Gumraah Review - Perhaps The Best Double Role Twist For Any Thriller

Aditya Roy Kapur stars in the double role in Gumraah, alongside Mrunal Thakur, Vedika Pinto, and Ronit Roy. Directed by Vardhan Ketkar, Gumraah is a Hindi remake of the 2019 Tamil thriller Thadam. We have seen double role formulas in many films, and almost every time we saw the characters being opposite to each other in nature. The same trick goes here, but the genre is new. When I think about the best double-role thrillers, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (2006) is one memorable work that will never fade from my favourites. After that, if there is any film that deals with a double role formula with interesting turnarounds, then it has to be Thadam. So, for Indian cinema, it's a new benchmark. Of course, the film suffers due to some useless masala, which is mandatory for Tamil flicks, but then there is a massive surprise in the climax. It's a bona fide script, so all Gumraah had to do was copy and paste it with a new cover for Hindi audiences. Well, it succeeds in doing so.Arjun Bhatnagar (Aditya Royal Kapur), a successful civil engineer, is arrested by inspector Shivani (Mrunal Thakur) in a murder case. ACP Dhiren (Ronit Roy) is happy to get his hands on Arjun since he has a personal grudge against him. Shivani and Dhiren are almost certain that Arjun is the murderer, as all the evidence is against him, but there is a surprise. Arjun's twin brother, Rahul (Aditya Roy Kapur), is brought to the station, which leads the investigation to go astray. Evidence is pointing towards both, but as we know, the law can't help two people guilty of the same crime, so it becomes a tough assignment for Shivani to find the real culprit, while Dhiren is looking to grab Arjun for his personal revenge. But will it be that easy for Shivani with smart Rahul knowing all the loopholes in law and order? Will she find the culprit? The answers lie in the twisty climax of Gumraah.Gumraah has a perfect title for the kind of concept it has. It does make you Gumraah for a while. The original flick had a title that means "Trail," as the police officer is on the trail. You know, with remakes, there's a big problem that if you copy something exactly as it is, then people say that you have no creativity. Two, if you make changes and assume that they went wrong, then people say why you shouldn't have tampered with the originality. You see, there is a beating from both sides. That's why remakes are risky. To be safe, you just have to copy and paste the original film with a new set of actors and crew. Drishyam, for instance (please note that this has nothing to do with the box office). Gumraah does exactly that. Of course, it is not as great as Drishyam, but Thadam is a fine masala-packed thriller, as is Gumraah. It could have avoided the useless spice, comedy, and glamour, though. If Thadam and Red didn't do it, I think Gumraah should have done that. But anyway, who expects creativity with the "REMAKE"?Aditya Roy Kapur shines in the first-ever double role of his career. Just like Judwaa and other formulaic twin roles, this had two characters contradicting each other, but the theme and genre were far different. Aditya as Arjun is just the same old romantic boy, but as Rahul, he is a new person altogether. The handsome hunk gets into beast mode (unfortunately, a dream sequence?), hoodlum zone, for a while, and it's gonna be a treat for his fans. Mrunal Thakur has a powerful role as a female cop, again for the first time ever for her, and she does a fine job. In a few scenes, her voice tone seemed corrupted and displaced, but otherwise she is nice. Ronit Roy has a tailor-made role again, and he gets everything right with his character. Mohit Anand, Deepak Kalra (with that ugly beard trim), and Navneet Kaur Thind are decent in the supporting roles. In Operation Romeo, she looked like a little girl, but suddenly today, I saw a whole new, grown-up version of Vedika Pinto. She was an absolute beauty in every frame.To add to the negatives, Gumraah should have skipped the romance, songs, and several cliched moments. I know, Thadam couldn't stay away from those outdated conflicts since it had to please a mainstream set of Tamil audiences who love watching entertaining stuff, but Hindi cinema and audiences are quite different. So the scope was there for a few changes. Gumraah played safe and didn't tamper with the original material, or should I say, it played too safe to have any originality at all? The music adds loo breaks despite having situational choreography. The cinematography is good, and the background score is okay. Ketkar makes a promising debut, but there are some flaws that can't be overlooked. Lots of kisses, cheap one-liners, a few incomplete sequences, lengthy editing, and an unnecessary use of music—these are the mistakes he should have looked at before getting the final cut ready. It doesn't harm much in the first viewing, but yes, a repeat viewing will definitely expose many drawbacks. Nevertheless, it is a fantastic watch for the freshers who haven't seen Thadam. They are in for a thrilling ride and never-seen-before twists for any film with a double role. Meanwhile, freshers can have a decent time noticing what went wrong in the remake and also in the original. Overall, a good thriller and definitely watchable for the kind of new testament it provides to the regular double-role formula with realistic tricks.