’s street stalls. These are people and milieus usually seen in documentaries, not in films starring A-list heroines.
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/at-home-in-kanpur/99/
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brangan
May 27, 2015
Salman: I don’t know if I’d make a Sajid Khan comparison, but my problem was that there were two towering aspects — the dialogues (“mahila mitra” 😀 ) and the great performance by Kangana — but the writing was all over the place. A messed-up screenplay with odd supporting characters. The Swara Bhaskar angle was so limply resolved and it took the movie nowhere. Yes, it is about a certain kind of man’s inability to digest this kind of information, and what is a woman to do when she’s married to such a man? But this kind of thing is a storyline in itself, and it’s treated like a throwaway subplot. So too the Deepak Dobriyal angle. So weak. And what happens to that girl?
There are a lot of good intentions in this film — but for me a lot was lost in the writing/execution.
All the more reason to celebrate Kangana, I guess 🙂
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sanjana
May 27, 2015
Oh my god, so many responses and I am amazed. Thanks to everyone.
I still hate that thumbs up and thumbs down as it is a lazy response! Sorry folks!
It is not Deepika versus Kangana. It is the automatic respect and envy one gets because of parentage and automatic sympathy and contempt(as the case maybe) one gets because of background. It has nothing to do with real talent.
I wish elections are also conducted like this. Which will minimise the expenditure drastically and will make everyone internet savvy! Thumbs up and thumbs down!
To confess, I did not watch any of Deepika’s or Kangana’s movies so far fully. Only bits and pieces.
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jinka
May 27, 2015
Here’s another reading of the movie. http://thejinxedone.blogspot.in/2015/05/rebels-without-cause.html
Essentially – White collar drones get married in search of life.
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sanjana
May 27, 2015
New look is good.
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sanjeev
May 27, 2015
The married couple going to mental hospital is not unusual. My brother is psychiatrist at a Delhi Mental hospital- he says his maximum cases are of marriage-problems and saas-bahu category.
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brangan
May 27, 2015
Thanks. Trying something new. Including nested comments.
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brangan
May 27, 2015
Three levels deep.
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musicofchance
May 27, 2015
yay, nested comments… no more scrolling back and forth
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gun
May 27, 2015
Probably if the movie was titled ‘ phir se tanu’ the storyline would have made more sense. It felt like Rai’s failed attempt to put in everything to make TWM2 a solid sequel. But boss it takes a lot to make a sequel work. A sequel comes with an expectation to atleast not fail with the happily ever after ending. And movie bombed with that.
Going to the show, i had mixed emotions about the movie. A bollywood lover at heart i was ready for a worried climax. It was acceptable for me that their marriage dint work out. Most dont do. Attraction between the wild and the docile succeeding and failing is OKAY but to apply all the energies of the world to make it work.. and that too sad ones made the movie boring
Bollywood has empowered us to digest exagggeration. Hero fighting with 10 or more at one time but in no time a brat of girl hugging rickshaw puller and entering in bathtowel in front of sisters dekhne wale is absurd. Bollywood never raised us to it. even with all the eccentricity,quirkiness and indecisiveness Tanu is acceptable.. but she has an indecisive husband ex boyfriend around her too.. a husband who is so insecure.. ye nai to koi aur sahi koi aur nai to koi aur sahi.. atleast one should have been firm. How has this hus and not questioned her once and just caved in for her tears? Tanus hay wireness of mind is taken and accepted.. she thinks she can still win the boy.. check..
she thinks she stays in the guya shaadi and can win ( classic ddlj, only swapping of actor as actress).. tanu feels more compelled to have Manu because she has done enough exploring and now wants to settle down .. check.. but how r Kusums parents tolerating their daughters sautan?
Agreed same face shouldnt stop him for falling in love with Kusum. Take Lamhe for example.. Anil kapoor explains to sridevi’s same face daughter …at the beautiful Rana ji storytelling .. tumhari soorat tumhari apni hai pooja.. we accepted it.. we were i. Love with pooja falling for Kumar inspite of their odds about age.. but in here Manu was shown desperate. TWM2 s subplot also showcases womens practice of choice. she leaves her husband in rehab centre and comes back romances with a rickshaw puller,pick up old strings with old lover hi5’s few others.. And again we like Tanu practicing it but not at the cost of making an ass of her doctor husband. He is a doctor not a contractor !!
