'Amigos' hit the screens today. In this section, we are going to review the latest box-office release.
Story:
Siddharth, Manjunath and Michael are lookalikes/doppelgangers living in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata, respectively. When they are matched by a website that brings the doppelgangers across the world together, the trio jets off to Goa to spend a vacation.
Much to the shock of Siddharth and Manjunath, Michael turns out to be a gun dealer pursued by the National Investigation Agency. The rest of the film is about why Michael aka Bipin Roy needs his lookalikes for his evil plan, how Siddharth does his best to foil his plans, and more.
Analysis:
Before the film was released, Kalyan Ram said that he loved the script of 'Amigos' mainly because the villain is not a fourth character but one of the three lookalikes himself. It was pretty much apparent that Michael is the evil guy. The only question was: why would the evil guy need his doppelgangers?
'Amigos' is not a revenge story and that leaves quite a few hackneyed plot turns out of the way. Thankfully, they are not triplets with one of the brothers coming with a troubled past. And it is also a relief that the film is not a psychological thriller.
'Amigos' takes the form of an action thriller without overt reliance on typical tropes. The storyline is respectable. But, then, what ails the film? 'Amigos' sorely lacks the ability to keep the audience guessing about what might happen next. A film of this sort should have made the viewer wonder if evil will gain the upper hand in the climax. That would have made Siddharth and Manjunath look more vulnerable.
The attempt to glamourize Michael's villain character is half-hearted. Since the dialogue delivery is more or less monotonous, the character doesn't appear fearsome enough. While Siddharth and Michael are not cardboard characters (the latter is mildly so), Manjunath is not fleshed out at all. That is a big minus, considering the emotions spun around his position are crucial to the plot.
The emotional vacuity finds a match in the inferior quality of the rom-com track. Ishika (Ashika Ranganath) is not given depth. Brahmaji, who plays Siddharth's relative, is left to do the heavy lifting. The likes of Satyam Rajesh and Saptagiri try hard to generate humour. In the absence of a thorough build-up to the second half, 'Amigos' feels half-baked.
Kalyan Ram tries to bring nuance to a script that otherwise doesn't get his characters' beats right. He looks the best in the scenes where he shows exasperation as Michael. But the overall character design leaves phrases like 'Merchant of death' and 'Devil in the dark' lifeless. The use of an expletive (read 'F*ck you') and the 'middle finger' logo don't make the villain bohemian either. The NIA raids, on top of it, are hamhanded.
Ghibran's background score is not hefty; it is measured and serves up occasional thrills. The cinematography and editing are passable.
Verdict:
The film needed to be more than the sum of its montages and slow-motion shots. Its good premise is undone by the execution.
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