Watching our favourite stars in double roles has forever been a delight. Experts share what makes these movies click

Sheetal

During the past week, trailer of two films where the central character plays a double role were released. While Cirkus is a comedy, the other is a psychological thriller titled Blurr. Experts share what makes these movies popular.

Popularity quotient

From Nargis in Anhonee to now when director Rohit Shetty is offering a remake of Angoor (1982), titled Cirkus, the excitement surrounding these films is immense. Anhonee (1952) was a psychological drama much like Taapsee Pannu-starrer, upcoming original film Blurr. On the other hand, Cirkus has not one but two double roles — one of Ranveer Singh and the other Varun Sharma. Says actress Shubhangi Atre, “I think double roles work especially for actors who have a mass appeal, like Sanjeev Kumar in Angoor. The film is considered one of the cult comedy classics.”

Make, remake

In 1869, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar wrote a Bengali play titled Bhranti Bilas, which was based on William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. Later, it was made into a Hindi musical Do Dooni Chaar (1968), starring Kishore Kumar and Asit Sen in double roles, which inspired Gulzar to direct Angoor in 1982. Now, Rohit Shetty, 40 years later, is reprising the famous script in Cirkus.

Lasting trend

Ram Aur Shyam (1967), which starred Dilip Kumar, left such an impression on writers Salim Khan-Javed Akhtar that they wrote Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) with Hema Malini as the central character. Sridevi-starrer Chaalbaaz (1989) was also loosely based on Seeta Aur Geeta. However, Ram Aur Shyam wasn’t an original itself, in fact, director Tapi Chanakya remade his Telugu movie, Ramudu Bheemudu, into this hit Hindi film.

In recent times, Rahul Bose’s double role in supernatural thriller Bulbbul was quite a hit, so was that of Kangana Ranaut in Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Films like Don and Duplicate had Shah Rukh Khan in double roles, while Amir Khan essayed two characters in Dhoom 3.

Mass Connect

Kulche Chole director Simranjit Singh Hundal feels it is next to impossible to remake classic film Gora Aur Kala, starring Rajendra Kumar. “Rajendra Kumar has given a phenomenal performance in the film, which can never be imitated by any other actor,” he says.

“An actor playing two roles in one film is always fascinating, both for the film industry and our audiences,” shares award-winning filmmaker-actor Rahul Mittra. His earliest childhood memories would be incomplete without Angoor, a film he watched many times. “With Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma essaying double roles, it is one of the best comedies I’ve ever watched on screen. Same was the case with Chaalbaaz and other such films. Double roles can add a lot of thrill, heighten tension and help the audiences seep into a world that is far away from reality. But the challenge lies in the audience being convinced that two different characters are being played, while forgetting that it’s the same person! Hence, writing becomes crucial as differentiating the mannerisms, body language and diction assumes importance,” adds Mittra.