Doubles review: "Outdated & disjointed with miscasted characters!!!"

Finally yet another Vishu with all sections of people looking forward to a peaceful & prosperous year. As part of tradition, Vishukaineetam is taken up seriously by the Malayalam film industry every year with the release of big banner movies so as to tap into the holiday season. The trend has been maintained, as this year witnesses the clash between the movies of mega stars Mammootty & Mohanlal. 2011 started on a not so encouraging note for Mammooty with his "August 15", failing to create any interest in the box office. So he will be banking heavily on "Doubles", which is incidentally the directorial debut of Sohan Seenulal. Mammootty has been giving chances to many new directors in the last couple of years & had reaped benefits also, so will this also trace the same path???? Hmm..lets see

For a change, the subject focuses on fraternal twins in the form of Giri (Mammootty) & Gowri (Nadia Moidu) & unfortunately the change ends there. They lost their parents in a car accident following which they had taken upon themselves to be a rescue team for the unfortunate accident victims. Its in such a rescue mission that Giri comes across an accident which he strongly believes to be a murder attempt. The driver had died on the spot while a Muslim gal, Saira Banu (Taapsee Pannu) who was the passenger had survived. Considering her predicament,she is made to stay on with Giri & Gowri. However,with time she reveals certain secrets & also turns out to be the subject of conflict between the twins. What were these issues & how are they going to overcome it, forms the story outline.

Sachi-Sethu duo is credited with the script & I have no qualms in admitting, that they have dished out an outdated & totally uninspiring work. With such a below average script, one cant expect the debutant Sohan to create wonders & inevitably he falters in his execution as well. To top it all, they selected a host of characters who were an absolute miscast starting from Mammooty. In order to justify Nadiya Moidu & the rest wearing hip clothes apt enough for a youngster, they have set the movie in the Anglo Indian life style of Pondichery.

The makers must have been huge fans of  "Shyama" which had the same leads & thought of recreating the same magic failing to realise the fact that 25 years had passed & age does catches on with everyone. Another huge surprise for me was how a promising music director like James Vasanthan credited with "Subramanyapuram" could come up with such mediocre scores.

As I had mentioned earlier, with such a weak script there is nothing that even a megastar of Mammootty's stature can deliver. The same goes with Nadiya Moidu though it can be confidently said that she could still give the young starlets a run for their money. Taapsee Pannu, previously seen in Dhanush's "Aadukulam" has  innocent & beautiful features but when it comes to acting she looks more like a zombie with hardly any expressions. With the main leads itself taking a hammering, its better that I dont divulge into the details of the supporting cast.

Verdict: After having had a dream run, Lady luck finally seems to be moving away from Mammooty as this turns out to be his worst  movie in the past 2 years. This one is likely to sink without a trace as I dont expect it to survive beyond this weekend. In short, dont even bother watching even if it comes on TV!!!

Regards...Ben