I have a severe problem with the dialogue hum zara bewafa kya huey aap bdchallan ho gaye.. this is absolutely wrong usage of urdu. Bewafa is cheating.. she wasnt cheating meanwhile.. badchallan is no charactee, less of a character.. no way madhawan displayed an act of low character.. Give that man a slack.. he just got electric shocks in mentaal rehab.
Im worried that a TWM3 is in order owing to Tanus wild attitude. Revise one and 2 untill then ..
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Madhu
May 27, 2015
Yay, nested comments! That blue on the sidebars though, uhmm, a lighter shade, maybe, please, please… 😀
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MANK
May 27, 2015
I am not sure about the new look brangan, earlier we could read the latest comments in chronological order in every piece. but now it will be scattered all over the place
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venkatesh
May 27, 2015
New layout – No no and no , in exactly that order.
Why ?
a) Too much whitespace for constrained viewing devices aka Mobile phones
b) Nesting is not shown as nesting – its “open” by default , i would have expected nesting to be closed by default and openable only when required.
c) Very large fonts and even for someone with bad eyesight , this is too large.
Bring back the old one i say
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Srinivas R
May 27, 2015
Agree with Venkatesh about the white space and large fonts. Nesting is ok , IMO.
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Shalini
May 27, 2015
Agree with Venkatesh. I’m not really feeling the new layout. The nesting doesn’t look very “nested” and the page has too much white space yet looks cluttered.
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Ram Murali
May 27, 2015
BR, I think this new layout makes it very, very difficult to navigate. The earlier no-frills layout was much easier on the eye as well as easier to navigate. Too much flash (not referring to the software) in this version. Less is more, thalaivare. (Ungaluku theriyaadhadha?! Neenga Kamal paththi sonnathu thaan sutten!)
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Rahul
May 27, 2015
I like this layout at 11:55 am EST.
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Ram Murali
May 27, 2015
Thalaivare, “thoandrinen navatharamaa”-nu Kamal paadarthu thaan nyabagam varudhu. Latest layout looks super! (as of 12:30 pm EST!)
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Saurabh
May 28, 2015
Hey Brangan,
I found a lack of coherence in the film. Seemed to me that a lot of scenes and scenarios were forced. You have already pointed out about the beginning which really looked awkward. And you also pointed out the very many subplots which were just there for no good reason (I especially disliked this whole bit about khap-panchayat, not that I support/reject khap-panchayat practices but it seems like this topic has become a free punching bag for everyone. Not sure how much research goes into depicting these scenarios but surely the whole picture of that region has been painted quite dark in the past few years.)
However, just focusing on the cinematic aspect, the scenes of Tanu once she returns from London (where she comes out in towel, meets all her ex-flames etc) all seem too eager and forced to paint her in a “certain” color (impulsive, bored of marriage, frustrated, not sure what). In the meantime, I never once felt that Manu actually missed her one bit after he meets Kusum.
The end also left me unsatisfied. It seemed like Tanu and Manu had to be together because marriage is too sacred a thing to go against. If two people are incompatible and if you can find a better version of something, it should be ok to go for it. Did the film bring out enough emotions in you that you were rooting for Tanu and Manu to get together. I, for one, would have been more happy if Manu and Kusum have gotten together both in practical terms (Kusum seems to be more mature and a better fit for Manu personality wise) and the way film played out emotionally. I know love is blind and all but the film dint bring out that aspect forcefully for me.
Kangana is awesome though in the film. Just wow!!!
By the way, eagerly await your reviews. And I like the older look and feel more. But then there is always some resistance against change.
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brangan
May 28, 2015
Saurabh: The end also left me unsatisfied.
Actually I began to be dissatisfied by the film long before the end. There were just not two people I saw as being together and I hated what they were doing to poor Datto. There’s no evidence that either of them had changed — or at least become more tolerant of the things about each other they disliked — and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are separated again by the beginning of Part 3.
I found it weird that the director bothers to stage a scene where Manu “explains” to Datto his attraction for her — i.e. he says he’s unable to explain it etc. But there’s no scene where we see why he’s drawn to Tanu again. With such a hugely incompatible couple, I wonder how how the change of heart came about.
Had it been a spat, I wouldn’t have asked for this explanation. But things came to divorce point and neither of them was shedding tears over the prospect of the separation, so I wondered about the reconciliation.
I must say Raanjhanaa remains the best of this director’s films for me.
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Utkal
May 28, 2015
“There’s no evidence that either of them had changed — or at least become more tolerant of the things about each other they disliked — and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are separated again by the beginning of Part 3.”
