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Why Bollywood just can't get enough of double roles

Now, Judwaa 2 is on the way, affirming the fact that movies revolving around twin brothers haven't yet gone out of date. Quite peculiarly, those crowd-wooing, cliché-packed yarns about lookalike siblings continue to coerce the audience to suspend their sense of disbelief and partake of the illogical mix-up of identities.
Usually, one brother is the playful, heroic sort, while the other is a mousy weakling who undergoes an incredible personality change towards the climax.
It's not always doppelganger biological brothers who occupy centre-screen. Depending on the apocryphal notion that every human being has a replica somewhere, dual roles without a jot of explanation have been enacted by topline actors. The most prominent cases are none other than Amitabh Bachchan (Kasme Vaade, Don), Shah Rukh Khan (Duplicate, the Don remake, Fan) and Hrithik Roshan (Kaho Naa. Pyaar Hai).
Of course, when the plot hinges on the basic premise of twin brothers who are separated by extenuating circumstances and meet up years later, the double role gambit has been more palatable. Dilip Kumar perhaps set the template for the strong-and-meek brothers in the vintage hit Ram Aur Shyam (1967), which was quite overtly borrowed by Salim-Javed for the Hema Malini-centric Seeta Aur Geeta much later in 1972.
To chronicle the double whammies would require a thesis, in fact. Suffice it to say, a shortlist of the most memorable - read: plausible - ones were performed by Nargis (Anhonee, 1952), Dev Anand (Hum Dono, 1961), Neetu Singh (Do Kaliyan, 1968, a riff on Hayley Mills' The Parent Trap), Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma (Angoor, 1982), Anil Kapoor (Yudh, 1985), Sridevi (ChaalBaaz, 1989), Shahid Kapoor (Kaminey, 2009) and Aamir Khan (Dhoom 3, 2013).
Needless to emphasise, every viewer has his or her personal favourite in this oddity of a genre. And disappointments, too, like the two-in-one protagonists attempted jejunely by Arjun Kapoor in Aurangzeb (2013) and more lately in Mubarakan.
Curiously enough, the concept of brothers or lookalikes, initiated by Hollywood, can be traced to literary sources: Alexandre Dumas' famous novel The Corsican Brothers was adapted for Douglas Fairbanks Jr's swashbuckler role in the eponymous-titled film in 1941, and Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper was catalysed into Errol Flynn's drama of royal intrigue in 1937, with real-life twins Billy and Bobby Mauch enacting the reel twin roles. Incidentally, the latter film was Indianised as Raja Aur Runk (1968) with Master Mahesh Kothare portraying rightful heirs to the throne sought to be usurped by the stock-in-trade power-grabbers.
While the rest of world cinema has dispensed with double role fantasies, Bollywood filmmakers are far from even thinking of doing so. Ergo, director David Dhawan's Judwaa 2 is an update (hopefully abetted by state-of-the-art special effects) on his tremendously successful Judwaa, featuring Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Rambha, released 20 years ago. Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu step in as the glamour quotients in the sequel.
To bolster the remake's commercial prospects, Salman and Karisma reappear dancing to the tune of the chartbuster Tan Tan Tara. Oh well, as long as the film clicks, there's no harm in repetition, is there? Indeed, B-town's trade soothsayers believe that Judwaa 2 may well slay at the box office.
Going by his track record, David Dhawan isn't exactly associated with a subtle, clean-cut sense of humour. He tends to go way over the top, besides littering the script with chauvinistic gags and jokes galore. But, admittedly, the director does have a couple of encashable qualities. A trained editor from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, his films often move at such a brisk tempo, that the viewer is taken on a speedy ride - never mind the bumps along the way. Secondly, today, his 30-year-old son, Varun Dhawan, features among the A-list of actors, ensuring whopper ticket sales during the opening weekend. No room for scepticism here: his romcom Badrinath Ki Dulhania, with Alia Bhatt, ranks amongst the biggest hits of the year, so far.
At the outset, Varun was being dismissed as the new-age Govinda - adept at breaking into dances and low-brow comedy. Apparently, the actor seems to have smelt the coffee. He's been more picky about his workload, seeking to participate in unconventional as well as mainstream entertainers. On his slate, count a project with Shoojit Sircar, the director of the widely appreciated Piku. Plus, a film to be directed by 2 States helmer Abhishek Varman for Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, as well as YashRaj Productions' Sui Dhaaga co-starring Anushka Sharma.
At this very moment, then, the heat is on for Judwaa 2, premiering September-end. For Varun to be believable and, let's say acceptable, in a double role could be a tough act. Or it could be a cakewalk. After all, Bollywood aficionados have always been partial to two acts for the price of one.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com