Bollywood's warped sense of humour sees much fun in a man's attachment to two women as he hyper oscillates between a pair of wives.
Where the same scenario would take a scandalous turn if the perpetrator was a woman, bigamy is rarely viewed as a problem in Hindi movies.
If anything, it's a source of much amusement as Arjun Kapoor demonstrates around an ex-wife's amnesia and to-be-bride's delirium in this Friday's release, Mere Husband Ki Biwi co-starring Bhumi Pednekar and Rakul Singh.
Sukanya Verma looks at movies that followed the same chain of thoughts and empowered the ultimate male fantasy.
Animal
In the ultra-violent Animal, Ranbir Kapoor's daddy obsession results in serious damage to his mind and marriage.
As if his volatile ideas of domestic bliss with Rashmika Mandana aren't shocking enough, he engages in an explicitly sexual liaison with Triptii Dimri, addressed as Bhabhi 2 by his underlings, for strictly retributive reasons.
Biwi No 1
Despite Karisma Kapoor's selfless 'Sati Savitri' ways, Salman Khan's roving eye gets the better of him and he dumps her to settle down with the leggy gold-digger Sushmita Sen.
David Dhawan's facetious look at adultery is more interested in upping Karisma's glamour game and prove she's Biwi No 1 while Sallu learns a lesson in loyalty.
Saajan Chale Sasural
Dhawan's love for creating double-sized marital confusion unlocks new level of contrivances when Govinda finds himself swaying between the wife he thought he had lost in a flood (Karisma) and the heiress (Tabu) he married immediately after to evoke laughs like only he can.
It's such a silly premise that Dhawan leaves it unresolved till the end.
Gharwali Baharwali
Gharwali Baharwali takes an already offensive plot and slumps down it beyond help in the Anil Kapoor led travesty wherein he brings home a second wife because the first one cannot conceive and keeps it a secret.
The ensuing tamasha is why such drivel deserves no love, then or now.
Judaai
Who can forget Sridevi selling off husband Anil Kapoor to Urmila Matondkar for a bag full of money as part of Judaai's one-of-a-kind trade off?
Legality is rarely taken into account in Bollywood given how Kapoor continues to play patidev to the hilt, old wives stay put on the scene while brand new ones are duly impregnated.
Basera
Raakhee and Rekha play sisters even as their shared hubby Shashi Kapoor lives up the wicked phrase -- saali aadhi gharwali -- with a complexity that comes organically to Bollywood of yore.
Maang Bharo Sajna
Jeetendra's reasons for staying married to Moushumi Chatterjee and Rekha at the same time while keeping it a secret from both and the melodrama that follows after the truth comes out might make you appreciate Dhawan's comic touches a tad better.
Bajirao Mastani
Set in an era when it wasn't unheard for a man to marry more than once, Sanjay Leela Bhansali attempts to accord respect to the dilemma of a peshwa caught between a soulmate and a sweetheart against Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone's inter-religious triangle.
Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon
Considering all the cheesy jokes he's made a killing from, it's no surprise comedian Kapil Sharma's Bollywood debut would revolve around playing husband to three women and struggling to find time for each in Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon's polygamous circus.
Sandwich
Govinda and Raveena Tandon recycle their Saajan Chale Sasural/Gharwali Baharwali shtick along with Mahima Chaudhry for novelty but there's simply no freshness to be found in the stale Sandwich.
Bewaffa Se Waffa
Sawan Kumar Tak's Souten obsession hit its peak of insufferable drama in the regressive developments of his most cherished genre, the Muslim social.
Juhi Chawla can't bear children so she proposes a nikaah between her significant other Vivek Mushran and BFF Nagma for procreation purposes only.
Little does she realise she's shot herself right in the foot.
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