Precisely. As I said in my write up, “Of course it is going to be the Groundhog Day once again as revealed by the blue tie that Manu wears to the disrupted second wedding and we know the rumblings will repeat. ” Why do they get back? That is the nature of marriage. Remember ” Gone Girl’? That is why I thought it was very mature writing. They didn’t try to make Tanu change. Because people don’t change. Not in their basic nature. And Manu marrying Datto won’t have made ANYONE happy. Even Datto knew it and told as much, ” Dekho. Koi bhi khush nahin hai.” You have to allow your story to tell itself. And this was the STORY.
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Saurabh
May 28, 2015
Utkal: hey didn’t try to make Tanu change. Because people don’t change. Not in their basic nature.
I agree. My only gripe is that if they wanted us to root for Tanu and Manu getting together, they should have made us root for them. Just because they are married and apparently it is obvious that marriage should be saved is not a good enough reason for me (The people in the film were also trying to convince Tanu that he should not do marry Datto because there is this marriage to be saved). I am not sure if you or other people while watching the film were rooting for Tanu and Manu or not but as brangan said my heart was going out for Datto.
Utkal: And Manu marrying Datto won’t have made ANYONE happy. Even Datto knew it and told as much, ” Dekho. Koi bhi khush nahin hai.”
It would be open to speculation on what would happen in future. But given a situation, you take what appears to be best for you. Again, I would be willing to root for Tanu and Manu getting together but the director has to make me do it. Seems like the director took it for granted that an institution as pure as marriage has to be saved.
I would go as far as to say that in the end, it felt to me that Tanu started acting on a whim and nothing else and I found her behavior rather irritating (she stays at the marriage and emotionally manipulates the guilt of Tanu for marrying someone else by making sad faces and deliberately attracting attention all day long. Anybody would feel the pressure just because of the gravity of situation. Had she not been there, based on how the movie played out emotionally, I am convinced that Manu had happily married Datto without blinking an eyelid). I have no problem with his story, just that, for me it is not a convincingly told story.
On a side note, the director, according to me, tries too hard to make the movie a fun ride and laugh riot all along.
brangan – I must say Raanjhanaa remains the best of this director’s films for me.
I completely agree.
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Utkal
May 28, 2015
The film is far more sophisticated than you give it credit for. It is NOT TRYING to make us root for Tanu and Manu. It is abundantly clear they are NOT going to live happily ever after. Manu’s blue tie is as broad hint at this as the director can throw at us in the end. And he has prefaced it similarly with Manu’s father’s cynical take on marriage at the start.
And believe me it is not you alone that was feeling bad for Datto…every single person seeing the film feels bad for her. Because that’s the way the film has been written. We ARE MEANT to feel bad for her. In fact I was crying more than laughing all through the second half…sad at the realization of the melancholic truth about human relationship.
Cathy Gibson puts it across well in her review.
She starts with :“ Tanu Weds Manu Returns is the feel-bad romantic comedy of the year. Lighthearted moments are undercut by a cynicism about the institution of marriage that leaves one feeling melancholy at best, depressed at worst.”
Then she goes on to note, “It hard to know who to root for in this movie. Tanu and Manu are both incredible jerks to each other. Tanu is arrogant and lacks empathy. Manu is selfish but wishy-washy. He doesn’t even possess enough will to make his climactic decision on his own, without prompting.Worse, TWMR makes the characters’ circumstances so dire that it’s impossible to resolve the story in a satisfying way.”
“Just because they are married and apparently it is obvious that marriage should be saved is not a good enough reason for me.” That’s not good enough reason for anybody. And that’s not the reason that is built up in the film. As I had said in my write up: “But it is so mature of the director and the writer to avoid being politically correct and impose some ‘ change of heart’ or ‘ goodness’ on her. She is everything Kusuma accuses her of being and yet this is the woman Manu had fallen for and this is the woman she is going back to.
And as Kathy Gibson goes on to add: “Director Anand L. Rai and writer Himanshu Sharma give themselves only two possible outcomes: either Tanu and Manu get back together, or Manu weds Kusum and says good-bye to Tanu forever. Neither option feels good, nor are both bad for Kusum.”
“On a side note, the director, according to me, tries too hard to make the movie a fun ride and laugh riot all along”, you say.
Absolutely.
Otherwise this tragic and ugly truth of human relationship would have been impossible to swallow for even the most hard-hearted among us.
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sanjana
May 29, 2015
Rahul Desai of Mumbai Mirror chose to resign. A critic’s life is not easy.
