Explore Bollywood’s enduring fascination with infidelity as new films like Pati Patni Aur Woh Do and Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai continue a cinematic tradition of depicting adultery through various classic tropes and evolving narratives.
Key Points
- Bollywood has a long history of portraying adultery, with new films like Pati Patni Aur Woh Do and Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai continuing this trend.
- Common tropes include husbands fabricating stories about their wives to gain sympathy for extramarital affairs, as seen in both the original and remake of Pati Patni Aur Woh.
- The ‘lookalike lie’ is a recurring device used by philandering husbands to escape detection, exemplified in films like Saajan Chale Sasural.
- Some narratives explore complex scenarios, such as a wife turning the tables on her husband’s family in Haseen Dillruba or a couple discovering they are each other’s online dating partners in Metro… In Dino.
- Despite the chaos, many of these stories, like Gharwali Baharwali, often conclude with characters living ‘happily ever after’, reflecting a unique cinematic take on infidelity.
Adultery gets a free pass in Hindi movies since time immemorial. Fooling around shows no signs of stopping what with not one but two similar themed flicks rolling out in theatres one week after another in May.
In Pati Patni Aur Woh Do‘s cocktail of life partner and laughs, Ayushmann Khurrana juggles between three stunners, Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Singh and Wamiqa Gabbi.
Meanwhile, David Dhawan returns to his love for hanky-panky with son Varun justifying his antics around Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai.
The title, of course, is a nod to a song from his 1999 comedy of cheaters, Biwi No 1.
Sukanya Verma looks at some sure-shot signs to look for in Bollywood’s straying spouse stories.
Problematic pati finding problem in patni, Pati Patni Aur Woh
Deceit has a new face as Kartik Aaryan lies about his wife Bhumi Pednekar carrying on with her student to arouse Ananya Pandey’s sympathy and engage in an extramarital affair himself in Pati Patni Aur Woh.
Back in the 1978 original of the same name, Sanjeev Kumar made a case for his roving eye syndrome using colleague Ranjeeta’s shoulder to cry on and weave a fake narrative around wife Vidya Sinha’s terminal cancer.
Ghar Mein Ram Gali Mein Shyam, Biwi No 1
Pretending to be strangers around the hot model you’re going on secretly holidays with in front of sanskari biwi and susheel bachhas is exactly the sort of two-facedness Salman Khan going for in Biwi No 1.
Humshakal Hubby, Saajan Chale Sasural
Every time there’s a risk of getting caught like Govinda does in Saajan Chale Sasural by his two wives, Karisma Kapoor and Tabu, blame it on the duplicate.
The lookalike lie enjoys a long shelf life among Bollywood’s philandering husbands and their dim-witted halves.
Ek Phool Do Maali, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Flowers for the woh, received by the wife.
Shah Rukh Khan salvages a dangerously awkward moment in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna when the gorgeous rose bouquet he picked to gift his paramour Rani Mukerji are granted to patni Preity Zinta instead.
My devar, my saviour, Haseen Dillruba
Taapsee Pannu turns the tables on ‘saali‘ means ‘aadhi gharwali‘ saying by playing the field with dull husband Vikrant Massey’s dashing cousin Harshvardhan Rane as part of Haseen Dillruba‘s convoluted noir.
Woh Bhi Me, Metro… In Dino
When fatal attraction is two sides of the same coin…
Pankaj Tripathi and Konkona Sen Sharma’s mid-age marriage crisis finds expression in a sly cat and mouse game of online dating only for the two-timer to realise the wife and woh are one and the same.
The Family Man, Gharwali Baharwali
Anil Kapoor has the cake and the icing too in the as obnoxious as its title suggests, Gharwali Baharwali wherein not only is his second marriage to Rambha an act of kindness but the child she bears soon after is a gift his first wife Raveena Tandon couldn’t give him.
Yet they all live happily ever after.
Caught in the act Doosra Aadmi
Neetu Singh’s seeing is believing policy prompts her to follow suspect husband Rishi Kapoor and his pretty co-worker Raakhee all the way to the movies while they get too close for comfort in Doosra Aadmi.
Patni=1, Popcorn=0.
Kalesh on Karvachauth, Animal
Come to think of it, karvachauth is seldom a happy occasion in Hindi movies. If the patni‘s starving stomach connecting to the pati‘s long life isn’t agonising enough, the latter almost always picks KC of all days to reveal his womanising ways.
Swear on the Souten, Souten
Back when the wife’s ultimatum to her husband translated to Tina Munim ordering Rajesh Khanna ‘Sar pe haath rakh ke kasam khao‘ to prove his innocence around other woman Padmini Kolhapure and love and lust had to be mutually exclusive.
The Talk: Pyaar vs Vishwas, Silsila
Jaya Bachchan and Rekha face off in a meta tete-e-tete where it’s all love versus loyalty even as their object of affection — Amitabh Bachchan — gets to play favourites in what promises to be a showdown to beat all showdowns.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
