Movie : Doubles
Director : Sohan Seenulal
Music : James Vasanthan
Cast : Mammootty, Nadia Moidu, Taapsee
What will happen when a director is all in awe of his hero, a way too much and tries to deify him in every possible shot? It works at times when the character demands such stuff, but in Doubles, it looks simply ridiculous.
Giri (Mammootty) and his twin sister Gouri (Nadia Moidu) runs an accident rescue unit in Pondicherry. The siblings have decided not to get married as they don’t want their affection to be shared with others. But the equations suddenly changes when a young girl named Saira Banu (Taapsee) becomes part of their life, after an accident.
The story goes through several topsy-turvy twists from then on, most of which are surprisingly inane. Misunderstandings, fights, comedy and of course, silly looking villains who talks big are all added into the narrative, quite generously. But all these can’t help a poorly written film that moves along aimlessly, most of the time.
Debutant director Sohan Seenulal has churned out a boring saga that defies logic most of the times. Most of the scenes look unconvincing and certain comic situations which involve Mammootty as well will make you cringe. It is quite amazing that no one associated with it realized that the script (written by Sachi – Sethu) was such a meaningless farce, while planning the film or even while making it!
Mammootty looks good (if you are ready to forget his rather ordinary looking wig) and tries his best, but this is one role which he can’t salvage even with his charm. Nadia Moidu, who returns to Malayalam films after a long break, has perhaps erred in choosing the right film to make her comeback, special. Taapsee, who played Dhanush’s heroine in the Tamil film Aadukalam, has nothing much to do and is seriously too young to play Mammootty’s pair.
The comic department takes things from bad to worse, with Suraj Venjaramoodu, Salim Kumar, Bijukkuttan and Anoop Chandran trying every trick in the book to generate laughs but falling flat in the process. Y Gee Mahendran, Anandraj, Suresh, Avinash and Saiju Kurup have done their roles in a fine way. P Sukumar’s visuals and James Vasanthan’s music are nothing to rave about.
There are no two ways about it; Doubles is a total let down. A legend like Mammootty doesn’t need roles like these to prove his heroism and we are ready to wait for more years to see Nadia Moidu comeback with that magic which she unleashed on screen in the past. This one has been a disappointment, nothing less.