Debutante directors usually have new stories to tell. The Megastar of Mollywood, Mammootty has always depended on this aspect of freshers from whom unconventional ideas are in and predictability is passe And in some cases ideas translate into interesting, 2-hour films, and some ideas though translated on screen, make you feel that they were never suited for the big screen. Doubles coming from the debutante director Sohan Seenulal is such a case where an interesting idea got terribly awry due to poor transformation to screen.
The film hardly has any path-breaking story, but its central thread about the dependence and parting of non-identical twins could have worked out as a very better film that may create wonders in the B O.But here in `Doubles' it is really difficult to fathom much of the story that is presented in a so banal, so obsolete, so lifeless way that you break into a big yawn with a half hour into the film.
The movie is all about twin siblings Giri (Mammootty) and Gouri (Nadiya Moithu), whose parents were killed in their childhood, in a road accident. They now runs an Accident Rescue Service at Pondicherry to make it sure that no one else dies on road due to lack of timely care and needed help.The siblings are told to be absolutely inseparable, and remains unmarried, though we don't get the intensity of their relationship in any of the scenes portrayed on screen.Things takes a different path as a new girl, Saira bhanu rescued from an accident start to live in their house as she has got no where to go. Add to that is the subplot of Gouri's liking for Michel(Suresh), their foster father Pieere's son, as well as Giri's rejection of such a relation due to reputation of Michel as a spoiled brat.
Though the things look to get normal in the first half, everything go downhill in the second hour. The plot looks ridiculous, monotonous and confusing for the viewer who by the reach of the finale, is already bored and has lost all interest in the enterprise.
The biggest problem with the movie is the awfully poor writing by Sachi-sethu whose screenplay is much listless than the concept. The debutant director faces a major roadblock in the form of the written material which lacks the power to keep you hooked. .At the same time, the direction is also absurd and confusing with very few enjoyable moments that come up as an oasis in a desert.
Frankly, nothing works in this fare, except, to an extent, Mammootty. Though he looks a perfect sibling to Nadhiya, this chemistry is not worked well with the scripts. The sequences look chemical and Nadhiya is too wasted in a role that hardly demands her finesse. The new girl Thapasse is a pretty face but wooden with no lines to perform and appears a terrible mismatch with Mammootty.
The technical sides of the movie are also poor. In the initial reels till the interval, pitiable knowledge about grading or a grave technical error seems to have made it a darkly lighted film.And a few gimmicks attempted by editor V Saajan, don't work out well, as the preceding scenes itself don't interests us.The much hyped music department by James Vasanthan, fails to give enjoyable songs.The rerecording is inconsistent throughout, and are often irritating and annoying, taking out the charms of the scenes, if any.
On the whole, `Doubles' is a poor show all the way. The script and the direction disappoints to such a level that it may not even sound a good looking film for the hard core fans of the megastar.
Rating-4/10
