In Mudassar Aziz’s Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, troubles comes in multiples. The intended comedy of errors is about forest officer Prajapati, his wife and the two women with whom he’s accused of having an affair.
The Hindi film is set mostly in Prayagraj. Prajapati (Ayushmann Khurrana) obliges when his college friend Chanchal (Sara Ali Khan) requests that he pose as her lover to save her from the thuggish politician Gajraj (Tigmanshu Dhulia), whose son Sunny (Vishal Vashishtha) is Chanchal’s actual boyfriend.
Gajraj is a casteist type. All Chanchal and Prajapati have to do is distract Gajraj’s goons before Chanchal elopes with Sunny.
Prajapati is spotted by his colleague Nilofer (Rakul Preet Singh), who is also the best friend of his wife Aparna (Wamiqa Gabbi). Others get on Prajapati’s case, including Chanchal’s garrulous aunt (Ayesha Raza Mishra) and the corrupt cop Dharamvir (Vijay Raaz).
Mudassar Aziz instructs the cast to perform in a highly exaggerated manner and deliver every line at high volume. Only Khurrana, Singh and Raza Mishra are able to carry off this hyperbolic style. If the movie had been played straight, and if the acting had been naturalistic, it might perhaps have been a bit more effective.
Shouting out the dialogue doesn’t make it funnier. Nor does slathering loud music in the background. Aziz, who directed the delightful Happy Bhag Jayegi all those moons ago, hasn’t found the right pitch for his sly take on conventional morality ever since.
What Aziz and co-writer Ravi Kumar do manage in Pati Patni Aur Woh Do is to smuggle in the occasional barb at prejudice and pettiness. The skewering of biases based on caste, religion or sexuality, although less radical than it appears, is more entertaining than watching humans squawk and scamper about like chickens.
