In the 1980s, a spate of melodramatic films – usually remakes of Telugu films – starred heroines fighting over the hero often played by Jeetendra. Mudassar Aziz’s putative romcom Mere Husband Ki Biwi belongs in spirit to that era.
The title tries too hard to be cute. There is token updating – the women, Prabhleen (Bhumi Pednekar) and Antara (Rakul Preet Singh), wear contemporary outfits and have trendy careers. Prabhleen is a TV reporter, Antara a specialist in sports medicine. The guy they both set their hearts on is Ankur (Arjun Kapoor). Ankur works with his father’s real estate brokerage but is mostly seen hanging out with his friend Rehan (Harsh Gujral), who has the best lines of the lot.
When the film opens, Ankur is waking up from horror movie-like nightmares about Prabhleen, his ex-wife. She is volatile and prone to drinking and tantrums. After spending five years moping, Ankur runs into his school crush Antara, who is into hang gliding and river rafting while Ankur does nothing more strenuous than reaching out to a glass of booze. He confesses his past to Antara and for some inexplicable reason, she agrees to marry him.
Prabhleen reappears and wants Ankur back. In a contrivance that only a silly Hindi movie could muster (Aziz shares writing credits with producer Vashu Bhagnani), Antara invites Prabhleen, her whole family and even a supposed boyfriend (Aditya Seal) to her wedding in Scotland. She is sure that Ankur will not let her down even though he dillydallies between the two sparring women. Prabhleen, in full psycho mode, tries every trick to break up the relationship.
Divorce is not looked at closely in our films, so it is refreshing to see it being tackled without too much fuss and bother. Even Antara’s parents (Kanwaljeet Singh, Anita Raj) are divorcees who seem to get along fine. Dino Morea turns up in a cameo as Antara’s cool brother in a man bun.
Mudassar Aziz has decent comedies like Happy Bhaag Jaayegi and Khel Khel Mein to his credit. Unfortunately, his latest film is neither funny nor dramatic enough to be engaging.
The characters seem like spoilt rich types with the emotional depth of invertebrates. Bhumi Pednekar, sneering, glowering and vamping it up at full volume, overacts to make up for the shortcomings of her co-stars, who have considerable difficulties in that department.
