Biwi No. 1

Biwi No.1 seems to be the movie everyone loves to hate. Call me pagal ("Alan, you are pagal!"), but this is one movie I actually view over and over again. I have watched it at least six times start to finish, plus many other times just skimming through the songs.


Synopsis: Prem is a rich man with a beautiful wife named Pooja, two adorable kids, a nice house and a doggie. Rupali is a gold digger who meets Prem while hiring on as a model for his advertising agency. Soon they start an affair. He buys her a house and car, and before you know it, they’re on the obligatory trip to Switzerland.

By an amazing coincidence, Prem’s brother Lakhan and his wife Lovely are taking the same flight in order to perform a song and dance number in the Swiss Alps. After the trip, they are with Pooja watching home movies of the trip shot by their son. Pooja sees incriminating evidence in the movie and becomes very upset. Lakhan covers for his brother and smacks his kid a couple times for good measure.

Pooja later finds out the real truth and kicks Prem out of the house. Prem goes to live with Rupali. For some reason Pooja wants Prem back, and with the help of Lakhan, generates a series of events to make Prem’s life miserable. During this part of the film, it was apparent that the film’s creative staff had seen the movie “She Devil” with Rosanne Barr. Fortunately, they had the better sense to cast a cute girl in the title role.

In the end Prem goes back to Pooja, Rupali goes back to Saif Ali Khan, and Lakhan and Lovely go on a madcap car chase to end the movie.

The entire cast performed their roles very well.

Karisma Kapoor (Pooja): Just being on the screen was enough to keep me watching. She provided a very colorful fashion show throughout the film as she often changed from one sari to another. Each sari ensemble was complete with gold jewelry, sparkling bangles, flowers in the hair, etc. I thought this was great, as I like traditional dress in a Hindi movie. However, I'm guessing Desi housewives aren't that dolled up everyday. Looks like a lot of work to get ready.


Salman Khan (Prem): Not what I would call the "hero" of the film, but more like the "scoundrel". He played the part well (obviously a natural) and was especially fun to watch in the scenes when he was in trouble (which was always).


Anil Kapoor (Lakhan): Essentially the comic of the film. Upbeat and friendly, but generally an annoyance to Prem.


Tabu (Lovely): Didn't have a huge role in the film, but the interaction with Anil was very good. They work well as an on screen couple.


Sushmita Sen (Rupali): Good performance playing the other woman. She was especially good when being annoyed by Prem's kids, mother, and dog.

The soundtrack had enough good songs to warrant buying the CD.

Biwi No. 1 (title song) - Upbeat tune and choreography, complete with a psychotic looking clown and a mouse. Not sure what they were all about.

Chunnari Chunnari – Another upbeat melody. Through movie magic, Salman and Sushmita began dancing in India, quickly danced around San Francisco for a couple minutes and then returned to India.

Jungle Hai (my favorite) - Very catchy tune in which the female playback singer had a real cute "squeek" in her voice. The choreography included several costume changes and Karisma looked great in all of them.


And finally, the movie had a typical "traditional girl transforms into hot babe" sequence with numerous costume changes and extensive posing. Not pivotal to the movie, but as seen in the following still, provided excellent entertainment value.


To pass a couple hours and have some laughs, Biwi No. 1 is highly recommended.