Big Paheli

Spoiler Warning: Plot and/or ending details follow

Watched the movie 'Paheli' over the weekend. It's kind of a fairytale story and if one doesn't think about the film logically and sleeps through the narrative-breaking songs, it can be quite interesting at times. As let out during the promos, SRK plays two roles, one as the hubby of chubby Rani (let us call him Shah) and another a bhoot smitten by Rani (let us call him Rukh). Shah goes away for business the day after his wedding for five long years and Rukh takes the opportunity to take his place. It so happens that our bhoot is an ichadhari bhoot. It can take any physical shape. So it enters the Shah household as Shah and Rani is delighted. But our dear bhoot is a moral bhoot. He tells her that he is not her real hubby and that if she wants, he would go away. But our chubby does not want to be alone for 5 long years and asks Rukh to stay. And they indulge in a bit of fun. The movie unfolds. Rukh even impregnates chubby and as she is about to deliver their kid (one paheli is whether the kid is human or bhoot or half human), Shah returns. Confusion happens. People decide to take both of them to the raja to find out who the real Shah is. They meet a ingenious shepherd on the way who puts both of them to three tests. The final one being the age old formula of trapping the bhoot in a cask. Everyone is happy save Rani. She has fallen in love with the bhoot. Application Suhaag raat is reloaded with Shah being the parameter (In fact there are no less then three suhaag raats. One is the real one where Rani learns of her hubby's impending departure, second is when Rukh returns as Shah, and the third is when the real Shah returns). Rani tells Shah that she knew that the guy she was living with was in fact Rukh and she had consented to their relationship with the full knowledge of his identity. Surprise Surprise. There is a twist in the tale. The bhoot has somehow escaped from the cask and entered Shah's body. So now its really Shah's body and Rukh's bhoot. So now everyone is happy including Rani. But the paheli is, how did Rukh escape the cask? And the even bigger paheli is, if the bhoot could enter Shah's body, why didn't he enter it when he saw Shah for the first time? If he had, he would have saved everyone so much trouble (including us watching the movie, there wouldn't have been the movie afterall).

If you have watched the movie and spotted any other unanswered paheli, do jump in. It's an open house here.