Amigos Movie Review

Kalyan Ram enjoyed a big success with the fantasy-action film Bimbisara wherein he appeared in a dual role. With a penchant for a variety of concept films, Kalyan Ram came up with yet another film Amigos, and this time he played a triple role based on doppelgangers. The movie was released today. Let us walk into the review.

What Is It About?

Siddharth (Kalyan Ram) is an ordinary young man who learns about doppelgangers and searches if there are any for him. To his surprise, he finds two lookalikes of him, Manjunath (Kalyan Ram), and Michael (also Kalyan Ram). They all meet and become good friends, but one of them meets them with bad intentions. Who is that and what are his plans? How did the other two escape his master plan? The answers to these questions are all about Amigos.

Performances

Kalyan Ram appeared in three roles and he tried his best to show variations from one another. The idea of doppelgangers is having a stark resemblance but not exactly the same. So the director chose to separate them with unique qualities from the way of speaking, mannerisms, and even a ‘tiny’ change in physical appearance, which is apt. Kalyan Ram completely leads the show and he did a perfect job. The heroine Ashika Ranganath and Brahmaji support him when needed. Others are adequate in their respective roles.

Technicalities

Narrating a story with the triple role is challenging. The director has gone for a plain narration most of the time to keep it less complicated and less confusing. The visual effects are good but could have been better to make the three characters’ presence much more lively. The background music is mostly the same throughout the film and it is passable. The remix song ‘Enno Ratrulostayi’ is good. Ashika Ranganath looked ravishing in the song. Cinematography is good.

Thumbs Up

Kalyan Ram
Unique Concept

Thumbs Down

Romantic track
First Half
Partly predictable

Analysis

We have seen umpteen stories of twins or triplets being misplaced when born and later meeting up to fight against a common villain. Amigos has the triple role, but not the routine triplet concept. The director executed an exceptional idea of doppelgangers from different backgrounds meeting in one place.

The first half has the three characters introduced well, but the story slows down with the romantic track and comedy mostly. The actual plot is kept for the second half but the narrative gets sloppy meanwhile. The actual plot takes off with the interval block. The turn in the tale begins only with the interval and it was done well with a series of hints and guesses popping up.

The second half will dive into the baddie’s agenda but only after the introduction of his routine ‘gangsta’ background. The cat-and-mouse game between the trio has some decent twists, but the extreme thrill factor is missing for most of it. The director preferred to narrate it without complexity and confusion, but it left some of the scenes predictable.

The conflict between the protagonist and the evil doppelganger has engaging episodes. The climax action block is well-made. Like any other recent movie, Amigos also has got a cliffhanging twist in the end.

When the concept of doppelgangers is unique, the director could have maintained the freshness by avoiding the formula writing of characters like a normal guy having one innocent, and one ruthless lookalike. At times, the characters remind that of NTR’s Jai Lava Kusa. Also, an elite force like NIA failing to identify a doppelganger is unconvincing.

Overall, Amigos has a different concept and a fresh approach for a protagonist in a triple role. Other than few twists this fails to thrill on the whole.

Bottomline: Good Concept Lacks Thrill

Rating: 2.5/5