A relaxed Sunday morning deserves a light-hearted film for viewing. ‘Pati, Patni aur Woh’ is all of that, and surprisingly so, because it deals with the topic of marital infidelity.
The film released in 1978, which is why the opening song comes across as a bit unconventional. We watch the animated version of Adam and Eve frolicking about in ‘Jannat’ (both unclad and surrounded by cupid like creatures who also have on nothing but their wings). Enter the forbidden fruit, they give in to temptation and bite into it. Naturally, they are thrown out of Jannat and arrive in the real world. The forbidden fruit also follows them like Mary’s little lamb and that’s where the story begins.
Sanjeev Kumar and Vidya Sinha, meet, fall in love and get married. That takes only about the first 15 minutes of the film. They embark on a life of marital bliss after a hilarious
‘suhaag raat’ where Sanjeev Kumar tries to follow instructions on how to woo his wife, given by his well-meaning friends. Only to discover that his wife is not playing according to script as she too is following the advice given by her friends. So, when he enters the bedroom, expecting to find his blushing bride sitting coyly on the bed, he sees her standing at the window gazing soulfully at the moon.
Cut to seven years later, where they are still living in marital bliss but in a larger house and with a son. Our hero is a successful sales manager with an office fit for a CEO; velvet curtains, plush furniture and all. Oh, and it must be mentioned that he also has a roving eye, which must be kept well in check out of respect to the sacred bond.
Enter the forbidden fruit in the form of his new secretary (a trim and attractive Ranjeeta) and the roving eye pops out of its socket. He sets out to charm her by concocting a plausible story of a terminally ill wife at home and how bravely he is enduring this lonely existence. Ranjeeta, who is a nice girl and all heart, falls for him and his story. Our hero skillfully flits from wife to secretary and office to home, managing to manoeuvre time with each. He breezily cooks up tales of meetings, overtime and the burden of work, all of which are accepted by an unsuspecting wife. Until one day when he lets fall a lipstick stained handkerchief in front of her and the proverbial s**t hits the fan.
For most of us, Sanjeev Kumar is mainly remembered as the smouldering Thakur of Sholay and they ‘yeh haath mujhe dey do, Thakur…’ dialogue. But he is just as accomplished in lighter roles. His sense of comic timing is flawless and his dimpled, boyish smile makes you overlook the fact that he is cheating on his wife.
Who can forget Sanjeev Kumar’s uninhibited rendition of the song ‘Thande thande paani se nahana chahiye’? Completely un-sexy, clad in baggy, navy-blue and white striped shorts hitched up around a flabby tummy, he pours water over himself, his wife and son with gusto, all the time singing ‘gaana aaye ya na aaye, gaana chahiye’. It’s a riot in the shower.
Since the film is set in the 20th century, some outdated, politically incorrect bits are unavoidable. The behaviour of men in the office would easily fill up the pages of a #Me Too diary. The wife decides to stay on with her philandering husband- for the sake of their child- and that is deemed as a proper ending to the episode. There is also the age-old reaction of the man on being found out- ‘She made me do it. She’s a baaad woman. Poor me. I’m innocent. Boo Hoo’. Just like Adam did after sampling the forbidden fruit.
Apparently, the official remake of this film is due in 2020 but I have no desire to watch it. There can be only one Sanjeev Kumar so there should be just the one Pati, Patni aur Woh’.
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