If you like Bollywood comedies with people constantly shouting and jumping around, you might like this movie. If not, better avoid it. Apart from some decent acting and a few scenes that might make you smile, Biwi No. 1 ("Wife no. 1") has very little to offer.
The story is simple enough: a happily married man (Salman Khan) suddenly falls in love with another woman (Sushmita Sen) and starts cheating on his wife (Karisma Kapoor). On both women, in fact, because he convinces the beautiful Rupali that he is still a bachelor. Thus, he takes her on a trip to Switzerland, where they unexpectedly meet his best friend and his wife (Anil Kapoor and Tabu). Obviously, it won't take long before his own wife finds out...
Not exactly an ambitious plot. At times it reminds of "She-Devil". The difference is mostly this: while She-Devil succeeds in telling you an amusing story, in Biwi No. 1 the story just serves as a vehicle to show how funny the movie is. They might as well have added a laughing track to the background. In short, it's the kind of movie that you might enjoy watching if you like a sitcom type of humour, but that you can forget as soon as the movie is over.
What attracted me to this movie was the number of awards it had received, especially Sushmita Sen, who in addition is one of my favourite Bollywood actresses. Well, I agree she does a bang-up job in this movie, but if this role really earned her so many awards, I can't help thinking it must have been a really bad year in Bollywood. Karisma Kapoor, who plays the title role, is acting decently and convincingly, but again, not a memorable performance either. Anil Kapoor, an excellent actor, is a comedian in this movie, which he managed fairly well, but again, not exactly a milestone in film history either. About the main character, played by Salman Khan... Well, I suppose you need to like him. I find him particularly irritating in this movie. Other actors, like Saif Ali Khan and Tabu, play roles so minor that it is hard to say anything sensible about them.
All in all, the plot, the storytelling, the acting and the music all belong to the category "Seen Worse". What Biwi No. 1 really lacks, however, is something really good, something memorable. If you haven't seen it, you haven't missed a thing.
