Dual Role Magic

Young sensation Ram Pothineni is go to essay 'twins' in his upcoming film, remake of Tamil film 'Thadam,' to join the bandwagon of gen-next stars like Jr NTR, Ram Charan and Nani, who played dual roles in their movies.

In fact, reigning star Jr NTR donned dual role in 'Adhurs' and triple role in 'Jai Lava Kusa' and tasted big success. Whereas, Ram Charan Tej restricted himself to a two roles in 'Nayak', however, Nani's double role in 'Krishnarjuna Yuddham' turned out to be a damp squib.

"The success of 'dual' role movies largely depends on the script. If the audience feel that the story had a reason to allow hero to play 'two roles' then it will work, otherwise, it will go down the hill, hence new-generation stars need to pick right scripts," says famed writer Gopi Mohan, who penned blockbuster 'Adhurs'.

"Jr NTR protrayed two contrasting shades of a brooding youngster and a soft-spoken Brahmin Priest in 'Adhurs' and it paid off well. Similarly, Ram Charan could draw in crowds with commercial potboiler 'Nayak' and managed to scape through, while Nani was bit unlucky," he adds.

Not only Nani, even action hero Gopichand fell flat on his face with his `dual act' in 'Gautam Nanda' which bombed badly. "Ravi Teja spun box office magic with his double role in 'Vikramarkudu' and S S Rajamouli mark magical screenplay made it a big winner.

Ravi Teja gave one of the best performances of his career in the cop story. It was big success when remade in other languages too. Karthi struck gold at the box office with 'Siruthai' and Akshay Kumar proved his mass appeal with 'Rowdy Rathor," says producer Kumar Choudury, who produced 'Vikramarkudu'.

However, other big stars Pawan Kalyan Mahesh Babu and Allu Arjun are content doing single roles in their big-ticket movies.

But their predecessors scored massive hits with 'dual role' movies and enthralled viewers in three decades. "Whenever, top heroes failed with single-hero films, they banked on dual role scripts to bounce back into reckoning.

Chiranjeevi did 'Rowdy Alludu,' and 'Donga Mogudu' , while Nagarjuna tasted success with 'Hello Brother' and 'Soggade Chinni Nayana' and Venkatesh showcased his acting prowess in films like 'Suryavamsam' and 'Jayam Manadera,' and kept the trend kicking and alive,' says

leading director Vijaybhaskar, who also reminds Balakrishna's biggest grosser'Legend.'