Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, which translates into extra careful of marriage, is about a same sex couple who attend a family wedding not as friends, but as a couple to the shock and horror of the patriarch, an educated man who dominates his family by wreaking havoc with his innovations and privileging his prejudices on his niece’s wedding day. Will Aman give in to his family’s pressure to marry a woman or will Kartik convince Aman’s family that he should join the family?
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan comes with so many disclaimers at the beginning of the film that instead of watching a romantic comedy, I began to worry that I accidentally stumbled into a movie based on a true story, and that the filmmakers were afraid of a lawsuit. Well, I was in the right theater to see the one hour fifty-seven minute film, but the demon of homophobia is universal. It transcends all borders, religions and cultures so the disclaimers are used to ward off any killjoy viewers who may be scandalized by the film’s content. Once the disclaimers are out of the way, the film is unapologetically in the guys’ corner.
I really enjoy Indian films because the ones that I choose to see are like adult afterschool specials—entertaining but with a single-minded focus on teaching a lesson to the audience. The added bonus is colorful costumes and dance numbers. In Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, the lesson is be happy and follow your heart. While the film definitely loses momentum, it boasts one important factor missing in most foreign films. The humor was universal. Usually humor is difficult to translate to international audiences, but my theater, which had a mixed audience, howled at the right moments. It was genuinely funny. I actually laughed out loud, which I normally am not able to do during American comedies. Instead I usually just go, “Ha, that is funny,” but actual laughter, no. A number of double entendres still worked. It is never not funny to deliberately use the wrong name for someone that you do not like. I have no idea if it is intentional, but it feels as if the film pays homage to classic Hollywood screwball comedies by having a woman character, Goggle, who initially seems like a sourpuss, but actually is the most relatable person in the family. Maanvi Gagroo plays Goggle, and she seems to have some great comedic chops.
I usually find sex in film and television boring. Unless it is germane to the plot, it tends to put the proceedings to a screeching halt. Also depictions of sex feel prurient when it comes to opposite sex couples as if the filmmaker wants the viewer to imagine having sex with one of the actors, which if that is your goal, congratulations! I am here for the story first and hotness can be a bonus, but not a priority. Heterosexual sex permeates every level of society whether or not you are looking for it. The exception to my rule of visual sexual depictions is same sex partners because their physical interaction is so censored or disparaged as disgusting that depicting that sexual attraction actually does move the story forward. If you watch most American mainstream films featuring a same sex couple, there is far less PDA than in the average film. You would not even be able to tell that the couple was anything more than friends. Most Indian films rarely feature opposite sex couples kissing or displaying any physical affection thus all the dancing, but in contrast, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan employs another classic Hollywood visual metaphor for sex, a train entering a tunnel, intercut with scenes of the couple passionately open-mouthed kissing in the train. For an Indian film, this display is practically X rated. Before and after that scene, the physical affection is sweet and understated such as one partner leaning on the other who is riding the motorcycle. There is also a lot of profanity in this movie. I have no idea how Indian audiences received the film, but it was definitely risqué by Bollywood standards. By today’s American television standards, it would barely register if the scale was set to the average Shonda Rhimes television series that appears on Thursday night on ABC.
What does get lost in translation is not knowing how wedding ceremonies are usually conducted in India so I could not compare and contrast with how it unfolded in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. I think that the film was playing with the nuptial ceremony, but I missed those jokes. There was also a whole bit about medicine-allopathic versus homeopathic. I do not even know what it means, and I picked up nada from the context. Also are rebirth ceremonies a thing?
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan needed work on the narrative structure. It began with the How We Got Here opening scene, which felt redundant since that scene gets repeated shortly thereafter. The film initially used both men as narrators, starting with Aman then Kartik, who is really the star of the movie. It left me a little confused. If there is going to be a narrator, choose the most dynamic character. Jitendra Kumar plays Aman, and he is mostly the straight man in the pair whereas Ayushmann Khurrana who plays Kartik gets the best scene stealing moments. It is not that Kumar is not good. It is that Khurrana is such a scene stealer that you would have to work overtime to shine when he is around. He has a dance off with the patriarch to get his man. He goes shirtless wearing a rainbow flag around his neck like a cape. He is a complete trip.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan struggles when it channels Keenan Ivory Wayans’ Mailman from Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood and screams, “Message.” Occasionally a young family member occasionally discovers on his iPad then quotes scientific facts about whether sexual orientation is a choice or biological. The denouement turns on whether or not the highest court will uphold Article 377, which apparently criminalized sexual activities that are considered “unnatural,” which spoiler alert, it did not, so if their relationship is vindicated by the court then everything is fine! I wish. Evil never stops.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan has quite a few balls in the air with side stories that they use to support the central lesson: the tyranny of the eldest over the family instead of everyone having a say, a person who never made it through law school and never overcame the ignominy, arranged marriage instead of marriage for love, a science experiment that ignites protests in their region. It manages to pull all the stories together, but as an attorney, I despise resolutions that randomly drop a legal argument to wrap up the story. It worked, but a shorter, more tightly focused film or a film that consistently used the ensemble cast instead of unevenly distributing the delightful characters’ storylines throughout the narrative could have been better.
Fun fact: apparently Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan is a spin off of a film called Shubh Mangal Savdhaan, which translates into beware of marriage, and apparently addresses erectile dysfunction. Normally I am a completist and would feel the need to watch this film, but not in this particular case. If you know how the films are related, please drop me a line—is it set in the same neighborhood, shared characters, etc.?
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan is a delightful movie that probably needed a second set of dispassionate eyes overseeing the editing process to make it soar. If you are into LGBTQ films and Indian films, it is a must see film, but if you hate subtitles, walk on by.