Double XL is feel-good movie with message

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Here is a film that was ideal fodder for release on the OTT platform (Netflix), where I watched it. It had a singular run of around a week (!!) in movie halls with among the feeblest collections of all movies in 2022.

But Hello! It was certainly not all that bad. Just that in such times, the makers should have negotiated a primary non-big screen release and done decent publicity. And made the script more racy and funny to propel audience into the movie-halls, since they had taken this unfortunate decision in these OTT-friendly days!

Like so many other movies in Hindi and other languages, the film has the message that body-shaming is to be deplored and, especially so, in females. That said, it unfortunately equates obesity and excessive weight-gain directly and only to junk food. Nothing could be more absurd, medically speaking.

Despite this failing, it narrates a feel-good story about two women, a fashion designer named Saira Khanna (Sonakshi Sinha) and a wannabe sports presenter, Rajshri Trivedi (Huma Qureshi), who find their weights and body-size and shape coming in the way of their dreams and ambitions. Happily, they encounter each other (in a washroom where they are crying to themselves!) and Saira gives Rajshri a proposal that can be mutually beneficial.

The duo move to London (details to be found within movie for those who will watch it) and their helpers there are Zorawar Rahmani (Zaheer Iqbal), chosen by Saira’s brother (Sachin Shroff), and cameraman Shrikant Shreevardhan (Mahat Raghavendra). The rest of the film is about their adventures and misadventures in London and back home, as the girls finally find fulfillment of their goals.

While the comedy level is steady but not hilarious, the movie does have its subtle humor and dramatic high-points, like the scene wherein Zorawar’s mother (Nikki Aneja Valia) meets the trio, or the way Shrikant narrates his back-story to Rajshri. The confrontations between Rajshri and her well-meaning mother (Alka Kaushal Badola) are happily kept realistic, without resorting to undue melodrama. And the climax is interesting in its novelty.

Huma Qureshi as Rajshri has a better-etched role than Saira’s uni-dimensional character and puts in a very sincere and effective performance: this is one actor who is becoming increasingly bankable by the year. Sonakshi Sinha as Saira is adequate, as is Zaheer Iqbal. But it is Mahat Raghavendra who proves to be the find—his expressions, body language and way of speaking in his Hindi debut enrich every scenes he enacts.

The dialogues too are fine and the music is marked by two good tracks by Sohail Sen—Tumse mila doon and Taali taali.

With a little more care, Double XL would have been a winner. As things stand, it is a decent watch at home, compared to some below-par fare that is so endemic on OTT.

Rating: **1/2

T-Series Films, Wakaoo Films, Elemen3 Entertainment & Reclining Seats Cinema present Double XL Produced by: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vipul D. Shah, Ashwin Varde, Rajesh Bahl, Saqib Saleem, Huma Qureshi & Mudassar Aziz Directed by: Satramm Ramani  Written by:Mudassar Aziz & Sasha Singh Music: Sohail Sen & Kanishk Seth Starring: Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Zaheer Iqbal, Mahat Raghavendra, Shobha Khote, Alka Kaushal Badola, Kanwaljeet Singh, Niki Aneja Walia, Danish Pandor, Sachin Shroff, Jagat Rawat, Swati Tarar, Dolly Singh, Sp. App.: Jimmy Sheirgill, Kapil Dev, Shikhar Dhawan & others