A few sets, low budget, plain story, and uncomplicated direction. All of that can make another ordinary or mediocre movie. But surprisingly, (The Husband, The Wife and The Mistress), despite some problems with its message at the end, is an example of simple movie yet classic.
Actually this type of stories is quite familiar in the Arabian old movies, or TV production, however something is really authentic about this lovely movie from India. Let's see what we have: Although it's very well known plot; where the movie itself admitted it at its title, or nearly sneered at it, but there was a wonderful spirit to make something not that melodramatic. The dialogue was clever and cynical, like: "Where have you been before?" as the double meaning first question to the secretary, or: "I'm his servant!" as the wife's replay sadly for the mistress's question in the phone.
Add to that, the nice, and not that long or many, songs. The great charisma, talent, and natural comedy of (Sanjeev Kumar). The good - not exaggerating for a second - performance from (Vidya Sinha) as the wife, and (Ranjeeta) as the secretary. Even the magical presence of (Parveen Babi) in her cameo at the last scene. I think the secret remains in all of that together with effective sense of truthfulness and cuteness all over it.
It was smart move not to make the secretary's character as the usual stereotype: the nasty home-wrecking femme fatale, which pushed us to sympathize with her, and made the whole story as a man who lived the dilemma of loving 2 women in the same time, and his wicked tricks to hide that as well. Moreover, look how the husband was reading secretly books about different sexual pleasures to grasp what he really misses with his wife. Some slight touches can be so right.
There are wonderful scenes such as the one where the husband kills the cat at the start of the marriage. It's a common proverb, which I thought for all my life, till this movie, that it was originally Egyptian; since we have it in our own folk culture too! It's about treating the wife roughly since the very start, to confirm certain meaning of manhood, and guarantee blind compliance from her, yet the movie mocked at that sweetly, since the husband and his wife here had love.
Though, I hated some weak moments: The lipstick on the handkerchief as the start of doubt; this is trite ancient stuff. Introducing the wife for the secretary as a journalist; to have all the relationship's history, and in detail, naively. The noisy joker friend, who woos the secretary from day one, suddenly became the wise mentor at the and.. etc.
Furthermore, some basic points: Why this husband, who achieves a very happy peaceful life with his little family, would be attracted to this girl, for something else her obvious beauty, or her western clothes? Like it's just a study about man's pure caprice, but even if, that weakened the drama, since nobody changed at the end; neither the husband nor the wife. Not to mention, why all the incessant sexual education since it was platonic love and nothing more?! Actually, with that cold ending, you'd feel that his wife didn't care much about compensating this area, so the problem is still on!
Originally, the climax wasn't good as the situation was finished by the girl's noble departure. And there was no solid convincing reason why this wife forgave her husband that easily. There are too many confrontations, but not that deep, since the characters themselves aren't that complicated, which made the movie look like a manifesto, apparently inane, about how marriage is more important than anything, and that the husband is the only criminal all the way. This is a feminine point of view, and not that fair too. Or does it a man's point of view, yet with heavy feeling of being blamable?! Both ways, it doesn't solve much in the end, and the message wasn't powerful: Don't cheat on your wife or you're going to live some short-lived tense, and don't change for your husband so he would cheat on you again and again!!
Anyhow, if we skipped the last 10 minutes, the aesthetic feel was warm. I was attached to it strangely. Nostalgically or else, I think this movie has great moments where the simplicity rules, and all the elements collaborate to present something sincere and enjoyable. I don't think that they said: "Hey, let's do a classic". I think they made a good work that hit, nearly, all the marks. So it's not poor, it's simple. And sometimes simple is one definition of classic.
