Anurag Kashyap whips up an engaging thriller and Taapsee Pannu delivers yet again, observes Namrata Thakker.
Time travel, as a movie genre, is still very novel in Bollywood and hasn't been explored in depth.
Of course, there have been few films like Baar Baar Dekho that played with the theme, but no one really got it right.
Fortunately, that isn't the case with Anurag Kashyap's Dobaaraa, which stars Taapsee Pannu.
If you are new to this genre, the movie might not to appeal to you instantly, but sit tight because the ride will be an enjoyable one.
Antara (Taapsee, a nurse, is married to Vikas (Rahul Bhat) and they have a daughter, Avanti.
When they move into their new home in Pune, Antara comes across an old television and a cam-recorder, which belonged to the house's previous owner Anay (Pankaj Rajput).
On a stormy night, Antara somehow connects with Anay from the past through the TV and they interact with each other in real time.
As Anay witnesses a murder in the neighbourhood, Antara tries to save him from getting killed. And she succeeds.
But in changing the past, Antara ends up altering her present.
She's no longer a nurse but a brilliant doctor and her daughter Avanti does not exist anymore.
She's single and Vikas is married to someone else.
Antara is perplexed, witnessing the bizarre turn of events and wants to get her daughter back.
From the first frame itself, Anurag Kashyap lures you into his trippy world of the multiverse.
You keep guessing what's going to happen next, but the end result is always something else, something interesting.
Being a time travel thriller, the movie is well-paced, nicely crafted and easy to grasp despite different timelines and complex narrative.
The first half is terrific and keeps you on edge. The film falters in the second half and the end is too easy.
Still, Dobaaraa is an engaging watch.
The film belongs to Taapsee. As Antara, she's fabulous in emoting all the confusion and fear and commands your attention in every scene.
Rahul Bhat is unintentionally funny and pulls off his character of a cheating, selfish, husband quite easily.
Pavail Gulati makes a good impression with his small role, but the otherwise fabulous Saswata Chatterjee doesn't impress.
Dobaaraa may seem confusing if you aren't exposed to the time travel genre, but Anurag Kashyap's film makes it the right time to get acquainted with the genre.
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