'Double Shah Rukh Single Rate!!!' The caption for this movie says it all. If one Shah Rukh means entertainment than two Shah Rukhs are likely to make a hell of an impact right? 'Duplicate' entertains from the word go - thoroughly enjoyable and probably one of the better movies I've seen this year.
The story is fairly simple and goes something like this. Bablu (Shah Rukh Khan) and Manu
(Shah Rukh Khan) are two unrelated people with the same face. Bablu is an innocent mama's boy
who dreams of becoming a five star chef. Then there's the evil one, Manu the goon who goes around
killing people in broad daylight. Lily (Sonali Bendre) is a cabaret dancer who plays his love interest.
Meanwhile, Bablu stumbles and falls for Sonia (Juhi Chawla) , a banquet manager of a five-star hotel. Manu predictably finds out that someone resembling him is in the same city and decides to use Bablu's name to cover up for his hideous deeds. The switch takes place leading to a number of hilarious situations in which even the two sweethearts end up getting confused over who's who. How this utter chaos and confusion get cleared form the crux of the story.
Even though the story is extremely predictable in places, the care that has gone into making the movie a hit covers up for any shortcomings. The digital work is great with both the Shah Rukh's actually interacting with each other rather than using the same old 'split screen' Bollywood trick. The music is great with 'Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam' already on top of the charts. The cinematography is also very good as are the locations of the songs.
Shah Rukh Khan is excellent - the movie belongs entirely to him. He is very convincing as the naïve Bablu as well as the vile Manu.
Juhi looks good and the chemistry between her and Shah Rukh is one of the major highlights of the movie. Sonali does well in the 'body show' department (!) and performs well in the chances she's been given. Farida Jalal lends great support.
The surprise package in the film is Kajol in a cameo. You could hear the audience cheering in the ten seconds that she was there. Okay so don't go in expecting an award winning flick of epic proportions but if you just want to chill out for several hours then as the trailers so conveniently say - "Watch it!!!"
Rating:
