"This is going to be one light hearted entertainer that would keep a smile on your face for its entire duration" - that's the thought one has after watching the promos of 'Main Meri Patni Aur Woh', second directorial venture of Chandan Arora, who earlier came up with 'Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahti Hoon'. The thought comes true for the first half of the movie but evaporates during the second half as soon as the movie takes a serious turn. Nothing wrong about that as MMPAW was never touted to be a rib tickling comedy a la a 'No Entry' that would have kept you in splits throughout. But then the story that could have been an ideal fare for 100 minutes has been packaged in 140 minutes that makes the movie loose its impact. Nevertheless, a story told in a sweet and simple fashion, it is enhanced due to great performances and an honest attempt by the second time director.
The storyline is very simple and identifiable. Mithilesh Shukla [Rajpal Yadav] is a 34 years old bachelor working as a librarian in the Lucknow University. An introvert by nature, his short height doesn't do anything great for his self-esteem and hence he never thinks of marriage due to the fear of rejection. Popularly called 'chote-babu', his life changes for better when after much coaxing by his uncle [Vinod Nagpal] and ever-ready-to-weep mom [whether it is 'khushi' aur 'gham'], he is made to meet 30 years old Veena [Rituparna Sengupta], a mature and beautiful woman. After two back to back rounds of 100 course breakfast and lunch, sparks fly between the two over a coffee and on a rainy night, Veena 'proposes' marriage. Pretty sure that he would be rejected by Veena, Mithilesh's happiness is no bounds and pronto the two of them take 7 'pheras'.
A perfect homemaker, Veena makes Mithilesh's life a living heaven, but Mithilesh's insecurities appended by his complex do not allow this happiness to be sustained. His best friend Saleem [Varun Badola], milkman, vegetable vendors, auto rickshaw driver, youngsters in his neighborhood - he starts speculating that everyone around him is trying to come extra close to his wife. Being an ardent Shiv-bhakt, he gets some ideas and ousts each of them by his 'paintra' [tactics]. He makes Saleem get a 'rakhi' tied by Veena, fires the milkman and opts for 'Amul full toned milk' [a subtle yet well placed in-film commercial], starts buying vegetables from super-marts and drives Veena on a scooter rather than an auto. In short, gets his life back to normalcy.
At this point enters 'woh' in the life of 'pati aur patni'. Woh - a tall dark dark handsome Aakash [Kay Kay Menon]. An epitome of a perfect guy which Mithilesh is not! Aakash arrives from Delhi to Lucknow to automate his library and as luck would have it, he gets his guest room right opposite their apartment and to add insult to the injury turns out to be Veena's one time buddy! Veena and Aaksh continue to share a great camaraderie even after a gap of a few years and Mithilesh's complexes start becoming deeper rooted from hereon! He tries to distance the two by some means or other but the unsuspecting duo never realize his concerns.
At the back of his mind, he realizes that Aakash is a much better personality than him and tries to ape his mannerisms. He starts drinking and smoking just like him, gets facials done in the saloons, tries to be more polished. And this is when something unthinkable happens.......
The movie moves on quite well for the entire first half and there are enough moments that make you go for those sweet little giggles. You don't go for a full hearted laugh but then that's by design rather than a flaw as the movie has been made in the style of 70s when such movies starring the likes of Faaroque Sheikh and Amol Palekar were made aplenty. The sense of humor belongs to the same genre - subtle, down to earth and very simple, ra
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