Two strangers become companions for life after an arranged marriage and go on a honeymoon in Ooty where they discover the obvious awkwardness that any relatively-not-known-to-each-other couple feels when it comes to consummating their marriage.

But Meghna Gulzar’s movie Just Married is not about sex. It is about belief, trust, understanding and love between two people who have to share their lives together. Although the movie bears a resemblance to Reema Kagti’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. that we saw a few weeks back, Meghna gives her own treatment to the story and its characters.

The film has Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol playing a couple (Abhay and Ritika) who are arranged married after just a sole meeting. Thereafter they go on a five-day honeymoon in Ooty. Knowing that they have to consummate their marriage, there is a natural nervousness on the part of Ritika. But Abhay is of understanding nature. He tries to make Ritika comfortable.

During their honeymoon, Abhay and Ritika meet a number of other couples: a happy, nagging couple married for 40 years (Kiron Kher and Satish Shah), a Muslim couple (Mukul Dev and Sadiya Siddiqui), a bold and passionate couple (Perizaad Zorabian and Bikram Saluja) and a young couple (Tarina Patel and Raj Zutshi).

After a gripping half an hour, the movie’s story basically dabbles on little instances in the lives of Abhay-Ritika and other couples. There are tiffs and teasings, fallouts and making-ups, rendezvous and revelations.

The movie’s climax is a little amateurish and filmy. The end is predictable.

‘Just Married’ is a sweet, mellow film that promises nothing more than some interesting vignettes from the lives of honeymooning couples. Behind the tiffs and arguments there is love blooming gradually. It only needs a moment of realization that comes at the movie’s fag end when Ritika realizes that she loves her husband.

The movie rests on commendable performances by Fardeen Khan and Esha Deol in the lead roles. Fardeen portrays the myriad emotions of his character with conviction while Esha slips well into the role of a coy, shy and evasive wife.

Kiron Kher and Satish Shah stand out among the other couples in the film. Their performance is very natural. Perizaad Zorabian looks stunningly gorgeous and Bikram Saluja plays his part well. The other couples don’t get ample footage.

Meghna’s direction is more confident this time than her previous movie ‘Filhaal’. Although the film becomes a tad slow in the middle, it picks up pace in the last half hour. The film’s music by Pritam is just about okay. In a nutshell, ‘Just Married’ makes for a timepass watch.

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