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KayKay
May 31, 2015
I enjoyed the first one. But I hope Manu grows a pair in this installment. I’m all for celebrating flawed women in all their fickle, indecisive, cold-hearted, promiscuous glory. But 2+ hours in the company of a woman who doles out shit to a guy who meekly accepts it is as tiresome as those ’70s melodramas featuring asshole husbands and submissive wives who grasp their “thaalis” and silently accept the abuse.
TWM kinda lost it a bit for me when Tanu hires guys to beat up Manu before he arrives at her place. Overdosing on sleeping pills so you don’t have to talk to a guy you have no interest in is kinda quirky in a twisted sort of way. Hiring goons to rough up a potential suitor is just mean.
At least the flawed woman in Raanjhnaa was balanced by the terminally-weird stalker-ish hero. And even Trisha’s characters’ terminal flightiness in VTV was occasionally met with the hero confronting her and demanding just exactly what the F@#k is she playing at!
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ThouShaltNot
May 31, 2015
Rescuing a marriage after being committed to a mental institution to undergo electroconvulsive shock therapy (over marital discord)? That is just insane.
What made the movie entertaining despite that big miscue were Kangana’s brilliance as an actor, Deepak’s zaniness and an excellent supporting cast.
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Utkal
May 31, 2015
ThouShaltNot: ‘Rescuing a marriage after being committed to a mental institution to undergo electroconvulsive shock therapy (over marital discord)? That is just insane.”
The electroconvulsive shock therapy was just Tanu’s imagination, which was disturbing enough for her to phone Pappi immediately asking him to get Manu freed from the institution.
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ThouShaltNot
May 31, 2015
@Utkal: The electroconvulsive shock therapy was just Tanu’s imagination, which was disturbing enough for her to phone Pappi immediately asking him to get Manu freed from the institution
Got it. Marginal improvement 🙂 (although, these places aren’t averse to sticking electrodes to “straighten people out”). Instead of being committed to each other, it appears these two are more interested in “committing each other”. If there is a sequel, it should be about Datto and Raja instead of these two. Otherwise, I suggest an apt title : “Tanu commits Manu returns”
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rajandr
June 1, 2015
I fully support Sanjana’s comment on how patriarchy has hijacked and contrived every sphere of life to further its agenda of progeny over talent.
Looks like Sanjana’s comment has upset the upper class bourgeois who now say oh no irrespective of background we only support real talent. Total bullshit and a blatant lie. Can totally understand why they are pissed off because they wanted to defend the privileges they enjoy due to the virtue of their background.
Look in India how every power and money centre be it business, politics or cinema is filled with people who are talentless and are there because they originated from the ball sack of their powerful father. There are innumerable examples which I don’t want to go into because these rent seeking types will hijack the discussion into how MrX was really talented and earned the fame which shouldn’t be the point of discussion. Rather what needs to be discussed is how meritorious and democratic is our institutions are and how patriarchy is trying to undermine this.
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ThouShaltNot
June 2, 2015
Another thing this movie has going for it is the catchy dialogues (think Utkal already pointed out, but can’t be overstated). Mix of quirky one-liners and some witty, pointed and in-your-face retorts. Occasionally earnest (the Datto ones). Here is a small sample (some paraphrased perhaps). When it comes to dialogues, this movie has a problem of plenty.
Raja Awasthi: Dr. Saheb Kaise hai?
Tanu: Pathi Kaise hothe hai?
Raja Awasthi. Pathaa naheen. Agale saal Pathaa chalegaa..
Raja Awasthi: Bhai saab, aap kaun hai ?
Chintu: Hum hai KANDHA! Ham tab aate hai, jab bhi koi kanya udaas hoti hai, rishthe naathaon se pareshaan ho jaati hai…
Raja Awasthi: Beta, Kaayde mein raho, varna patak ke maare jaaoge!
Raja Awasthi: Yahaan ek baar ghodi chadna naseeb nahi hua, yeh saale toh ghodi pe hi ghum rahein hain tab se
Raja Awasthi: Saaley ko original bhi yahi rakhey, duplicate bhi yahi rakhey
Pappi: Tum kya Salman Khan ho jo tumhe commitment issues hai?
Girl in the boat: Pedal toh maaro
Pappi: Kaise mare, tumne tod diya na dono pedal humare..
Datto: Dr. Saheb, accent to nahi aariya
Manu: Haryanvi?
Datto: Nahi, amreekan!
