Movie - Tanu Weds Manu

Actors - Madhavan, Kangana, Deepak Dobriyal & Others

Director - Anand Rai

Director Aanand Rai’s directorial debut, ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ has been declared a hit. So shocked was I after reading this piece of information that I decided to write down why I think the only reason this film is doing well is because apparently these days, this film is the only respite from cricket.

‘Tanu Weds Manu’ is supposedly a romantic comedy involving two starkly contrasting characters falling in love with each other. On the face of it, the premise actually does sound interesting- a London- return reluctant boy Manu  (Madhavan or Maddy as we fans like to call him) forced by his parents to meet a small town girl Tanu (Kangna Ranaut) in hopes of finding him a match. The boy is the quintessential Mr. Nice Guy, while the girl is the ultimate rebel; she is unconventional, brash, strong- headed, feisty, and supremely immature for her age. The boy, unexpectedly, falls in love with the aforementioned girl, who pays him no heed because she has someone else in mind. Ok, here is a spoiler, but this really will not change your experience of watching the movie! We are expected to believe that Maddy falls in love with Kangna the very first time he meets her, except that during this particular encounter, she is so heavily drunk or drugged or whatever, that she is fast asleep. She is not even awake! Although I subscribe to the theory that true love defies all logic, all rationale, and that you really cannot choose who you fall for, I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend how Manu fell victim to ‘love at first sight’ with someone who wasn’t even awake at that first sight! There is romantic, and then there is ridiculous. This is just plain ridiculous! Lets assume that the fact that Tanu didn’t even respect him enough to be sober while meeting him the first time, didn’t bother Manu. We could also assume that despite this, Tanu is so beautiful and such an endearing character with such a good heart that the ‘love’ is completely believable and justified. Except that this assumption simply cannot be made. Tanu is not an endearing character. And Kangna’s portrayal of Tanu does not help her cause at all!  But once again, lets give Manu the benefit of the doubt (though there is hardly any doubt!) and not scrutinise the plot too much. Tanu Weds Manu is simply not entertaining! Five minutes into the movie, and it is clear that the director is trying too hard to impress. He is trying too hard to cash in on the charm unique to a small town middle class family and their way of life, in order to make the film realistic and amusing at the same time. Sorry to say, he fails terribly. There are, literally, 3 scenes in the film that are genuinely funny. The rest is just a drag. I am a huge Kangna fan. I love her unconventionality! I love her confidence and I love her interviews…. And it gives me immense pain to state that she is terrible in this movie. Maybe she does not have the ability to do comedy. Not everyone can. It’s the toughest thing to do on screen. And this performance is a great example- an extremely talented actress trying too hard to make us laugh, and failing miserably at it. I haven’t watched any of Kangna’s previous comedic outings, but in this movie, she is not in her zone and that’s very obvious.

Maddy as the silent lover with a Vanrajesque selflessness of character is too insipid to deserve any sympathy from the audience. I have no doubt in my mind that true love is selfless. So I am not going to debate Manu’s decision to marry Tanu off to her boyfriend. But there are a couple of things amiss here. First, it is impossible for me to be convinced that Manu fell so truly and deeply in love with Tanu that he would rather see her ‘happy’ than tell her pointblank that he is in love with her, and then let her make the decision. He had nothing to lose. I would understand if the two had been friends and Manu’s confession would run the risk of jeopardizing the friendship. There is nothing of that sort happening here. So why wasn’t he upfront with her at the very beginning? There is no reason for him to not tell her clearly what he felt for her. Except maybe that at some level he was a masochist. Second, Maddy and Kangna have zero chemistry. Not a decimal point above. Add to it the fact that Maddy’s portrayal of this character is so loser- like that it is very hard to sympathise with him. You can sympathise with someone who tries hard and fails. How can you sympathise with someone who doesn’t even try but rather prefers to suffer in silence?

Jimmy Shergill plays the boyfriend. I actually like Jimmy Shergill, and I don’t know what he was briefed for this role, but his performance is, for lack of a better word, weird. He is supposed to be a ruffian, fine. But is he also expected to always be dazed? The scenes themselves add no credibility to the plot. In fact, the climax sequence is just stupid. I mean, really. Many sequences in the film are ludicrous but the climax definitely takes the cake. The only good thing about the movie is a couple of supporting cast members- Swara Bhaskar as Kangna’s college friend and the ever- dependable Deepak Dobriyal as Maddy’s childhood friend. Theirs are the only convincing performances in an otherwise tedious and unfunny movie. It was exasperating for me to sit through the entire film. I still did it because I believe its important to know the bad in order to appreciate the good. Plus, I am an amateur movie critic. This is what I like doing, but I am still reeling from the shock of ‘Tanu weds Manu’ having been declared a hit. My recommendation- watch cricket rather than this movie. And if you don’t like cricket, then watch ‘Band Baaja Baarat’ for the nth time. I promise, both these alternatives will be way more entertaining. But if you insist on torturing yourself, then a word of warning- Watch it at your own risk and go in with the least expectations possible!

In general, I don’t like comparing movies made by different directors. Directors are artists; they all have their own sensibilities and their own unique style (unless they stoop to borrowing from Hollywood, which, in my opinion, is blasphemous and deserves heavy penalty; you cannot take credit for someone else’s creative talent. That’s just not done!). Sometimes, however, it’s too tempting and consequently unavoidable- making the comparison I mean, not the plagiarism. I cannot help compare ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ with last year’s effervescent ‘Band Baaja Baarat ‘. My cause is justified by the fact that both movies fall into the same sub-sub-sub-genre. Both are realistically made romantic comedies by first- time directors, and set in a middle class background. What I really admire about BBB is that despite its predictability, the movie succeeds in keeping you engaged until the very last scene. Even though you know what’s going to happen next, you cannot help remain glued to the screen. Such is the direction and the performances. No one is trying too hard to prove a point. It is simple story- telling with tons of conviction and a lot of spunk, thanks to the delightfully refreshing lead pair and the catchy song and dance sequences complemented by the background score. Both Anushka and Ranveer molded so well into their respective characters, that everything else in the movie was relegated to the backdrop. The entire movie was only about them and nothing else. I seriously think Ranveer Singh was born to play Bittoo Sharma. I cannot imagine him playing anything else. In short, I couldn’t find a single thing wrong with BBB. Some might disagree. But I really didn’t find anything wrong, despite having watched this movie with a lot of expectations in mind, which almost always spoils the experience. It is very difficult to make a good romantic comedy. The basic plot is almost always very similar; what will set the movie apart is how unique the director treats the clichés and the stereotypes, and how convincing the actors are, playing the protagonists. For me, BBB and TWM are the opposite extremes of a spectrum. They are that drastically different! The real shocker here is that both were declared hits! Now, how is that possible? I cant think of any other reason besides cricket. No Hindi movies are being released and there is nothing else exciting going on besides the World Cup. What choice do the non- cricket lovers have? I am just surprised there are so many of them!