Miya Biwi Aur Murder review: Rajeev Khandelwal and Manjari Fadnnis make a perfect quirky couple amid chaos

2.5/5

Story:

Directed by Sunil Manchanda, Miya Biwi Aur Murder stars Rajeev Khandelwal and Manjari Fadnnis as husband and wife, who are struggling in a dysfunctional marriage. One night, they set aside their differences and come together to take on a dreaded gangster and save each other from serving jail time. But how?

Review:

The classic disorganised show begins with Priya, who decides to cheat on her cheating husband, DCP Jayesh Roy, but she isn't aware of his infidelity. The husband goes out on an overnight mission to bust a drug gang.

Everything goes as usual as it can, till the CGI enters the show. A person shoots at DCP Roy and the bullet crosses beside him making a hole on the wooden door. The very sequence made me judge the budget of the series as I easily recognised how fake the bullet was.

Moving on, the show starts justifying the name Miya Biwi Aur Murder as it sees its first death. During sex, Priya's Tinder date dies of a drug overdose. Even though the Biwi did not kill him, to an outsider, it will surely look like a murder. Soon after that, Miya also mistakenly kills his maid (with whom he was having the affair) by pushing her on the stairs just outside his house. Both husband-wife soon understand each other's secret and decide to work together to get themselves out of the situation.

One of the ridiculous things in the series is that Priya and Jayesh start having sex in the presence of a dead body inside their bedroom. Even though this sort of sequence has been seen in other films and shows as well, it surely ridicules me and can't be justified with any sort of writing.

Even though the series is loosely executed, Manjari is seen at her best. Her character is a big-time crime-drama fanatic and from CID to CSI Miami, she has seen everything and she knows how to hide a murder. Her character is logical, hopelessly romantic and a tad bit psycho, and she has portrayed it perfectly. The couple reminds you of Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston movie, Murder Mystery, where the wife, Jennifer Aniston plays the role of a crime fiction enthusiast, who helps her cop husband to solve a murder on the cruise. 

The actress, Manjari proved her versatility by playing a crazy, quirky character soon after portraying a serious and quiet role in Masoom, which was released a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Rajeev hasn't really been seen performing comedy on-screen, while in Miya Biwi Aur Murder, like Manjari, he does a fair job with his quirky character. Their chemistry is dynamic and they seem apt for each other.

Rushad Rana is another important part of the show. He tries to play a deadly gay antagonist with all his scar make-up and serious face. However, his innocent-looking face struggles hard to make him look like an anti-hero. Although, his non-hero role is not an ordinary Hindi film villain as it is packed with a lot of unusual traits (for a gangster) such as speaking fluent English and reading novels. But the actor does bring something new to the table by inculcating both devilish and weird qualities in one person.

The Sunil Manchanda directorial is based on an interesting concept but loosely scripted. It's also filled with multiple unnecessary dirty pools, which again makes you question whether the OTT platforms are actually being taken for granted to display diabolic contents. However, a few sequences amid the 9-episodic series were laugh-worthy and they also kept it quite light.

All's well that ends well. The comedy-crime series sees Miya and Biwi somehow getting out of their situation pretty easily. At the same time, the cliffhanger of the series is a masterpiece and also 'a hope' to have a much better sequel.

Verdict:

Miya Biwi Aur Murder could have received outstanding marks if it had a little better writing and a little less hotchpotch. It can be streamed for a watch once at your own risk.