Film: Dobaaraa
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Pavail Gulati & others
Platform: Theatrical
Rating: 2 stars
Time travel is an alien concept for Hindi cinema and seldom has a filmmaker tasted success in this space. Anurag Kashyap tries to explore the same with Dobaaraa, however, the film loses steam in the second half and ends up being a confused and complex time travel tale. The team tries to say too much, but none of the sub-plot is layered enough to have an impact towards the end. While there is conviction in exploring the idea of a portal, but the screenplay lacks clarity in conveying the aftermath of playing with the tense.
Director Anurag Kashyap builds the right amount of tension in the first half and manages to create intrigue around the complex plot and his characters. However, he opens the mystery around the entire build-up too early in the second half, leaving little thrill and surprise in the final 30 minutes. In fact, it’s in the second half when things take the confusing route, where the story shifts from one era to the other, one character to the other without much context. The cinematography, lighting, camera work, visual effects and all the technical aspects are perfect for the genre, and play a role in spiking the interest. While the film has a crisp runtime, the edit could have been better making the film a little more accessible for the audience, rather than jumping quickly from one episode to the other.
There isn’t much scope for music, though the background score has a unique vibe acting as a critical catalyst to the intrigue-building exercise of the screenplay. The dialogues are fine, though, there isn’t anything that you remember after stepping out of the auditorium. Speaking of performances, Taapsee Pannu does well in her role, hitting the right emotional notes. The actress also gets to showcase her intense side in some of the critical moments of the film and comes out with flying colours. Her performance has several shades, and not once does she look out of place. Pavail Gulati is fine though his character is a little half-baked and warranted a better build-up. The film has a formidable ensemble too, including the veterans, Saswata Chatterjee and Nassar, who are rather wasted with poorly written characters.
Overall, Dobaaraa shows some spark in the first half but falls flat in the post interval sequences. The film lags behind on the chills and thrills that one expects of a time travel-based thriller and misses out on creating the edge-of-the-seat atmosphere. The premise had the scope but is probably left undercooked. It’s unlike any Anurag Kashyap film to date, though far from being a part of the better films he has made through the last 2 decades. All said and done, it doesn't have the theatrical audience to drive the audience to the big screen.
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