Mr. and Mrs. Iyer - Plot

Plot

The film begins with an audio-visual collage of news reports on contemporary wars and terrorism. Reports of major incidents from the 11 September 2001 attacks, the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Iraq War to the 2002 Gujarat violence and terrorism in India flash across the screen. This is followed by a saying,

The story is set in September 2001. It starts as her parents drop Meenakshi Iyer (Konkona Sen Sharma) at the bus station. Meenakshi and Raja Chowdhury (Rahul Bose) get introduced to each other through a common friend just before they embark on their journey. Raja, a wildlife photographer, is requested by Meenakshi's parents to look after their daughter and baby grandson, Santhanam.

The passengers of the bus include a boisterous and highly enthusiastic group of teenagers, a couple of Sikh gentlemen, an elderly Muslim couple, a grouchy woman, a young couple high on romance, a mentally challenged boy and his mother, and some card-playing men. While the bus negotiates the hilly terrain, Meenakshi is forced to interact with Raja in order to pacify the restive baby. The other passengers assume that they are a married couple. The bus faces a roadblock and the bus driver attempts a detour. However, soon the bus is stopped by a queue of paused vehicles. Within some time, news arrives that Hindu mobs are rampaging against Muslims after a Hindu village was burned down in sectarian violence.

The situation turns serious as policemen arrive and announce that curfew has been imposed; all the passengers are ordered back to their vehicles. Here is where Raja reveals his Muslim identity to Meenakshi and tells her that he has to leave in order to protect himself. As someone who comes from a high caste and a conservative Brahmin family, Meenakshi shudders at the very fact that during their travel she drank water offered by Raja, a Muslim. "Please. Don't touch me" is her shocked reply. But before he can make a move he is forced to get inside the bus by the patrolling police. After the police exit to scout other areas for arson, one rioting Hindu mob arrives and forcibly enters the bus. They begin interrogating passengers about their religious identities and when in doubt, they even resort to check if the person is circumcised.

In order to protect himself from them, one of the passengers—Jewish and hence circumcised—points out the old Muslim couple to divert the mob's attention. The mob's leader drags the old man and his wife out of the bus. One teenager resists this, but she is thrashed by the leader. As Raja attempts to rise in revolt, Meenakshi plants Santhanam on his lap, ordering him to hold the baby with an intent to shield Raja's Muslim identity. The mob asks about their identities, and Meenaksi tells the leader that Raja and she are Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. After this chilly encounter, the passengers spend the night in the bus.

In the morning, the passengers are in a lighter mood and trek to a nearby village to seek accommodation. Raja and Meenakshi, identifying themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, fail to find any accommodation. However, the police officer, who was patrolling the earlier evening, bails them out by providing shelter at an abandoned forest bungalow. They are provided with the single usable bedroom available in the bungalow. Meenakshi refuses to share the room with Raja, and curses herself for coming along with a stranger. After confronting her on her outdated prejudices about caste and religion, Raja angrily tells her "this is 2001, no one believes like that anymore." After a brief quarrel, Raja allows her the comfort of the bedroom and prefers to sleep outside. The next morning when Meenakshi does not find Raja, she gets worried and angry as to why he left Santhanam and her in such a place. Soon, she feels relieved to find Raja sleeping outside. After they reach a restaurant in the nearby village, they meet up with the teenagers on the bus. Meenakshi tells them that Santanam is a Sagittarius - his birthday is on the 20th. The teenage girls are excited and curious to know about Meenaakshi and Raja's love story. To keep their farce alive, both of them cook up an impromptu story right from how they met till where they went for their honeymoon. Later, they encounter the same police officer who previously helped them. He volunteers to arrange transport for them to the city the next morning after learning that Raja is a photographer (since photography is the officer's hobby). He escorts the couple back to the forest bungalow for the night. During their stay at this bungalow, they discover each other's beliefs and understanding of religion. That night, as they witness a horrific murder by one of the mobs, a shocked Meenakshi is comforted by Raja.

The next day, they sit in an army truck which drops them to the nearest city. Once in the city, they board the train towards their destination. An unspoken love and a strong attraction is evident between them, keeping behind all their differences. At their destination station, Kolkata, the real Mr. Iyer (Meenakshi's husband) arrives to receive his wife. Meenakshi introduces Raja to her husband as Jehangir Chowdhury, a Muslim man who helped her (a Hindu woman) during the curfew. While Mr. Iyer (Meenakshi's husband) is collecting Meenakshi's luggage, Raja hands over a camera roll to Meenakshi, the one that contains the photos of their journey and both of them bid an emotional farewell to each other.