Tanu Weds Manu – Movie Review

 “Tanu Weds Manu” for the most part seems confused about its backdrop and essence. The cast delivers dialogues with a sometimes Bihari and sometimes Punjabi accent. From the music to the dialogues, from the characters to the story, there is no clear orientation to the film. It also tries too hard to capture the Dilli feel that seems to be the trend but in the bargain it ends up being an obvious case of ‘wannabe’.

The first half of the film is tediously stretched trying to establish the fact that Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Manu (R. Madhavan) are poles apart. It does pick up momentum in the second half but then again climax ends up to killing the fizz. Tanu is the rebel without a cause from Kanpur and Manu is the NRI doctor from Delhi. Manu has buckled under parental pressure to get married and follows them obediently from city to city looking for his bride. Tanu on the other hand believes that a degree from Delhi University makes her eligible to live a life of rebellion. To Tanu this means disagreeing to marriage, changing boyfriends every month and getting drunk at weddings. True to her character, she has a boyfriend who sends thugs to beat up every potential groom her parents manage to import. Manu happens to be one of them. However, Manu falls for her despite her vices and dysfunctional attitude and thus begins a crazy ride complete with weddings, eloping and of course song and dance.

Unfortunately for Kangana Ranaut, all her flaws are exposed while trying too hard to walk in the shoes of her ‘rom-com specialist’ contemporaries. Her dialogue delivery and diction seem obviously flawed, even to the most untrained of ears. I don’t know how comfortable she was playing the part, but she definitely makes the audience uncomfortable.  Although she does find a better mark once the bindas girl act is done with. Madhavan manages a fairly decent performance, his silence at times expressing much more than his dialogues. Even though the shy blushing groom act is overdone, he manages to hold his ground. But the man who takes the cake is Jimmy Shergill (playing the role of Raja Avasthi). Known for playing the good boy; Jimmy shows us his bad boy avatar is this film (glimpses of which we saw in “A Wednesday”). Seen majorly is the second half, Jimmy essays a brash and rowdy character with surprising ease. Overall the film does have its moments but the lack of chemistry between the lead pair and a plethora of wannabe elements pull the film down.

Verdict: I would watch it once, if I had nothing better to do.