We have to hand it to writer-director Anukalp Goswami for his daredevilry. He has actually constructed a comedy about a roving-eyed Bromio (that’s Romeo, who seems more comfortable with his male best friend) than any of the women he marries that offends no one, even as it is busy offending all the clamouring characters.
When we first meet the film’s hero Mohan(played by none other than the irrepressible Kapil Sharma), he is climbing the steps to a Baba(Yashpal Sharma, priceless)’s ashram singing a romantic song to the girl he wants to marry, Sania(Hira Warina). The problem, if you must know, is that the girl is Muslim and the boy a Hindu. And you know how it is.
It is one of the quieter moments in this noisy comedy about one man trapped in the affections of multiple women: the ultimate pubescent fantasy, here rendered into a breezy, innocuous mood which never becomes brackish, nasty or vulgar, although the climate of polygyny remains constantly bullish and audacious.
Writer-director Anukalp Goswami never allows the sheer illegality of the protagonist married to three women from three religious communities, with a fourth on the anvil, to colour his comicality. Throughout, the feeling of a fun ride, impervious to religious and communal ramifications, prevails to the extent that we are numbed into leaning int a a kind of la-la-land arcadia where one man assumes multiple identities and “marries” a Muslim, Catholic (called ‘Christian’) and Hindu and is all set to marry a Sikh girl who is actually a Muslim adopted by a Sikh couple.
Don’t try to unravel the plot. Just go with the frenetic flow, the giggly glow. While the leading ladies are pert props to the protagonist’s precocious peccadillos, the chemistry between the protagonist Mohan/Michael/Mehmood and his bestie, named Hubby(hence many spousal jokes), is more pronounced and interesting.
A question here: why is Manjot Singh typecast as the hero’s friend when he is every bit as talented as the hero? Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon is mildly enjoyable only if you suspend all disbelief and trust the writer-director’s vision of a world where a man marries multiple times out of a sense of charity and compassion.
You heard that right! The hero can’t bring himself to say no to all the women who want to marry him. In fact, at the end, all the women huddle together in a circle of swami-worship around Kapil, who simply loves all the attention.
Kapil remains a ‘farce’ of Nature: coolly absurdist, a guy who doesn’t know how the real world works and is happy creating his own parallel comic universe. Some other supporting actors here are also interesting. Vipin Sharma as the Muslim girl’s scootie-riding father, is into the mood of masti without kicking in too hard.
And what a joy to see Asrani in his farewell performance as a multi-lingual Padre. They don’t make ‘em like him anymore. The same goes for big-screen sitcoms. This one is likeable for its giggly guilelessness.
Rating: 3/5
