Movie review 'Phillauri': An astutely woven saga

Set in Punjab, "Phillauri" starts off as a simple story about an NRI Punjabi boy Kanan (Suraj Sharma) who returns to India to get married to his childhood sweetheart Anu (Mehreen Pirzada). Being star-crossed - a Manglik, he must marry a tree first, so that he may ward off any threat to his life. Reluctantly, he gets married to a tree and to his dismay, finds himself being trailed by Shashi (Anushka Sharma) - a friendly spirit. Shashi used to live on the tree which Kanan married. And when the tree was chopped down as a part of the wedding ritual - Shashi finds herself thrown into Kanan's world, not knowing what to do and figuring how she is facing such a predicament. In the course of the film's journey we find the tale layered with a poignant, unfulfilled romantic story of a poet and a singer which in turn becomes the centre-plot of the film.