Banner: Colour Yellow Pictures
Producer: Kishore Lulla & Anand L. Rai
Director: Anand L. Rai
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K. K. Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Rahul Shankalya & Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub
Music: Krsna Solo & Tanishk – Vayu
5 years ago director Anand L. Rai had come up with an endearing film ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ which had lady luck in tandem with the box office Goddess smiling at him and now exactly after 5 years he has come up with its sequel ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’. So will its past box office success also return with the current offering. Let’s wait & watch.
So the pre – plotted scenario of ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ gets kick started with the nostalgic wedding day of Tanuja Trivedi aka Tanu (Kangna Ranaut) along with Dr. Manoj Sharma aka Manu (R. Madhavan) with the iconic “Sunn Saahiba Sunn” track playing in the background. The opening scene sets the tempo of the film. This is then immediately followed by the admission of Manu in St. Benedict’s Asylum by Tanu. After that, she returns to her hometown Kanpur to be with her parents. But the human side of her being makes her call Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal) and ensures that he frees Manu from the asylum. When she reaches Kanpur, she meets up with Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Sheirgill), who is on the verge of getting married. Around the same time, when Manu reaches Delhi, he sights upon the very ‘sporty’ Kusum (Kangna Ranaut again in a dual role), who happens to be a state level athlete. The very moment Manu sees her, he falls in love with her so much so that he starts following her and ultimately convinces her & her relatives for marriage, despite being a ‘second hand’ man, which is how Kusum describes him as. Meanwhile, with the help of her just graduated lawyer friend Chintu (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), she manages to threaten Manu with a divorce notice. Frustrated & aggravated because of this action, Manu ultimately decides to marry Kusum. Seeing her ‘husband’ about to tie the knot with Kusum, Tanu lands up with Raja at the venue, despite being all geared up for all the insults.
Director Anand L. Rai has made an appropriate & commendable sequel of his earlier film. His directorial skills are perfection personified & brilliant. The film hooks nay mesmerizes the cine goers from “start” to “end”. A standing ovation also goes to his entire behind the scenes team. A special well deserved credit also goes to crooner Swati Sharma for her husky, melodious & mellifluous “Banno” number.
Performance wise it is no doubt the Queen Kagna Ranaut’s histrionic oriented journey from “start” to “end”. Critical appreciation and awards galore are now hers for the asking. She is just fab in her dual role of Tanu (The hurt wife) & Kusum (The Haryanvi athlete). She gets into the skin of both the characters with perfect ease. R. Madhavan delivers a restrained albeit a “healthy” performance, pun definately intended please. All in all even he too has emerged a “plumpy” winner all the way without an iota of doubt. Deepak Dobriyal is brilliant. While the rest of the actors comprising of Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Jimmy Sheirgill, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K. K. Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma & Rahul Shankalya have lent their own incredible charm to the film thereby helping with their individual ‘contributions’ in making the film a winner all the way.
Tail Piece: Strictly recommended for one and all, but especially for the married men and their spouses, teeny bopper boys and girls and of course all the about to be married and romantically involved couples.
