Moral out of Amoral. Review on Mixed Doubles

‘A man digs his own grave.’

‘Barking dogs never bite.’

‘Silent people are effective, because they don’t waste their time… talking!’

We have read these in many books during moral science classes at school. And we can perceive them in Rajat Kapoor’s ‘Mixed Doubles: A-Moral Tale’.

The Americans have a kind-of silly psyche to support anything their instincts lead to. In the 20th century, marriage has taken en-route many complexities; infidelity is one such complexity. The boredom of lasting marriage makes man weak enough to cross the borders. In order to support such weakness, the Americans began the concept of Swinger clubs; where infidelity (wife-swapping) happens in open light. Now, infidelity is no longer a social taboo. The escapist reason given is: to spice up the marriage and keep the couples young and active, such swinger dates can help.

For the last 10 years, Sunil and Malathy lived a beautiful married life. But for the last 40 days, they haven’t got physically intimate. It’s 10 years, since marriage, and now, their respective timings of desire do not match (his manhood doesn’t evoke, when she wants; and when it does, the situation is awkward enough to get physical). One fine day, Sunil hears from his NRI friend Harsh, about the Swinger clubs in the US. Harsh and his wife Shefali have joined such a club and Harsh reasons that as the reason for them leading their long married life actively. Now, Sunil is excited about the thought of sleeping with another man’s wife. He somehow convinces the stubbornly reluctant Malathy into the adventure and fixes a date with Vinod and Kalpana. Such an ‘Amoral’ story! Isn’t it?

Just before the Swinger date, Harsh reveals that, the other day, he was just playing pranks and did not expect Sunil to get so serious. Now, since the date is fixed, Sunil takes it in his stride and what happens later………. now, that’s a ‘Moral’ story! Believe me!!

No matter how unconventional and unconvincing the theme may be, two factors can make it conventional and convincing: the performances and the script. With a reputed cast like Ranvir Sheorey, Konkana Sen Sharma, Rajat Kapoor, Koel Purie and Vinay Pathak, the performance department is expected to rock and it does. Kudos to everyone for their natural portrayals! The script too was about to reach the perfect level of conviction when, unfortunately, in the second half, it deteriorates the pace and the convincing factor drastically falls. At some occasions, it might seem that everything was forced in; i.e. things need not happen that way. Again, to the audience’s rescue, comes the climax, which was apt and perfect. It told what the director (Rajat Kapoor) wanted to convey --- Thinking out of the box is smartness, but thinking out of the morals (or ethics) is the lack of it.

Cast: Ranvir Sheorey, Konkana Sen Sharma, Rajat Kapoor, Koel Purie, Vinay Pathak

Written by: Anurag Kashyap and Rajat Kapoor

Camera: Rafey Mahmood

Director: Rajat Kapoor

Trivia: Rajat Kapoor, a couple of years back, made the award-winning ‘Raghu Romeo’.