Movie Review : Ek Main aur Ek Tu

Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Shakun Batra
Cast : Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan, Ram Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Boman Irani
Kid rating : PG-15

Watching the trailer for this film, one could be forgiven for thinking that this was the same old Bollywood tripe, where we pretend we are oh-so-liberal and progressive, and towards the end of the film come back to the usual conclusion – that a girl is best married, and soon. Thankfully it’s not! The reviews range from “meh” to “go-see-it”, and it came recommended by IHM – so kind of had an idea where this would be going. But did see it and did enjoy it.

Rahul Kapoor (yes, Rahul again ** rolls eyes **, it’s like the lucky number thingy, I imagine) is an architect living and working in Las Vegas – the center of architecture and construction apparently, (according to Rahul himself) although I’d doubt that anyone would actually think about that what with LV’s other charms being so touted. Anyway Rahul is a well-brought up lad, a go-by-the book kind of guy, trained by his critical parents to toe the line and be a good child. The child is now 25, but still pretty much does what the parents tell him to do.

Life as he knows it is interrupted when Rahul is sacked. He hides this fact from the parental unit. He also happens to meet Rianna Braganza, a happy-go-lucky, similarly unemployed hair-stylist. When Rahul and Ri are perchance thrown together and manage to get royally drunk, they step into one of Las Vegas’s handy get-married-instantly chapels, and end up man and wife. The rest of the film finds the pair trying to unravel their lives from the tangle.

This film comes to us via the good offices of Karan Johar, who in his films appears to be ahead of the times, atleast for India. I present in evidence : Kabhi Alvida na Kehna – in which the storyline kind of advocated that an amicable divorce was better than an unhappy marriage, and for supporting which, my review on Rediff was royally reviled by most of the commenters for being “untraditional”.

Anyway that was the past. We have moved on . . . to “Ek Main aur Ek Tu”. This was frankly a pretty decent film – good acting and construction overall. Kareena is quite the star here as free-spirited, flamboyant Ri; the film sparkles because of her. Imran might be playing himself; his character is so staid and goody-two-shoes. Whenever I watch Imran onscreen, it seems like his performance lacks will, like he himself is incredulous about being a Hindi film hero, so it never carries the believability it should.

Ratna Pathak Shah is Rahul’s socialite mummy. She is constantly chiding Rahul on his haircut (a trip to the Vidal-Sassoon salon maybe, beta ?), his food-chewing (chew 32 times before swallowing) and looking askance at his not-so-fashionable colleague(s) – an over-glorified Maya Sarabhai, if you will. She does do the snottiness very well! Boman Irani is Rahul’s dad – the portrait of the self-sacrificing pater, even when he looks oh-so-critical. The ever expanding Ram Kapoor (he is almost porcine here) is Mr. Bulani, Mr. Kapoor’s business associate, who exhorts Rahul to find other “extra-curricular” activities. Mrs. Bulani (Dana Lewis) has a wandering eye (and hand) and Rahul finds himself subject to her subtle ministrations almost under his parents’ nose (and table).

This film creates the almost mythical Indian girl, by Bollywoodian standards. She is independent, unconcerned about being a good girl or sticking to social mores. She does what she wants when she wants to, and not because it is expected of her by her husband/father/brother/mother/family/society/culture. Ofcourse it is easier doing this in liberal Las Vegas (and US) than in moralistic, we-do-not-practice-what-we-preach India. Batra directs well. My only grouse was that the film was a tad slow, and some sequences, like the one where Rahul calls up ex-girlfriend Anusha (Soniya Mehra), seemed contrived. The film’s music was good. “Auntyji” is vaguely catchy, and Gubbare is slow and soft and whimsical.

Not your usual filmi fare, this one is worth a watch.

Kidwise : This film is clean and classy, but has references to adult situations.