'' Phere: More Than a Wedding'' is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by Ishaan Trivedi and produced by Nimit Modawal. It stars

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla Mehta ( Chawla; born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and vivacious on-screen ...

and

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spa ...

in the lead roles. The film was released in India on 29 July 2005, to mixed response.

Plot

After having tasted great success with soaps based on traditional families, a national TV network is getting into the next phase of programming - that is, "Reality TV," so they decide to go for the evergreen subject of marriages in the Indian family. Channel asks their blue-eyed guy to produce the show. Asmi Ganatra (

), the first-time director, and her team find out that at present the only family in Mumbai that meets the programming brief is Joshi's. The Joshis are stunned when Asmi visits them with a request to cover the marriage for the TV network. Though the bride's father is willing to go along with the idea, the family's Mafia, consisting of the old guard, plays the card of the family's pride, and they Veto the proposal. In the meantime, Asmi has discovered that Manoj Joshi (Irrfan), the bride's youngest uncle, has fallen for her. Knowing very well that her career would be blocked if she were unable to pull off the deal with the bride's family, she lures him to an arrangement where a multicamera set-up is secretly installed in the huge house. Manoj realizes to his horror that he has opened Pandora's box. Unaware of the hidden cameras, his family behaves true to themselves, and slowly skeletons start tumbling out of the cupboard. The privacy of Joshi's family gets invaded by candid cameras, and incidents that should remain buried come out in the open and give the channel all sorts of ''maal masala'' (juicy tidbits) to increase their TRP ratings.

Cast

as Asmi Ganatra *

as Manoj *

Manoj Pahwa Manoj Pahwa (born 8 December 1963), is an Indian film and television actor who is noted for his role as Bhatia in the comedy series '' Office Office'' (2001). Pahwa has acted in over 70 films as a character actor, including '' 7½ Phere'' (2005 ...

as Inspector Rohit Kande * Nina Kulkarni as Rati Pant *

Anang Desai Anang Desai (born 4 May 1953) is an Indian film and television actor. Desai has appeared in more than 100 television shows and 70 films, known for his portrayal of the character Babuji in the television series Khichdi and its eponymous film. H ...

as Suresh Joshi *

Shri Vallabh Vyas Shri Vallabh Vyas was an Indian film and television actor. He was known for films including '' Sarfarosh'' (1999), '' Lagaan'' (2001), '' Abhay'' (2001), '' Aan: Men at Work'' (2004), '' Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero'' (2005), ...

as Mahesh 'Taoji' Joshi *

Manini De Manini De is an Indian film and television actress who rose to stardom by playing the role of Katiya in '' Ssshhhh...Koi Hai,'' Pari Kapadia in '' Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin''. She is also known for her role as Dr Sonali Barwe in ''C.I.D.'' She ha ...

as Raveena Joshi *

Chahat Khanna Chahatt Khanna, also formerly known as Chahatt Khanna Mirza was born on 17 July 1986 in Mumbai, Maharashtra is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and television. Khanna is known for playing Ayesha Sharma in ''Bade Achhe Lagte Hain'' and ...

as Piya S. Joshi *

Manish Chaudhary Manish Prakash Chaudhari is an Indian actor who is best known for his character of Sunil Puri in ''Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year''. He made his film debut in the 2003 Indian film ''Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula''. He was also seen in th ...

as Nimit Joshi *

Ninad Kamat Ninad Kamat is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Some of his films include '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Lage Raho Munnabhai'' (2006), ''Laaga Chunari Mein Daag'' (2007) and ''Jai Gangaajal'' (2016). He is also a dubbing artist and has dub ...

* Shauni Khanna *

Hemant Choudhary Hemant Choudhary is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi serials, films and web series. Early life and career Hemant Choudhary was born in Godda, a small town in Jharkhand and brought up in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. He completed his later ed ...

as TV Show Hero *

Rushad Rana Rushad Rana (born 19 November 1979) is an Indian actor. Rana has worked in many hindi-language television shows and films. Some his notable works include- '' Hip Hip Hurray'', ''Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki'', ''Sasural Simar Ka'', '' Kehta Hai Di ...

Ashok Banthia Ashok Banthia, sometimes referred as Ashok Bathia or Ashok Bhatia, is an Indian actor and director associated with Hindi film, television and theatre actor. He is a NSD (National School of Drama) alumnus known for his roles in Australian TV ...

Reception

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' praised the film, calling it light-hearted and rib-tickling. They noted it as the first time that actors

and

had worked together in a film, and as being both Irrfan's entry into and Juhi's return to the comedy genre. They advised that the chemistry between the two actors was to be watched and appreciated as their "conflict and resolution form an integral part of the film."

Soundtrack

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:7 1 2 Phere 2000s Hindi-language films 2005 films Films scored by Shantanu Moitra Films scored by Kalyanji Anandji Hindi-language comedy films Indian comedy films 2005 comedy films Films about Indian weddings