Director Mr. Anand L. Rai possesses very good flair for romantic comedy. His work is simply fantastic. He never let anyone go overboard. Approach towards scenes is very novel. Writer Himanshu Sharma has delivered again an entertaining film with balance dose of emotions. He has an ascending graph in his career. Usually its very difficult to carry a sequel but he has done with ease and with complete justification to its first part. Actually, it is ahead of its predecessor. Story line crosses beautifully with the first part. Good example of it is its interval, which clearly shows that it is integral part of its first one. Interval is humorous with drama. Screenplay holds your interest aptly. Dialogues are real and hard core entertaining. Even opening credits promise you that you are going to be entertained and film succeeds in it in balanced way. This film proves that if Director, writer and actors have clear cut understanding of characters then entertainment has to be there. This film pops up some messages too, which are soft but make you to think, i.e about women empowerment in Datto (Kusum) family. Climax is little stretched but again its entertain you and make you emotional too. This film is supported by very good performance. Hats off to Kangana Ranaut. She deserves standing ovation. You have to remind yourself that she is portraying two characters otherwise soon she will take you under her spell of performance that you have to forget that actually there is a single actor, performing double role. She is terrific. Again brilliant performance by Deepak Dobrial as Puppy. His expressions are just amazing. You have to laugh with just his body language and expressions. He is excellent. R. Madhvan is very good. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as Lawyer Chintu is impressive. Swara Bhaskar as Payal is fine. Rajesh Sharma is very good. Jimmy Shergill is good. Music is peppy and supports the film well. Even Background score is very good.

The use of double roles has been a prevalent plot element in Hindi films for decades. There isn't one popular actor of yesteryear mainstream cinema who didn't play dual roles at least once in his films, and it was common expectation of each star to play double so as to prove their acting prowess. Sometimes it worked quite wonderfully, and sometimes the results were laughably bad. Few of these films were of good quality, among which Ramesh Sippy's Seeta Aur Geeta remains a definitive classic where both the film and the lead performance by Hema Malini made wonders. Anand L. Rai makes Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and it definitely belongs to the category of good films employing dual roles. It might not be a perfect film, but it works. The film is actually a sequel to the enjoyable musical romance Tanu Weds Manu, but it is pretty much a film of its own which could be watched without having to see the prequel. It is essentially very different from the prequel in style, mood and execution, but most importantly, this is one of the rare occasions where a sequel is better than the first film.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns is amusing and entertaining, but above all, it is a nice film. The script is good, with some wonderful dialogue and cleverly handled situational comedy which generally doesn't insult the intelligence of the audience. The very first scene where Tanu and Manu recount their dysfunctional marriage and argue along the way is testament to that - it is excellent and consistently funny. Sadly, the second half starts losing some of its wittiness as it goes on and somewhere towards the end it starts gathering moments of pure silliness and some messy portions which drag it a bit down. Some of the scenes during the wedding reception in particular were not easy to follow and included too many unnecessary diversions. In that respect, the film's style is inconsistent, and it's placed somewhere between the old classics by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the silly comedies by David Dhawan. Another one of its biggest minuses for me was the poor dubbing and sound which often did not sound natural or genuine and took away from the quality achieved in the writing.

Among the highlights of this film, the film's highpoint is the scene where Tanu and Datto finally meet, and it is absolutely delightful. Indeed, Kangana Ranaut reaches impossible heights in her exploration of her own artistic limits. Generally speaking, her dialogue delivery is much more refined and confident than it used to be in some of her previous films, and she plays the two roles so differently one can almost forget it is the same actor. As the titular Tanu, she is typically wicked and unlikable and plays her just fine even if she overdoes a little her scowl at times. Her biggest achievement, however, is the creation of Datto, one of the loveliest, most distinct characters one can think of, and she plays her with amazing vigor and affection. The Haryani accent she employs for her is impressive and just adorable. Madhavan, who was brilliant in the prequel, is relegated to a supporting actor in this film, which is sad but so is everyone else. They're all the backdrop for Ms. Ranaut, and she is the star of this show. This project is overall a very good film which is worth a watch, particularly for Kangana, whose presence shines.

I take movie titles very seriously. While RGV got away with the title of his Sholay remake few years ago, I won't let Mr Rai get away with this absurd title of his. How obnoxious does Tanu Weds Manu: Returns sound?

Essentially, the film picks up where it left off in the prequel i.e. start of the matrimony of the protagonists - Manu (Madhavan) and Tanu (Ranaut). However, after four years of an apparently torturous marriage, Tanu pushes Manu into a mental asylum and flies back to India to the comfort of her maternal home. What follows is a ridiculous and dramatic play where these central characters fool around just because they couldn't keep their issues with themselves. One will empathize with Manu, but audiences in their right minds will never support Tanu and her mercuric attitude which sums up to two words that Manu so efficiently describes her using, earlier in the film - bipolar disorder.

The film started quite well and I had jotted down few good points like clever humor and good dialogs, but I am going to deny Mr Rai the pleasure. The reason that no insight is provided into why Tanu does what she does is horrendous. And it is the biggest problem the film faces.

Madhavan has nothing much to do here other than flexing his expressive face muscles, and it is Ranaut really who runs the show with her double role and ample cleavage. Dobriyal and Shergill also deliver great performances. There is also a dash of a stark social reality in the plot that may have earned few brownie points if the film had something more and new and inventive to tell.

All said and done and having lauded Ranaut's (who is definitely thanking her stars right now) high-standard performance, for a film that is so bad, she only works as a rope that is used to send a convict down the gallows, here the convict being the film itself. I just hope the makers don't come up with another sequel, with a suitable title like "Tanu Weds Manu: Returns: 2."

BOTTOM LINE: Tanu Weds Manu: Returns is a film that you won't hate, but will just come to disagree with.

RATING: 2 stars out of 10 - avoid. Tanu Weds Manu (2011) was 2/10, as well.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES