‘Tanu Weds Manu’ - a tale of attraction among opposites (Movie Preview)

NEW DELHI - There is a saying that opposites attract — and director Aanand L. Rai explores it in his romantic comedy “Tanu Weds Manu”, starring Kangana Ranaut and R. Madhavan, which releases Friday.

In the film, Madhavan plays Manoj Sharma a.k.a. Manu, a smart, intelligent, but shy NRI who has all the qualities of a good husband. He loves reading and listening to old songs, but hates loud music and crowded places.

Though he is educated and settled in London, Manu would never do anything against his parents’ will. He is keen to marry a homely girl, so he comes to India to find a suitable match and meets Tanu a.k.a. Tanuja Trivedi, who is completely opposite of what he is looking for.

Madhavan admits that it has been his toughest role till date.

A beautiful, charming and extrovert girl from Kanpur, Tanu lives life on her own terms and dreams of marrying a guy who her parents will hate. She is also against arranged marriage and doesn’t like being told what to do and what not to.

She loves to ride bikes, drink alcohol and admires Che Guevara, the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, guerrilla leader and military theorist who played a prominent role in the Cuban Revolution.

The film follows how two seemingly opposite-natured people end up falling in love with each other.

True to her character who defies every perceived trait of a small town girl, Kangana didn’t shy from riding a Bullet in the film, although she was nervous while shooting the scene. In this sequence she was supposed to ride the bike with a pillion rider and drive through crowded, narrow streets. For this, she gave maximum re-takes.

Leave aside riding a bike, Kangana, who started working at the young age of 16 and couldn’t attend college, got a chance to enjoy campus life when she stayed in a Delhi University hostel to prepare for her role.

Kangana plays a resident student of Delhi University. The 23-year-old stayed at the PG Women’s Hostel in 2009. The producers arranged for her stay and took the required measures to protect her identity.

Rai has also roped in Jimmy Shergill, Eijaz Khan, Ravi Kishan and Deepak Dobriyal to make the story interesting.

Rumours were abuzz that Madhavan was upset with Kangana hogging the limelight for “Tanu Weds Manu”, but the actor denied it saying he is very fond of the actress.

A superstitious Madhavan also asked the director to keep his entry in the film similar to that of “3 Idiots”, as he feels it is lucky for him since the film was a blockbuster.