Several years ago, a little unknown movie came out, Tanu Weds Manu, which went on to become a sleeper hit upon release. This month, its sequel came out, and in a very rare case in Bollywood, the sequel surpasses the original.

We meet the married couple in London four years after their whirlwind romance. They are at a marriage counselor where they argue with one another. Clearly, they are at odds and Manu is put away in mental asylum. Tanu comes back home and reconnects to her family in India, and so ends up there. She revels in her old lifestyle and her single life. Manu, in the meantime, is released from ayslum by his friend Pappi. He makes his way back to India to be with his parents. He sends the divorce papers to his wife and moves on with his life. At a college lecture, he happens to see a woman who looks a lot like his wife and starts to follow her. Turns out she is Kusum, a Haryanvi athlete woman. They strike up a friendship and he starts to fall in love with Kusum. Tanu finds out about her husband falling in love with her lookalike and thus pursues him. How they all meet up, including Tanu’s ex-boyfriend and her new crush, forms the rest of the movie as the stage is set for Manu’s wedding with Kusum.

I have to say that this movie belongs to Kangana Ranaut. She’s done an exemplary role playing the sassy and feisty Tanu, who speaks English and displays bravado. On the flip side, she slips into the role of a Haryanvi Punjabi athlete woman with such ease, you forget very quickly that’s it the same actress. With short cropped hair, false set of teeth and the accent, Kangana owns the characters. She provides the biggest laughs in the movie and if there is one extremely talented actress to watch out for, it’s Kangana (she was superb in Queen too!)

R. Madhavan does his part well, playing the sullen, morose husband who misses his first wife. His friend Pappi, provides laughter, which thankfully was genuinely funny, without resorting to the slapstick comedy that Bollywood comedies usually delves into. I am not a huge fan of the ending though, which I thought was very typical and Bollywood-ish. However, this doesn’t necessarily ruin the entire movie.

I don’t remember laughing out loud so much at a Bollywood movie before, and I really had a good time. I was also impressed by Kangana’s ability to essay two different characters with such ease. I don’t think it would be wrong to say that this is the finest double role ever in Bollywood.

I am beginning to enjoy these small budget movies a lot more now than the big budget one. Piku and NH 10, which I previously reviewed, are other great small budget movies.

I am also sensing this shift of Bollywood producing female oriented movies that are making it big: Queen, Piku, NH 10.

I have to say though, the funniest scene in the movie takes place at a wedding where Kusum puts to use her deadly karate chop. I was ready to fall on the floor laughing out loud.

Go and enjoy this movie and laugh your heart out.

4.5 out of 5 (0.5 deducted for the ending!)