Funny and witty, that’s how one would describe Rajat Kapoor’s Mixed Doubles. The main concept of the film is marriage and relationships within this institution. The underlying concept of the film is wife-swapping. Rajat Kapoor is aptly able to make wife swapping the secondary issue by giving it a realistic approach.
Mixed Doubles is directed by Rajat Kapoor and produced by Sunil Doshi. The star cast consists of Ranvir Shorey (Sunil), Konkona Sen Sharma (Malti), Rajat Kapoor (Vinod), Koel Puri (Kalpana), Saurabh Shukla (Sammy), Vinay Pathak (Dosh), Divya Jagdal (Urmi), Naseeruddin Shah (Malti’s dad) and Apurva Gupta (Avi), a striking and competent cast.
Sunil and Malti, a couple in their 30’s had a love marriage and now after ten years of marriage, they have a nice house, double incomes, good jobs, a son and a normal life in Mumbai. But now it’s just that, it’s just too plain and too normal. They have everything on the outside, but it’s the passion and fire for each other that has dwindled over the years and now getting intimate with each other is just another chore.
This couple loves each other; they want to work out a way where none of them seek bedroom bliss outside their own bedroom. They don’t want to go astray, but they want to rekindle the fire for each other. While speaking with his colleagues in office, Sunil chances upon a novel plan, wife swapping. But as any middle class wife, Malti is repelled by the idea. Sunil begs, pleads, fights and finally emotionally blackmails his wife into accepting his idea. After a lot of rigmarole and genuinely comic situations, Sunil finds a willing couple in Vinod and Kalpana. They decide to meet over drinks.
However the climax is a complete letdown, it’s like a tease. All the fun and wittiness of the pre-climax goes for a toss in the second half.
Rajat Kapoor has chosen an interesting topic, however he does stand to isolate a vast category of audiences. Wife swapping is definitely not one of the topics that will go down well with non urbanites. On the other hand even urban and multiplex audiences may find it a little too daring a way to solve boredom and bring back the fire in the on screen couple’s sex life.
The look of the film, Sunil-Malti’s drab, functional apartment in contrast with the odd brightness of the Khannas’ eerie home-is unusual and cinematographer Rafey Mehmood has done a good job. The entire cast of Mixed Doubles has a great on screen chemistry, they all relate very well with each other and this clearly comes through in the film. The light handed and humorous manner in which marriage, sex and the theme of wife swapping is handled works well for the film.
However if the first half of the movie was fun, witty and interesting, the second half was an exact antithesis. The second half does not live up to audience expectations and turns into typical Hindi film mode. Ranvir Shourie is definitely the star of the film and gets a great platform to display his acting skills.
The film is a light, fun entertainer, however you don’t tend to take home too much of the story.
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| Reviewed By: Rachel Fernandes |
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