Mere Husband Ki BiwiCast: Arjun Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh, Bhumi PednekarDirector: Mudassar AzizRating: ★★.5
Suspension of disbelief is a given in films — how else would you explain a hero single-handedly beating up 40 goons or a couple suddenly breaking into a romantic song in the Swiss Alps? It’s all good fun, as long as it’s entertaining.
What’s not fun, though, is using that logic — plus a dash of comedy — to villainise a working woman. It takes a while to realise what’s actually happening in Mere Husband Ki Biwi, because the film cushions the problem with good old goofy humour.
Directed by Mudassar Aziz, the film follows Ankur Chadha (Arjun Kapoor), a meek man terrified of his ex-wife Prabhleen Dhillon (Bhumi Pednekar) — a firecracker of a woman, completely opposite to him. Ankur finds love again with Antara Khanna (Rakul Preet Singh), but then comes the twist: Prabhleen suffers from retrograde amnesia after an accident and believes Ankur has just proposed marriage to her. What follows is a messy, chaotic ride.
The premise is interesting, and the film starts off well. Arjun tries — but it remains just that: a try. What this film needed was for the male lead to go full OTT, even as a shy man, but that doesn’t happen. If anything, the comic sequences lose energy because Arjun doesn’t quite match the required pitch. He makes up for it in a particularly intense scene, nailing it.
It’s left to the women to save the day, and they absolutely do. Bhumi is a riot as Prabhleen — sending Ankur to jail just to make his proposal more dramatic and refusing to back down from a fight with Antara. Her scenes keep the film afloat. Rakul, too, is solid and does justice to her role. Their confrontations had the potential for electric chemistry, and while it nearly gets there, it falls a bit short. It’s hard not to think of Rakul’s face-off with Tabu in De De Pyaar De (2019).
{{/usCountry}}It’s left to the women to save the day, and they absolutely do. Bhumi is a riot as Prabhleen — sending Ankur to jail just to make his proposal more dramatic and refusing to back down from a fight with Antara. Her scenes keep the film afloat. Rakul, too, is solid and does justice to her role. Their confrontations had the potential for electric chemistry, and while it nearly gets there, it falls a bit short. It’s hard not to think of Rakul’s face-off with Tabu in De De Pyaar De (2019).
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Harsh Gujral provides solid comic relief, almost carrying the humour for Arjun.
So, what’s the fatal flaw in Mere Husband Ki Biwi? Firstly, the length. The second half drags, and Ninad Khanolkar’s editing could have easily trimmed it by 15 minutes. Secondly, the misleading narrative. The film sets up Ankur as a man with PTSD from his past marriage, haunted by nightmares of Prabhleen trying to kill him. It plays out in a lighter vein, and you almost sympathise with him — until the actual backstory is revealed. Prabhleen is an independent woman who wanted to work, and took a life altering decision for both her and her husband. Where’s the ‘villain’? Her body, her choice!
Mudassar Aziz’s direction is strictly average. After the refreshing fun of Khel Khel Mein, expectations were high, but here, the emotions don’t land, and the laughs are fewer. The music is nice, with Gori Hain Kalaiyaan standing out. Overall, Mere Husband Ki Biwi had the potential to be hilarious. It tries hard, and credit to the makers for the attempt. But it falls short.
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