Pati Patni Aur Woh Movie Review: Kartik, Bhumi And Ananya Serve An Easy-Breezy Watch With A Touch Of Preachiness

There is a scene in the film where Bhumi says 'Main apna single screen wala baan chalati hoon, tum apna multiplex wala kuch dekhlo'. This might be the best way to sum up Pati Patni Aur Woh . Directed by Mudassar Aziz the romantic comedy proves that formulas still work in Bollywood when it is rightly tempered, especially the current favorite Uttar Pradesh small-town tadka.

Let us not get into the story because it is fairly evident. The characters or characterizations are also of little significance given it is all colored by the same stereotypes that we have previously seen in Tanu Weds Manu. The milieu of the film feels exactly same to that of Tanu Weds Manu right from the setting to Vedika Tripathi's desi rebel attitude and sometimes even costume. Not to take away from the performance of Bhumi Pednekar who does a spendid job bringing the character on-screen.

Kartik Aaryan , as the sataya hua middle class man is a difficult pill to swallow not because his performance is not convincing but his boyish charm is a little too overpowering for us to believe that he is Chintu Tyagi, a middle class PWD employee who is going through an early mid-life crisis.

Ananya Pandey as Tapasya Singh is also playing the 'bade sheher ki ladki' stereotype with full gusto and Aparshakti Khurrana has of course become the designated witty one-liner spewing hero's friend.

However, despite knowing exactly where the story is going, the film is enjoyable because the writing is sharp and the lines genuinely funnt and witty. These are not jokes that you have not heard before, but that is the strength of it. It is so real and so in tune with mileu that it is bound to bring the house down with laughter.

Yes, there are scenes where the dialogues get a tad bit offensive or sexist, but these days the moment we see Kartik Aaryan on screen, we know the bargain. Also, let us not forget that it is not really fictional, middle class men do talk this way and a certain section of the country, more specifically the section shown in the film, consumes and appreciates this kind of humor everyday. Biwi bashing is something people have made a career in comdey out of and it is them that the movie is catering to in terms of demography.

Coming back to the perforrmance, the much hyped chemistry between Kartik and Ananya hardly translates on-screen. They are definitely not bad, but there is no special spark as most of us believed owing to the tabloid gossips. In fact, Kartik perhaps has a better chemistry with Bhumi however there is a strange pattern with Kartik Aaryan which is becoming more and more evident with every film. Whether it is in Pyaar Ka Punchnama 1 and 2, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety or even Luka Chhupi, he tends to have a better chemistry with his male co-stars than his female co-stars. Even in this one, his scenes with Aparshakti who plays his childhood best friend Fahim Rizvi are the best ones in the film. Aparshakti has a strange way of making any dialect his own and this one is no different. Surprisingly tthough , Kartik Aaryan looks much more convincing in the emotional scenes than he looks playing the bechara bumbling fool that he has been playing on-screen for a while. Maybe, he needs to tap into some other genre and he might just surprise himself and even us.

When it comes to the actresses, Bhumi is definitely the stronger one, in fact probably the senior most actor in the cast and it shows. Although her Vedika Tripathi is majorly derivative of Tanuja Trivedi, she has a desi sexiness and allure to her that gives the character some more layer than was probably originally written. She seems both formidable and endearing and vulnerable all at the same time and it is fun to watch her deliver all of it.

Ananya Pandey, on her part sticks to her bried and delivers a performance that is expected out of her. Tapasya Singh is sweet and unattainable but beyone that the character is not very fleshed out. Especially, her real emotions for Chintu Tyagi is never understood but that is not certainly her fault. On her part, she has a certain dignity and grace with which she carries herself on-screen and in a better fleshed out role she might just turn out to be a surprise package despite her somewhat odd dialogue delivery.

While the easy breezy moments keep the first half floating, the film tends to drag a bit in the second half where things take a slightly more serious turn. The ending is downright predictable and preachy but not entirely unsatisfactory.

But to be honest, it is not a film that one watches to analyze or argue about the concept of infidelity. The film deals with a serious matter like infidelity in a very sanitized, light-hearted and perhaps even a frivolous manner but is entirely unapologetic in doing so and that is perhaps the reason why it works.

If you do not mind some Tanu Weds Manu and Masti throwback and just want to laugh at jokes in the chatpata Kanpuriya Hindi, grab a bucket of popcorn and watch it with your partner while you laugh at some situations that you have already been in or just narrowly escape.