Dobaaraa Movie Review: Trippy time loop-lapeta

DobaaraaDir: Anurag KashyapCast: Taapsee Pannu, Pavail Gulati, Rahul BhatRating: 3/5 Of course, there is such a thing as an auteur, however collective a medium the movies may bethe director directs all the departments after all. In that respect, this is the least likely among what weve come to expect of an Anurag Kashyap film. By which we assume a film aiming for the darkest side of the moon. Or at least packed with characters oscillating between disturbing extremes. Or somehow or the other obsessed with something/someone. Okay, the latter bit holds true here too. But I dont know if its the fact that this is Kashyaps first screen adaptation of an existing movieOriol Paulos Mirage (2018)there isnt an obvious political statement, either. Something he managed to brilliantly weave into his last release, the surreal drama Choked (2020). Unless the minor exchange between a character at a police station in this picture counts, where the guy expresses his rights as a citizenI need a lawyerthe cop goes, You think youre in America? True that! Also Read: Shoma and Prasoon to host screening of Dobaara in Delhi, Kolkata Dobaaraa is a time-travel, genre flick, tending towards even a romantic fantasy of sorts. Its something that at least Im unaware has ever been attempted in a Hindi film before. More so, its a film about existing in parallel universes, while the world is one, of course; or is it? Explain that again? Meaning that people could exist in multiple time-linesa nudge here in the present, messing up the likely future altogether; or the past, for that matterwhich I guess is the opposite of destiny, wherein everything is assumed to be pre-decided. There are The Terminator, Dr Strange, and Interstellar (or at least a Nolan) reference. But most importantly, how does this time loop-lapeta land on the lay audience? In a way that its instantly accessible, first. Unlike a lotta geeky sci-fi, time dimension stuff that unnecessary make you feel dumb, for no reason at allas if the audience owes the communicator the comprehension, instead of the other way round. And this was my mild apprehension before walking into this movie, knowing there are at least two occasions (the short film in Ghost Stories, and the feature, No Smoking), when Kashyap hasnt conveyed his point convincingly enough. Despite the plot simultaneously switching between two time settingsone in the present; the other in the mid-90sDobaaraa is a pretty straight and simple film, with a trippy background score, and even a proper Hindi soundtrack. At no point are you overawed by the hypothesis. Which is that a camcorder exists in the past, which can teleport you to sneak a peek into the futureonly at a certain place and moment, because of some kinda geomagnetic storm. Dobaaraas in twice over; and the time 2:12, when the phenomenon occursfor the films title is a fine pun on this theme. Taapsee Pannu plays a nurse (in the present), whos unhappily married, with a husband (the ever dependable Rahul Bhat), and a little child. In the past is a young boy, who dies when a truck runs him over. Since we know this about this boys death in the future, what if one prevents it from happening? What does that do? Well, thats the basis of this telling Spanish piece, smartly adapted in an Indian/Pune setting by screenwriter Nihit Bhave, setting in motion a curious set of events, between a compelling cast of characters in mainly constricted spaces. Frankly, we know everything about time travel only from fiction. No proof of any such thing exists in life. That said, if I were to explain the idea of this film to myself, literally in cosmetic terms, it would be this: Look at people who try botox, fillers, lip/nose-jobs and similar surgeries to fix their faces. You change one thing thats natural, youve gotta change something else. The symmetry is disturbed. The damn face looks weirder otherwise. And then you fix some more, and eventually, everybody starts looking like Michael Jackson! Also Read: Taapsee Pannu and Pavail Gulati visit Kalighat Kali Temple in Kolkata Thats how time works here. You cant change one moment, without getting into a loop of changing a full stack of events that were naturally meant to be, no? Basically, like with your face, dont mess with time (just saying). And what happens when you do? You probably create parallel universes, where everything exists, but in different ways, making you think for a second: What if the life we are leading itself is a dream, before death happens? If these random thoughts are going through your head, the films done its magic trick. That it keeps you hooked all through was the most youd expected from it anyway.

Dobaaraa Movie Review: Trippy time loop-lapeta

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