Dobaaraa review: Taapsee Pannu will not let you blink in this engrossing edge-of-the-seat thriller

Film: Dobaaraa

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Star cast: Taapsee Pannu and Pavail Gulati

Bollywood Bubble rating: 3.5 stars

Dobaaraa film review:

Sci-fi is one of those niche genres that is seldom explored in Bollywood and is even more rarely done successfully. But when Dobaaraa was announced, I was a bit excited about its prospects considering it meant the reunion of Taapsee Pannu and Anurag Kashyap. With a film like Manmarziyaan behind them, the duo had huge shoes to fill and I must admit that they were successful in doing so.

The most important thing about such films is to make it easy for the audience to comprehend and that’s where Anurag has shined through. Nowhere does the film gets too complicated in its story of time travel and the concept of parallel universes. There wasn’t a single point where I felt disconnected from the story or what the film was trying to tell. To say more about the film, which is a remake of the 2018 Spanish film Mirage, will be a disservice to its viewing experience, but I will say that Dobaaraa is worth watching ‘Dobaaraa’.

 

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Story:

Dobaara tells the story of a nurse Antara, who is in a rocky marriage but is trying to make it work for her daughter. The family has just moved to Pune to a neighborhood that has some secrets of its own. One day, they find an old TV in the house during a geostorm that is reoccuring 26 years after its first appearance. The coincidence has Antara have an encounter with a kid through the TV, and how that interaction changes the past, present and the future forms the storyline of the film.

 

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Star Performance:

Taapsee is indeed at the top of her game and made me relate and empathise with Antara and all the feelings she is going through. She is able to successfully convey her emotions as a loving mother, an unhappy wife and a confused person who isn’t able to understand what is happening with and around her. She again proved her versatility, showing why she is considered one of the best of this generation.

After Thappad, Pavail is back to the big screen and he lives up to the promise he showed in his first outing. Barring a big emotional scene that he has in the film, Pavail is able to match up to Taapsee’s standard and makes you feel for him. Although, he does need to work a little on his emotional range but that is something he will get better at with every project that he does.

The rest of the cast does a good job taking the story forward, especially the young boy Amey who is a star on screen, but it is indeed Taapsee and Pavail who drive the story with utmost conviction.

 

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Direction/Screenplay:

Anurag is one director, I feel, who doesn’t gets his due in the industry. To pull off a complex genre and story like this in a way that is easy for a layman to understand is a big deal. He brings out the eeriness of the environment and there is always a sense of discomfort you can feel on screen, that is quite integral to the story.

As for the screenplay, it serves well to the story at hand but my only complaint is the placement of music as it feels really out of place and disrupts the flow of the film. It does not require any music as the BGM does it work quite efficiently. Besides that, it is quite an impressive flow of story that keeps you engrossed throughout and the crisp run time doesn’t let your mind wander off.

 

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Conclusion:

Dobaaraa was a new and unique attempt in the genre and Taapsee and Anurag’s team up brings it out quite effectively. Barring the music and Pavail’s big emotional scene, the film is indeed an intriguing watch that will keep you hooked. You wouldn’t even want to blink as the story moves so swiftly and every scene has its importance. I need to give a special mention to Ektaa R Kapoor for showing faith in such a unique story and backing it to have a theatrical release even in these tumultuous times. She is a Czarina and she proves it time and again. After this, I have huge expectations from her new venture Cult Movies. As for this one, worth watching ‘Dobaaraa’ indeed!

Watch the trailer of Dobaaraa after the movie review:

 

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Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap on not being invited for Koffee With Karan 7: ‘We will start our own Kutting With Kashyap, Tharra With Taapsee’