The use of double roles has been a prevalent plot element in Hindi films for decades. There isn't one popular actor of yesteryear mainstream cinema who didn't play dual roles at least once in his films, and it was common expectation of each star to play double so as to prove their acting prowess. Sometimes it worked quite wonderfully, and sometimes the results were laughably bad. Few of these films were of good quality, among which Ramesh Sippy's Seeta Aur Geeta remains a definitive classic where both the film and the lead performance by Hema Malini made wonders. Anand L. Rai makes Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and it definitely belongs to the category of good films employing dual roles. It might not be a perfect film, but it works. The film is actually a sequel to the enjoyable musical romance Tanu Weds Manu, but it is pretty much a film of its own which could be watched without having to see the prequel. It is essentially very different from the prequel in style, mood and execution, but most importantly, this is one of the rare occasions where a sequel is better than the first film.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns is amusing and entertaining, but above all, it is a nice film. The script is good, with some wonderful dialogue and cleverly handled situational comedy which generally doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience. The very first scene where Tanu and Manu recount their dysfunctional marriage and argue along the way is testament to that - it is excellent and consistently funny. Sadly, the second half starts losing some of its wittiness as it goes on and somewhere towards the end it starts gathering moments of pure silliness and some messy portions which drag it a bit down. Some of the scenes during the wedding reception in particular were not easy to follow and included too many unnecessary diversions. In that respect, the film's style is inconsistent, and it's placed somewhere between the old classics by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the silly comedies by David Dhawan. Another one of its biggest minuses for me was the poor dubbing and sound which often did not sound natural or genuine and took away from the quality achieved in the writing.

Among the highlights of this film, the film's highpoint is the scene where Tanu and Datto finally meet, and it is absolutely delightful. Indeed, Kangana Ranaut reaches impossible heights in her exploration of her own artistic limits. Generally speaking, her dialogue delivery is much more refined and confident than it used to be in some of her previous films, and she plays the two roles so differently one can almost forget it is the same actor. As the titular Tanu, she is typically wicked and unlikable and plays her just fine even if she overdoes a little her scowl at times. Her biggest achievement, however, is the creation of Datto, one of the loveliest, most distinct characters one can think of, and she plays her with amazing vigor and affection. The Haryani accent she employs for her is impressive and just adorable. Madhavan, who was brilliant in the prequel, is relegated to a supporting actor in this film, which is sad but so is everyone else. They're all the backdrop for Ms. Ranaut, and she is the star of this show. This project is overall a very good film which is worth a watch, particularly for Kangana, whose presence shines.

Director Mr. Anand L. Rai possesses very good flair for romantic comedy. His work is simply fantastic. He never let anyone go overboard. Approach towards scenes is very novel. Writer Himanshu Sharma has delivered again an entertaining film with balance dose of emotions. He has an ascending graph in his career. Usually its very difficult to carry a sequel but he has done with ease and with complete justification to its first part. Actually, it is ahead of its predecessor. Story line crosses beautifully with the first part. Good example of it is its interval, which clearly shows that it is integral part of its first one. Interval is humorous with drama. Screenplay holds your interest aptly. Dialogues are real and hard core entertaining. Even opening credits promise you that you are going to be entertained and film succeeds in it in balanced way. This film proves that if Director, writer and actors have clear cut understanding of characters then entertainment has to be there. This film pops up some messages too, which are soft but make you to think, i.e about women empowerment in Datto (Kusum) family. Climax is little stretched but again its entertain you and make you emotional too. This film is supported by very good performance. Hats off to Kangana Ranaut. She deserves standing ovation. You have to remind yourself that she is portraying two characters otherwise soon she will take you under her spell of performance that you have to forget that actually there is a single actor, performing double role. She is terrific. Again brilliant performance by Deepak Dobrial as Puppy. His expressions are just amazing. You have to laugh with just his body language and expressions. He is excellent. R. Madhvan is very good. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as Lawyer Chintu is impressive. Swara Bhaskar as Payal is fine. Rajesh Sharma is very good. Jimmy Shergill is good. Music is peppy and supports the film well. Even Background score is very good.

Honestly TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS is not a flawless venture as per its unconventional or unrealistic storyline dealing with divorce and re- marriage. But giving the makers their much deserving credit, it never lets you think about the missing logic or flaws due to a highly entertaining progression and thus emerges as a thoroughly enjoyable family entertainer for all age groups especially from the related regions of Kanpur, Haryana and Punjab.

