Dual impact

With Arjun Kapoor's double act becoming the talk of the town in Aurangzeb, Screen explores Bollywood's fascination with double role films in Bollywood

Rika Aash Pathak

The promos of Aurangzeb are creating quite a buzz with Bollywood's latest heartthrob Arjun Kapoor taking screen space as two characters. It's brought back the focus on what was once considered Bollywood's favourite pasttime – double roles. Audiences loved to see their favourite actor don several roles, The stakes of a star doing double role also rose as it was seen as a statement to his or her calibre as actors and popularity. From Dev Anand to Shah Rukh Khan, every superstar has had at least one double role film to their credit. And not every film in that genre was a hit. Film industry experts help decode the lure of about double role films and its performance at the box-office over the years:

Showcasing versatility

Mention double role films, and films like Hum Dono, Ram Aur Shyam, Aradhana, Don, Seeta aur Geeta, Chaalbaaz, Judwaa and Duplicate come to mind. Films that had actors like Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sridevi, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan giving some of their best performances in it. In fact, there was a time when numero unos of the time had more than one double role film to their credit. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan (Kasme Vaade, Adalat, Don, Satte Pe Satta, Aakhri Raasta) and Sridevi (Chaalbaaz, Lamhe, Khudagawah, Guru, Gurudev). What about it makes the genre so fascinating to actors? “Such films always give an actor a chance to project their abilities,” says Atul Sabharwal, director of Aurangzeb. The fact that an actor's abilities being guaged through a double role film holds true Shahid Kapoor. Popular for his starry good looks and dancing, the star immediately gained recognition as an actor to watch out for with his double act in Vishal Bharadwj's Kaminey; one of the characters that he played as having a speech impediment caught on in a big way.

Reinventing the plot

While actors seeking out double roles to fulfill a need for varied roles remains, what has changed is the treatment and the plot. In the early days, films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Ram Aur Shyam, Chaalbaaz and Judwaa thrived on the standard formula of twins separated at birth. But there were exceptions with Hum Dono, Satte Pe Satta, Angoor, Duplicate, where the lookalikes had nothing in common – not even the same bloodline. Theirs was a case of mistaken identities, giving rise to melodramatic or hilarious situations. Double role films soon got a twist, when it began including impersonations. A case in point for a film like that is Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Golmaal, where Amol Palekar had to masquerade as his own twin brother to avoid trouble with his boss (Utpal Dutt). David Dhawan opted for a similar plot in his films Coolie No.1 and Sajaan Chale Sasural to bring novelty to his brand of slapstick comedy films. Last year, Rohit Shetty based his film star-studded film Bol Bachchan on Golmaal like situation and made 100 crore at the box-office. Sabharwal shares, “Double roles always lead to interesting situations, whether it’s now or then. Since films are more content-driven now, makers try to come up with interesting storylines for their double role films," says Sabharwal. Subhash Ghai, producer-director of Ram Lakhan, echoes a similar sentiment, saying, "Times have changed, and so have makers, who are now moving away from a standard format. If a double role film is made today, then the storyline would be new and interesting."

However, there have been some film-makers who have extended the double role formula to include multiple characters. While films like Bairaag and Mahaan had Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan playing triple role based on the lost-and-found formula, Naya Din Nayi Raat had Sanjeev Kumar playing nine roles in a story of a runaway heroine's (Jaya Bhaduri) encounter with nine different characters. In the modern context, films like What’s Your Rashee with Priyanka Chopra playing characters belonging to 12 zodiac signs and Dashavataram with Kamal Haasan playing 10 characters deviated from the standard norm of two similar looking characters. With such films, filmmakers tried to break free from the conventional form and experiment with new ideas and stories.

Money minters

David Dhawan’s Judwaa grossed up to Rs 26.5 crore, Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun grossed Rs 52 crore, Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om grossed Rs. 149 crore, Kaminey Rs 71 crore, Ra-One grossed more than Rs 200 crore - given the track record it's often a foregone conclusion that double role films are a sureshot hit at the box-office. However, that's not always the case. Some failed to create magic at the box-office, despite the presence of a big star. For every double act of Bachchan like Don, there was a Mahaan, for every Sridevi double role starrer like Chaalbaaz, there was a Gurudev to contend with. So what is the recipe for the perfect double role moneyspinner?

Sabharwal explains, "Double role films were driven by the star factor, irrespective of the storyline. There was a craze among the audience to watch their favourite actors in diverse roles that drove the audience to theatres.” However, David Dhawan who has given double role blockbusters like Aankhein, Judwaa, Bol Radha Bol, Saajan Chale Sasural and Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, feels that the genre also decides the success rate at the box-office. “I personally believe that crime, thriller works better in double role films. My first double role film Bol Radha Bol had one good character and one bad character, and it worked very well. Similarly, in Chaalbaaz, you had one submissive and aggressive character; the contrast in the characters allows one to experiment more. The audience in turn gets to watch extra of everything in one film. Even my film Aankhen had a twist in the double role,” explains Dhawan, adding that a comic double role means double entertainment and good business. Contemporary director Sabharwal, also feels the same, he says, “Thriller and comedy do well in double role films. My film Aurangzeb is a thriller and with Arjun as lead, we have also got the star factor in the film.” Ghai, on the other hand, feels that comedy of errorrs is the best premise for a film like that. “Comedy of errors have always been appreciated by the masses. Hence, producers love to play with comedy for double role films,” he says.

Sabharwal, however, feels that the number of films being made on dual roles have gone down. "It was always exciting to watch your favourite stars in two different situations in the films. But in last ten years, the number of dual role films have gone down. The last film that I saw on those lines was Kaminey,” he observes.

Film-makers concede that it's because the markets has changed from star driven to a content-driven market. They believe that only a good screenplay will work better now. "New Hollywood formats will be adopted in future. Like Devil’s Double is one of the classic examples that can be adopted,.” states Dhawan.