Ramesh Deo Productions’ Doosra (A) is about a lesbian coming out of the closet.
Tara (Plabita Borthakur) is a rebel by nature. Her strict father (Ankur Vikal), elder brother (Navin Ratwa) and mother (Samidha Guru) have been too overbearing and they’ve never allowed her to be herself. Tara has always admired Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly. She musters courage to tell the world that she’s a lesbian when Sourav Ganguly, in a defiant mood, takes off his T-shirt on the field after winning the NatWest final cricket match against England at Lord’s.
Rohan Sajdeh and Agnello Oswin Dias have written a story about the bold Tara by drawing parallels with Sourav Ganguly and India breaking free from convention. The allegory may be appreciated by the elite but the masses will not even understand the connection. Frankly, that’s the only novelty in the story. The screenplay, penned by Agnello Oswin Dias, Matt Graham and Zak Shaikh, is average and, like the story, it has very elitist appeal. Pradhuman Singh Mall’s dialogues are ordinary.
Plabita Borthakur acts well as Tara. Ankur Vikal is alright as Tara’s father. Samidha Gaur is okay as her mother. Twisha Joshi does a fair job as young Tara. Krishna Gokani lends average support as Tara’s friend, Manju. Navin Ratwa (as Tara’s brother), Akshay Ajit Singh (as Tara’s husband), J.P. Chopra (as Tara’s father-in-law), and Kavita Mathur (as Tara’s mother-in-law) provide reasonable support. Shashi Tharoor, Nasser Hussain, Shekhar Kapur, Ashok Row Kavi, Boria Majumdar, Ayaz Memon, Indra Nooyi, Piyush Pandey, Raghuram Rajan, Rajdeep Sardesai and John Wright do as desired.
Abhinay Deo’s direction is good but the fact remains that the subject and drama are too elitist in appeal. Ram Sampath’s background music is ordinary. Mohammed Rubias’ camerawork is alright. Production designing (by Mustafa Stationwala) is okay. Ayelet Gil Efrat’s editing leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Doosra is a non-starter.
Released on 23-10-’26 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.