Duplicate

About the film

Duplicate is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Mahesh Bhatt. It stars Shah Rukh Khan in a dual role, with Juhi Chawla and Sonali Bendre playing female lead roles. The film portrays Shah Rukh Khan playing a dual role as Bablu, an aspiring chef, and Manu, a notorious gangster. It marked Khan's first of many collaborations with Dharma Productions.

At the 43rd Filmfare Awards, the film received 2 nominations – Best Villain (Khan) and Best Lyricist (Javed Akhtar for "Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam"). The film has been described as a remake of the 1935 American film The Whole Town's Talking.

Plot

Bablu, a bubbly and childish young man, is an aspiring chef who always prays to God whenever he gets the chance. Manu, who is a very big gangster and a doppelganger of Bablu, is meanwhile getting chased by the police. He eventually gets caught, but swiftly gets his way out of getting arrested.

On his way to a job interview, Bablu meets Sonia Kapoor, a charming and beautiful hotel catering manager, in a cab. They argue over who should get the cab, but eventually figure out that they are going to the same place; Bablu is going to a job interview with Sonia. Bablu eventually gets hired as the head chef at the hotel after showing off his cooking skills and meets the hotel's owner who has a crush on Sonia, even though Sonia doesn't reciprocate his feelings. Throughout the film, the manager tries his hardest to get Bablu and Sonia broken up, and Bablu fired. As Sonia and Bablu continue to work with each other, Bablu falls in love with her.

One day, when Bablu takes Sonia out for lunch trying to express his feelings, he gets arrested after the police mistake him for Manu. Bablu is able to prove his true identity, but not before Manu hears of his duplicate. Bablu is given an identity card by the police and goes home happily only to be met by Manu and his goons. Manu tries to kill Bablu and take his place, but Manu threatens him that they have to switch places if he wants him and his loved ones to survive, forcing Bablu to unwillingly accept.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Anu Malik and the lyrics were penned by Javed Akhtar. The songs, "Mere Mehboob Mere Sanam", "Ek Shararat Hone Ko Hai" and "Kathai Aankhon Wali" were popular ones from the album.

Box office

Released on 230 screens in India, Duplicate opened to an average response, but could not sustain well due to negative reception among the audience and proved to be a commercial failure with losses amounting to ₹1.5 crore.

Key details