Director Mudassar Aziz is back with another comedy of errors. Pati Patni Aur Woh Do takes the trope of the ‘woh’ in a marriage to the next level with Ayushmann Khurrana’s character dealing not just with his wife, but two other women. As the trailer dropped, many criticised the film for ‘promoting’ infidelity in the 21st century. But the filmmaker says it couldn’t be further from the truth. In a no-holds-barred chat about the film and his social responsibility, Mudassar Aziz tells HT how it differs from other films on the subject.
Pati Patni Aur Woh Do stars Ayushmann as a forest officer married to Wamiqa Gabbi’s character. His life turns upside down when a mysterious woman, played by Sara Ali Khan, enters. Complicating matters is a colleague (Rakul Preet Singh). And pretty soon, the entire town believes Ayushmann’s Prajapati is a philanderer.
Ayushmann’s character is patnivrata
Mudassar Aziz says he consciously made the film different from the previous Pati Patni Aur Woh. “You are also challenging yourself. You have a quest to give the audience something new this time. I said to myself, ‘How about if we make this subject with a nihaayat hi patnivrata (extremely devoted to wife), jisko kehte hain na ki ekdum sabhya purush (extremely civilised man)?’ When B.R. [Chopra] Sahab tackled it, he did so in the context of changing times, when men were beginning to understand what working women around them would be like. Then, when I tackled it in 2019 (with the Kartik Aaryan-starrer), I talked about the boredom of marriage. It’s not necessarily that the person is wrong, but sometimes communication breaks down between two people, and things can go wrong. So this time I said, ‘Give yourself this luxury, let’s make a Pati Patni Aur Woh in which the pati (husband) does not have a roving eye.’”
From that idea was born Prajapati Pandey, a man caught between a rock and a hard place, explains Mudassar. “There is this official in the Forest Department, Prajapati Pandey, who loves his wife very much, and some comedy of errors occurs in his life. The world starts to feel that there is no man worse than him. The story gets to a point where you feel, ‘Bhai, someone please support this shareef aadmi (decent man)’,” says the filmmaker.
Pati Patni Aur Woh Do does not promote infidelity
Online chatter around the film was largely positive, but there was criticism of the film making light of extramarital affairs and promoting infidelity. Mudassar says his film does none of that. “Every genre and every maker should have an individual responsibility and a responsibility toward the story. And I feel that, unfortunately, we are living in a very trigger-happy world where we want to quickly say, ‘Oh, this is like this, or that is like that’,” he explains.
He adds, “The only way to answer people is with the film. I am very particular about this—comedy should be created from the situation, not from some bhadde mazaak (crude joke). Ayushmann and I both have a track record of never trying to make someone laugh at something wrong. Ayushmann has handled such tricky subjects like Vicky Donor, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Dum Laga Ke Haisha—very sensitive topics—but neither does he have the bone to do something irresponsible, nor do I. So it’s a strange “laanchhan” (accusation) to say you are promoting something. It’s not that at all. I believe the answer to everything should be in your story, your film, and your writing. That is the best way. One should not dwell on it too much.”
Produced by T Series Films and BR Studios, Pati Patni Aur Woh Do also stars Vijay Raaz, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vishal Vasistha, Guneet Singh, Durgesh Kumar, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Shireesh Kumar Sharma and Deepika Amin. The film releases in theatres on May 15.
