A bold take on gents problem

Arranged marriages have been a landmine for Indian families over the years. Even when the important yet superficial factors of horoscope matching and other compatibility issues are looked into, the psychological sync between the couple-to-be and the sensitive issues of sexual compatibility unravel themselves only after the weddings takes place.

Of course, the silent sufferings the newly married pair undergo if there are some problematic, delicate aspects to the consummation of marriage are the kinds of pressures which often do not get adequately addressed. This is what is taken up with ‘Shubh Mangal Savdhaan’.

Director R S Prasanna reprises his 2013 Tamil hit ‘ Kalyana Samayal Sadham’, which was a highly watchable film on what happens when the young husband suffers from erectile dysfunction, a fact which is known to the bride-to-be before marriage, and how the mature handling of the issue turns into a win-win situation for her at the end.

Steering away clearly from making it a raunchy film, for which the subject offers tremendous scope by itself, Prasanna has a very talented pair donning the lead roles – Ayushmann Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar – whose pair was well received for their earlier family film ‘ Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ (2015). The movie holds a mirror to what happens in the lives of the young things and how the friends, relatives and parents from both sides step in and step out to both complicate and offer counsel alternatively.

Sensitively done for the major part, the unwarranted hype surrounding the subject of sexual inadequacy, however temporary, on the part of the male is strikingly revealed. Interweaving the familial interferences into the couple’s lives when the girl’s father takes a dominant role in ’ solving’ the problem is both heartwarming and embarrassing, at least for the troubled hero.

Bhumi Pednekar, who has the stronger role as far as enabling her to act and emote keeps growing higher and higher on the performance front. Khurana, an iconoclastic hero of sorts among the young brigade of Hindi cinema, matches his acting abilities with her but the emotionally adjusted heroine is the winner ultimately.

A very encouraging trend of coming up with meaningful, content-laden films has engulfed Hindi cinema for sure, which has often been criticised for its brazen commercialism regularly. Despite a subaltern message of how patient handling of such deeply private issues can end it to the benefit of its victims, the film mixes humour and social commentary on gender relationships to spice up the proceedings rather well.

By K Naresh Kumar