Datto: Sharma Ji, kuch kehna chaahte hai?….Yeh aakhiri pheras hai, iske baad shaadi confirm ho jaayegi!
Manu: Nahi ho paa raha..
Tanu: Haath mat lagaa…
Chintu: To Kya tumhaare liye ham sirf Hero Honda aur ek litre petrol the jo chod chod ke aathe the raja awasthi ke paas..
Tanu to kid: Laal Kalam se lik do unko, bahuth sammaan hua.. Teri maa ki.
Chintuji, aaj aap vakil ban gaye, kaam bi mil gaya.. Nikaalo bike, chalo dikaathe hai, batman ki saare legends..
And the winner for me is……
Tanu: Hahaha….. Bloody, they all work for IT companies?!
Translator:Yeh sab saaley computer ki dukan pe kaam kartey hain.
(IMO, this scene was the most hilarious. Chintu is in utter disbelief at Tanu’s chutzpah, Tanu’s parents are embarrassed and the IT guy is crapping his pants wishing he had taken sanyaas instead of seeking a bride. Over the top? Yes and wrapped in a towel 🙂 The audience of course were in splits)
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Utkal
June 2, 2015
Thanks ThoShaltNot for posting this. I had a blast recollecting these.
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Prasad
June 3, 2015
@ThouShaltNot
Very nicely captured. Excellent one liner’s.
@ BR and Other’s.
Credit should go to Shoojit Circar, Anand Rai and Navdeep especially for making us movies Piku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns NH10. All the 3 movies portrayed strong female charatcters whom we can relate to and not cliched. Definitely would rate Kangana on top followed by Deepika and Anuksha. And all the 3 movies did reasonably well in Box Office also which is to be noted. That means folks are not bogged down by hero centric craps alone …there is a sesible crowd which goes and watches these movies.
Almost through the middle of the year. but just one perofrmance of a heroine in Tamil comes to my mind which is Nithya Menon who was fresh and for a change “Normal” in all sense and didn’t fall in “Loosu Ponnu” category. i didn’t see “36 vayathinele” yet though.
With that kind of Hero centric craps being coming week after week I don’t see anything solid coming in Tamil which has strong female characters. We can blame whatever but net net there are no movies of this calibre that’s the saddest part.
Any thoughts pl?
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baluiyyer
June 5, 2015
I felt same…. movie is good… madhavan and kangna have performed well (yes, in same order)…. But it’s not super hit material..
I should also admit for the audience who made dhoom3, chennai express and happy new year bigger hits.. This is better movie
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pankaj1905
July 25, 2015
Reading Dispatches from the Wall Corner these days and loving it; also, loved the first introductory chapter 🙂
Finally, got a chance to see Tanu Weds Manu Returns.
In first film, when Manu and Tanu go for an outing, he chooses for her a set of earrings, which she later even wears, and there itself we knew she would accept him the end. In this film, Manu, when he is exploring the city with Datto, buys earrings for Datto. However, Datto refuses to take them at first, then takes it, but then returns it to him, which will exactly how their story would pan out in the end. Its also wonderful to observe that the earrings in both the films match with the personalities of Tanu and Datto. Tanu gets a pair of large, shiny, over-the-top, and dangling earrings, which can also be the way to describe Tanu. Datto gets gold stubs in the shape of heart, which could also be the way she can be described, a stable (undangling) person with a heart of gold. It is a lovely metaphor.
The film at two places calls Tanu a Batman. First, when Chintu meets her, he says, “Aaj se pehle aapke baare me sirf suna hi tha. Dekha pehli baar hai. Jaanti hai Tanu ji, aap is mohalle ki Batman hai.” Later, Tanu says to Chintu, “Dikhate hain tumhe Batman ke saare legends.” It is a fascinating comparison. At a later point, Pappi says to Manu, “Don’t go to the dark path, understand?” Finally, in the end, Tanu calls Datto as a joker. It is like she is the Batman, and her rival is the Joker. As it happened in the original film, where the Batman was victorious, but the Joker overshadowed him in every aspect, the joker Datto steals the show in our desi fight with the Batman Tanu even if she got Manu.
Did not get the orange juice joke though.
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Chitresh Raj
September 7, 2015
Have mixed feelings about the movie. The movie had its moments… and that’s the worrisome part. Probably I would have been happier with an extended trailer comprising of all the catchy dialogues, minus the kitsch scenes. Freakily, the movie also reminded me of Parthiban Kanavu.
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