Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by N. Venkatesan.

The story revolves around these two lead characters during a fateful bus journey amidst the carnages of a communal strife in India.

Meenakshi Iyer and her infant son, Santhanam, embark on a bus journey to return home, after visiting her parents.

As someone who comes from a high caste and conservative Hindu Brahmin family, Meenakshi shudders at the very fact that during their travel she drank water offered by Raja, a Muslim.

Raja contemplates leaving the bus, but is forced to stay inside by the patrolling police, who declare a curfew due to the riot.

Meenakshi introduces Raja to her husband as Jehangir Chowdhury, a Muslim man who helped her (a Hindu woman) during the curfew.

[6] In an interview, Sen stated that the omnipresent, circumstantial violence in the film was only to serve as a strain in the script which aimed to show how the relationship evolves between two people who are forced to be together under trying times.

In an interview at the screening at the Locarno Film Festival, Sen revealed that Konkona was involved in the pre-production research, and she suggested the title.

[10] Rahul Bose's work in English, August (1994) and Split Wide Open (1999) made Aparna Sen feel that he was a good, controlled and intelligent actor.

[11] She told in an interview that Konkona Sen Sharma's abilities as a sensitive actress fetched her the role of Meenakshi Iyer.

[9] Eventually Sikri and the author and playwright Bhisham Sahni were cast to play the roles of the Muslim couple in the film.

[9] The producers provided a state-of-the-art camera from Chennai's Prasad Studios to ensure that the shooting crew was technically better equipped.

One scene showed a Hindu man saying—using profanity—that Muslims should be sent back to Pakistan; the other featured a policeman using obscenities with a communal undertone.

"[42] However, he added that Mr. and Mrs. Iyer "... is not a subtle film ..."[42] The Chicago Reader also said, "Sen is anything but subtle in populating the bus with a cross section of class and ethnic types ... but the friendship that blossoms between the leads is tenderly depicted and hints at a solution to sectarian strife"[43] TIME magazine praised Aparna sen for her "... attention to detail ..." that "... skillfully captures the characters' idiosyncrasies.

"[6] The Village Voice said, "The actors appear game, yet director Aparna Sen, who conceived the film in the wake of September 11, resorts often to hokey pseudo-lyricism and prefers sound-bite ballyhoo to sociological depth.

[45] In his review, Derek Elley of Variety remarked that the film had "... the awkward, issue-driven dialogue and wavering direction, showing influences from both the arty and commercial.

"[23] Although The Hindu review praised the director for "... handling (these) scenes in an understated, muted fashion ..." giving "... them the power to disturb and haunt you.

"[46] it questioned certain aspects of the film, stating, "Though the flutters of the heart have been treated with finesse—sometimes a little too prudishly, pandering, perhaps, to middle class morality—we are never entirely convinced that love could blossom between Meenakshi Iyer and Raja Chowdhary.

The police officer, who plays the good Samaritan, appears so unreal in the world of rancour that Sen creates ... [She], probably in her over enthusiasm, lets her own emotions derail her.

"[46] Konkona Sen Sharma, who had not been widely seen outside Bengal before the release of the film, received particular praise for her performance, "... the movie clearly belongs to Konkona Sen Sharma ... who as Meenakshi [Iyer] gets so beautifully into the psyche of a Tamil Brahmin ... she emotes just splendidly: when her eyes well up at the thought of parting with Raja [Chowdhary], when she gently rests her head on his shoulders in the train, and when her expressions suggest the faintest hint of love, we know that here is a great actress.

"[46] A Rediff.com review said, "... Konkana, a youngster, bowls you over with her silently sledge-hammering portrayal of Meenakshi Iyer, a conservative Tamilian Brahmin housewife ... [Her] eyes tell a thousand untold stories.

"[13] An Australian critic said that the film, with "wonderfully nuanced performances by Sensharma and Rahul Bose, whose love affair is as innocent as the lyrical, lingering soundtrack.

Mr and Mrs Iyer is a gentle film, whose simple and haunting love story will appeal to the romantic traveller.

"Looking through the eyes of Gautam Ghose's illuminating lens, Aparna Sen builds a miniature, but epic, world of tremendous inner strength.

In her first seriously politically committed film, Sen takes on the issue of communal conflict with the surging humanism of Gabriel García Márquez, painting words on celluloid ...