Mixed Doubles
In its own unpretentious way, it does manage to crack quite a few nice digs at middle-class morality and hypocrisies.
On the face of it, Mixed Doubles seems too slight a film. Short, low-budgeted, with a modest star cast and an unconventional storyline. But in its own unpretentious way, the film does manage to crack quite a few nice digs at middle-class morality and hypocrisies. It may seem outrageous but is never offensive. It's satirical but doesn't get heavy-handed. It keeps the good humour and smiles intact, which is what makes it so eminently viewable.
The premise is simple: can a couple find excitement in their 10-year-old boring marriage by looking outside? Is swinging, partner-swapping the answer? Rajat Kapoor brings alive a set of goofy, oddball characters. There's the working class Sunil (Ranvir) who may be a jerk but you still care for him. There's his earnest wife Malti (Konkana) and the office confidants Sammy (Saurabh) and Dosh (Vinay), all believable. The vignettes of urban middle-class marriage are presented very well. The everyday banalities ring a bell, be it buying the yellow dal or thinking of Baba Ramdev's Kapalbhati pranayam as the cure-all for all civilisational problems—be it the squabbles by the washing machine or the occasional moments of spontaneous romance. Some bits in the screenplay do falter, like how Sunil gets attracted to the notion of wife-swapping, how he tricks Malti into it. It does get too filmi and absurd.
Mixed Doubles is a film about sex but doesn't get high on the titillation quotient. In fact, most of the raunchiness comes from the delightfully tongue-in-cheek dialogues. The lines are very original and smart in their ribald wordplay. The performances too are uniformally competent with each actor fitting the character to a T. However, the standout show comes from Vinay Pathak. As a man unable to accept his wife's indiscretions, his breakdown act in the office canteen is superb. And Naseeruddin Shah in the short cameo as Malti's eccentric father leaves you asking for more. Even a couple of minutes are enough for an actor to make an impact.
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Courtesy: Film Information
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