Tanu Weds Manu: Returns

Four years after their wedding Tanu and Manu can no longer stand each other in London. They argue at a mental health facility and Manu leaves her there and returns to India. At an athletics meet in Delhi he sees a girl who looks exactly like Tanu. Datto is from Haryana, an athlete, and the opposite of his wife in every way. He decides to marry her. Hearing this, Tanu comes back. The subject is not the triangle but a man choosing the same face twice. Datto and Tanu look alike and are opposite in character; the film says plainly that Manu does not know what he loves, an unusually hard observation for a romantic comedy. The form is crowded and loud. Small north Indian cities, wedding preparations, crowds of relatives and supporting characters who never stop talking. The humour runs largely on dialect and local types. Kangana Ranaut is at the centre, playing both roles, and the difference between the two characters is built entirely through body language and speech. She won a national award for it. The film took far more at the Indian box office than expected and was among the year's biggest earners. R. Madhavan plays Manu and Jimmy Shergill her former suitor. Aanand L. Rai directs. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian romantic comedy and Kangana Ranaut. Who it is not for: anyone who will find the resolution too easy; the film rushes in the finale the question it spent so long building.