Double XL

I watched this movie to see how they would deal with this touchy concept of weight, size and May be even body shaming.

Instead what I got was a movie that was heavy laden with dialogues. Dear writers this is a movie not a debate or documentary on this well thought of subject.

The story started off promising but after the first 20 minutes it loses the plot. And. Huma Qureshis story is almost forgotten. And the whole story is around fashion.

This is where I felt the movie lost it's relevance. Just because the title has an element of fashion doesn't mean that they make the whole movie about it inspite of having another angle that there was opportunity to run in parallel.

To end it dear writers it's not "one size fits all" it should have been "fit for all".

Some movies have interesting and topical themes but the implementation leaves much to be desired. This is one more to the list. Obesity has always been a socially embarrassing subject specially for the fair sex and many young women also find it difficult to get married. An oversized person in addition to being fat shamed has been the source of comic situations . Luckily the movie does not focus on this aspect.

The movie ignores the fact that obesity brings about health problems too and may cause lifestyle diseases. Worse, the movie accepts obesity as unavoidable and celebrates it by advocating junk food. No one tells these two modern women to go on a diet and/or join a gym. This social problem doesn't have easy solutions and the movie also deals with the issue in a flimsy and superfluous manner. The narrative drags and meanders in many places. It gets further diluted due to unnecessary and boring subplots. A few scenes lack conviction. The plot is about two plus sized women. One is Huma Qureshi from Meerut who is keen on becoming a sports commentator ( Cricket naturally) and the other is Sonakshi Sinha from Delhi who is interested in setting up a fashion clothes brand in her name. Both women find their obese looks an impediment in following up their ambitions. Like Huma ruefully mentions that her interviewers don't check her knowledge and rather see her obesity as a disadvantage. In humour she mentions the all 3 have a good friendship that is she, food and obesity.

Director Satram Ramani falls short in making an impact and appears to be handicapped by a generally weak screenplay and dialogue. Even the acting does not make any impression mainly because of the ordinary dialogue. Both Huma and Sonakshi needed stronger characters. The ending is however well written and seems a reasonably logical approach to the issue. A good portion is attractively shot in London.

A great attempt overall, audiences looking for fresh concept and light hearted fun will love this movie. Progressive audiences would love this storyline, the focus being on two heroines & their ambitions ,and finally a movie tackling body shaming in India.

The grating wails of Rajsri's mother trying to force her to get married because she's turned 30 and Rajsri's pain and frustration to embark on her career unshackled is something a lot of women would relate to.

But I'm glad this movie shows family (Rajsri's dad &grandma ; Saira's brother) support the two heroines' not so traditional career choices. Also shows women supporting women which is wonderful to see.

A refreshing movie to see which is also fun and quirky with two beautiful heroines portraying plus size women. Also the tamil actor makes a great (and cute) addition to the ensemble.

So far, celebrating obesity was a mental disorder limited to the United States as the capitalists there would make money on anything.

It is extremely sad that this nonsense in now being pushed in India as a narrative. Are there fat people in the society? Yes. Do they deserve to be treated with respect and fairness? Yes. Do we need to celebrate the fact that they are fat? NO!

We should rather endeavour to understand the reason why the person is fat, it could be poor lifestyle, medical complications, genetic issues or some other reason. These people need help to ensure that they stay in shape and thus can lead healthy lives.

Being fat can be a choice, but that is not in any way, equivalent to being healthy.

Such Bollywood nonsense should be ridiculed to the fullest extent possible and the idiots who portray such roles should be boycotted along with the producers, directors etc. These jokers are not doing anything to combat the obesity issues in the country and just want to make money. Disgusting.

Double XL (2022) : Movie Review -

Double XL tells a lot from its name about its basic idea, and with two overweight ladies in the poster (Sonakshi Sinha and Huma Qureshi), you get to know more about it. The film has a good topic in body shaming but fails to capture the essence of the story. You have to be very careful while dealing with such ideas, which is clearly missing here. Women are always criticised for their fatness, be it in any field-cinema, fashion, corporate, or even sports. The fight against this was missing in Bollywood, and fortunately, it has come now, with known faces but unfortunately, with immature storytelling.

Double XL is the journey of two plus-size women, Rajshree Trivedi (Huma Qureshi) from Meerut and Saira Khanna (Sonakshi Sinha) from New Delhi, as they navigate society's beauty standards. Rajshree wants to become a sports presenter, but her mother doesn't approve. She has to face several rejections due to her extra large size, while Saira gets snubbed for the same reason in the fashion industry. These two double XL ladies catch up and fly off to London to achieve their dreams. There they are accompanied by two good men, Zorawar (Zaheer Iqbal) and Sreekanth (Mahat Raghavendra), who don't have any problem with their sizes. The quartet tries to find success during the process, and that's all you get to see in Double XL.

Sonakshi Sinha as Saira is a funky girl, and that's something new for Sonakshi. She hasn't played such a bindass character in recent time. However, the weight issues and some sort of dedication were missing. The same goes with Huma Qureshi, who gained 20 kg for the role. She looks fine though, but the performance isn't up to par compared to her recent ones. Zaheer Iqbal's Zorawar, aka Zo Za Zu, will irritate you at first, but he has some normal scenes by the end. The second male lead, Mahat Raghavendra, comes with a typical accent and goes with a typical act. I was expecting the supporting cast to add something, but they have failed, but surprisingly, the cameos are fantastic. Kapil Dev, Shikhar Dhawan and Jimmy Shergill give a pleasant surprise with their sweet cameos.

What's good about Double XL is the topic. The discussion and arguments over this topic are needed, and let me tell you, those have to be brutal and hard-hitting, but Double XL didn't even seem to have tried. The comedy factors have overtaken serious issues like body shaming, and the results are highly disappointing. Firstly, the issue agent highlighted it well enough. Rajshree and Saira both never worried about their weight or even looked serious about it. The problems they face aren't really caused by being overweight, but by their own approach to their personalities. Double XL lacks the X factor, which could have taken it to the next level, and therefore it lashes out at its own lessons that it was supposed to teach us. Mudassar Aziz and Sasha Singh were totally clueless about the topic, its exploration, its presentation, and its outcome.

Double XL has good music that does not feel boring. A couple of songs sound so nice in these situations. Milind Hog's framework is average, while Abhisek Anand's editing skills seemed a little less than what was needed. The director, Satram Ramani, picks a taboo subject to tell a mainstream entertainer, and believe me, it's a big mismatch. If you are attending a show on a taboo subject, be truthful about it; it is better if the mainstream audience gets the kind of entertainment they want. You do justice to your topic, and they'll be forced to like your vision. Ramani's direction is far away from this basic sense. Actually, it's highly immature. No emotional connect; no worthy drama; no sensible character; no USP; no hard hitting speeches; no understanding between the subjects and how they reflect. Not sure if he was really interested in making a film on such a brave topic or just wanted to make another flop.

RATING - 4/10*