A Four-Cornered Love Affair
The treatment never judges the couple for their situation. The tone is matter-of-fact and dry for the most part: This is their routine, this is their marriage, and it is what it is. It’s not the morality or deceit that’s highlighted. If anything, there’s a sense of respect – and mutual sensitivity – about the way they conduct their double lives. At times, ‘cheating’ doesn’t even sound like the right term. This is evident from the smokescreen the film opens with: Two ordinary couples exist in different parts of the city, until you see a partner each coming home to an autopilot marriage. The reality-perception interplay brings to mind Hardik Mehta’s The Affair, a short film that creates the illusion of two middle-class lovers cheating on their spouses – only to reveal that they’re actually a married couple snatching a few moments of privacy before returning to a cramped house.
The alterations in Do Aur Do Pyaar are both entertaining and sensible. It starts with the slightly corny title (“Two times two is love”), which hints at the emotional permutations of love. The couple here is in their late thirties: Anirudh is a Bengali businessman (he has a ‘cork’ factory; fortunately, the puns are not excessive), and Kavya is a Tamilian dentist. They share a bed, car and apartment in Mumbai, a city that often reframes togetherness as a need and feasibility as a feeling. Given their own conventional careers, it’s fitting that they are ‘dating’ artists; it’s the ultimate normie dream.
Kavya’s boyfriend, Vikram (Sendhil Ramamurthy), is a rugged NRI photographer from New York. In a way, she’s with the fantasy version of her husband; the Anirudh she fell for was a musician in college – until adulthood knocked on his door. Ani’s girlfriend, Nora (Ileana D’Souza), is an upcoming actress; she is mercurial, needy and everything that makes him feel seen. I like that the “others” in this foursome aren’t demonised. Vikram and Nora are protagonists of their own individual movies, where free-spirited artists seek stability and maturity in their partners. Even though Kavya and Ani might be phases in their broader journey, not once does the film downplay their truth. Their intent is never shallow, and their agency, no lesser.