Beginning with the complete song "Sun Sahiba Sun" from Raj Kapoor's RAM TERI GANGA MAILI (1985) being played along the typical marriage video coverage visuals on the screen, it sets the mood brilliantly and then keeps serving many highly enjoyable sequences till the next one hour with a well-paced story advancement introducing the fresh settings. There are witty one liners, realistic portrayals of smaller towns, superb performances and full 'paisa-vasool' entertainment in this electrifying opening hour, till an English song comes in putting the first brakes in the momentum going so strong. In short, TWMR proves to be a sure shot winner in its first half and for this the major credit goes to its talented director Anand L Rai and his writer Himanshu Sharma conceiving it so beautifully with the help of their exceptional cast ensemble.

Post intermission the pleasant surprises continue to come for the next 30 minutes but then admittedly the pace drops mainly due to a few unwanted songs and further plot complexities weakening the overall progression. Yet what keeps you purely undisturbed and engrossed is the film's charming treatment, entertaining dialogues and simply outstanding performances from every single person giving you a good time in the theater without any heavy melodrama or emotional sequences. The golden oldie "Ja Ja Ja Ja Bewafa" from AAR PAAR (1954) gets incorporated beautifully towards the end and also for the first time one gets to see so many Sikh characters dressed in typical Gharba attire holding dandia sticks.

Cinematography and background score successfully maintain the required mood throughout and costumes certainly attract your attention depicting the diverse cultures. Musically the songs look pretty fine while watching the film, but the soundtrack surely misses that one big upbeat number as enjoyed in its first part. Still "Banno" inspired from a folk traditional track works well and so does "Main Ghani Bawari Ho Gayi" sung by Jyoti Nooran along with the innovative "Move On" and "Old School Girl".

Coming to the biggest merit of the film, its performances, no doubt this is another 'eye opener' performance from the powerhouse called Kangna Ranuat, who keeps on delivering pleasant surprises one after another. The girl once again comes up with an act (rather double act) that is sure going to give many more sleepless nights to all big female stars of our Hindi cinema unarguably. Particularly her well adapted dialogue delivery and local accent playing Datto (the Haryanvi athlete) deserves to be included in her career best performances till date after QUEEN. Kangna truly leads the film with her hypnotic twin acts played to perfection and one simply cannot imagine any other girl playing these two contrastingly difficult roles in the same film so impactfully.

However TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS would not have been the same without Deepal Dobriyal posing as the backbone of almost all enjoyable sequences with his quick one liners and amusing comments. For instance just watch out the scene where in Madhavan's father breaks the tubelight and he is just sitting between the father-son (and mother too constantly speaking in the backdrop).

Along with Kangna and Deepak the third strong pillar of TWMR is Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub giving a terrific performance as the unwanted tenant of the house. And then are the adorably cool and underplayed acts of R. Madhavan and Jimmy Sheirgill as the two leading stars of the film looking for their respective girls. Swara Bhaskar in her small role of Tanu's best friend plays her part well and the same can be said about the entire supporting cast adding their own impressive bits in the enjoyable proceedings.

Talking about the illogical flaws the film actually begins on a quite weird note where the couple is strangely discussing their divorce case in front of a team of people/doctors of a mental asylum or a psychiatric hospital (Now what they have to do with the divorce cases?).

Secondly, the whole script unrealistically revolves around the second marriage of the hero and he is even shown going for the 'Saat Pheras' in the climax, whereas he has not even taken an official divorce from his earlier wife.

Thirdly, there is a huge mess in age difference in the characters where at one end both Madhavan and Jimmy Sheirgill are probably 35- 40 in age (as per the storyline) and Datto, the girl they are willing to marry studies in a college, putting her in the age group of 18-20.

Fourthly, the song "Main Ghani Bawari Ho Gayi" is surprisingly sung by the foreign returned Tanu in the film whereas the Haryanvi language is supposed to be the forte of Datto.

Lastly and most importantly at one end Datto's uncle (Rajesh Sharma) gives us the message of women liberation in the film, but on the other is eagerly willing to marry his 'young athlete' niece of mere 18-20 years to an over-aged (35-40 years old),yet to be divorced person just after a few days of interaction so childishly.

In all if you loved watching TANU WEDS MANU, then chances are that you would love TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS even more. But in case you find the emotional factor missing in this worth watching sequel, then also it will not disappoint you at all with enough in store fulfilling the basic needs of a viewer, of getting thoroughly entertained.