Movie Review: Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (Hindi)

Kalyana Samayal Saadham*, when it came out in 2013, was a refreshing departure from the virile machismo that we were often used to seeing in films. Here was a hero who suffered from erectile dysfunction, a man embarrassed-but-quite willing to admit his failing, even going to the extent of putting his to-be wife's needs first and calling his arranged marriage off. But breaking patriarchal notions of masculinity isn't that easy, is it? Director R. S. Prasanna swaps this ticklish story set against a sweet Tam-Brahm backdrop for a middle-class North Indian milieu, that while rich in details, is familiar, exuding a distinct Anand L. Rai-flavour that's evident in each and every frame.

But the adaptation (due credit to Hitesh Kewalya) and the consistent light touch works, even if the strange inclusion of an ex-girlfriend and the contrived, overdramatic climax doesn't. But I liked how the couple Mudit and Sugandha try to work around their predicament. How Sugandha (more fleshed out than Meera), doubting her own sexuality, seduces him in a public park in a misguided attempt to arouse him. How Mudit realises the efforts she is putting in to help him regain his confidence in bed and stops sulking to give her the wedding she desires. And how the stretch where Mudit goes in search of a solution to his "gent's problem" is trimmed for the better. Shubh Mangal Saavdhan is not without its false notes, nor is as sumptuous as KSS**, but with a charming cast and a quite endless list of gags, it makes for a breezy, entertaining watch, even four years later.

*I don't know if you have observed it already, but director R. S. Prasanna makes an appearance as Meera's prospective groom at 6:40 mark, telling her that he has joined cinema as a filmmaker!

**May be the Tam-Brahm in me is the reason, but I loved the film's authentic vibe, its "insider-knowingness", as Baradwaj Rangan puts.