Why doesn't Bollywood trust more female actors to twin on screen?

Arjun Kapoor is gearing up for the release of his next outing, Mubarakan, that will see him in the double role of Karan and Charan, a second time for the actor after Aurangzeb (2013). Alongside his double role, there’s much buzz about Varun Dhawan reprising the role of Salman Khan in Judwaa 2 and Sidharth Malhotra in a ‘two’ good to be true avatar in A Gentleman. But, while all these boys are set to wow the audiences, the ladies are conspicuous by their absence when it comes to twinning on screen.

A look at the list of movies with double roles will reveal how skewed the numbers are. Those with male stars is a long string of names while female stars, not so many. Here, industry insiders tell us the reasons behind it.

Sticking to the formula

Bollywood’s knack to stick to the formula is one of the reasons why there aren’t very many actresses in double roles, as film business expert Girish Johar believes. “Get a big hero in a ‘double dhamaka’ and you know it will do well; so filmmakers take the traditional route. The scripts are not written to the tune where a female lead can carry the film entirely on her shoulders, that too in a ‘double’ way,” he says. Hema Malini’s Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) remains one of the most iconic films that told the story of separated twins — one fierce and the other docile. Hema rues that filmmakers do not make enough films with heroines in double roles. “Seeta Aur Geeta with me and Chaalbaaz with Sridevi were such blockbusters. Audiences will only see the films if you make them. We have such talented actresses like Vidya Balan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone, who can definitely play double roles,” she says.

Male actors have a bigger pull

Filmmakers choose to play it safe because male actors still have a bigger pull at the box office than their female counterparts, which is also true about double roles. “Perhaps, that is the reason,” says Sajid Khan, who made Humshakals (2014) starring Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor, and Riteish Deshmukh in triple roles. Akshaye Rathi, film exhibitior and distributor, says, “Why just double roles, how many films do you have where a heroine is the protagonist? You will find tons of films like Dabangg or Son of Sardar but there are very few like Queen or Dear Zindagi that have the heroine as the focus.”

The disparity between the opening or lifetime collection of Salman Khan versus Deepika Padukone or Kareena Kapoor Khan is an indicator of who rules the roost. 

Akshaye adds. “It’s all about what the audience gives mileage to and buys more tickets for. Filmmakers will toe the line and make films that the audience enjoys more, and that’s also seen in the ratio of films that are made with double roles,” he says. Director and writer Anees Bazmee, who has written many films with doubles roles, such as Bol Radha Bol, Aankhen, Gopi Kishan, Sandwich, and now Mubarakan, agrees. “Over the years, major hits have been hero-centric. A lot of money goes into making a film, so the producer needs to give a good thought about who he should cast to recover the money and they are usually sceptical about casting an actress purely because of that,” says the director.

No second fiddle roles for heroes

While Seeta Aur Geeta had Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar, and Rajinikanth and Sunny Deol were opposite Sridevi in Chaalbaaz (1989), Sajid points out that casting two big actors opposite an actress playing a double role proves to be extremely difficult. “Whoever does a double role, the film will obviously be about them. Then it becomes difficult to cast a hero bigger than the heroine because that would mean playing the second fiddle,” Sajid says. The actresses, too, may not be too gung-ho about starring opposite smaller names. Though, Amul Vikas Mohan, Editor, Super Cinema, feels that it’s also about how good the script is. “Rajinikanth and Sunny Deol did Chaalbaaz when they were at the peak of their careers, though all the focus was on Sridevi,” he says. Anees, however, thinks that belief in one’s film overrides everything else and one should make the film with relatively smaller male actors.

Not enough scripts for actresses

More than anything, a dearth of writers penning the scripts with female double roles is the culprit. Like Hema says, “Frankly speaking, we don’t have good screenplay writers like Salim-Javed who wrote such memorable dialogues like, ‘Neeche aaja beti, upar aaja moti’ that became so iconic.” Girish agrees that it’s just a matter of enough scripts being written for actresses. “If you have as strong a script as Chaalbaaz, who wouldn’t want to see Deepika or Alia in a double role?” says he.

Times they are a-changing

However, we are entering an era where audience engagement, novelty, and entertainment values are more important than whether the lead is a male or a female, according to Akshaye. “Look at Queen, Tanu Weds Manu and its sequel, and Dear Zindagi; they had actresses as protagonists but did so well,” he says. Amul agrees that Dirty Picture paved the way for female-centric films, not in the serious or feminist sense of the word. “Queen, Tanu Weds Manu, Neerja, Akira, Noor, and now Haseena Parker, etc — there have been so many films of late where the actress is the lead,” he points out, “I’m sure it’s just a matter of time that there will be a remake of Chalbaaz that will do well at the box office.” Economics is everything, says Anees, and the recent hits with women as protagonists is encouraging more and more filmmakers to write scripts for leading ladies. “If a couple of more films like TWMR are made and do well, I’m sure there will be more such films with actresses in double roles,” says Anees adding that he would love to make one such film if the script is convincing enough.

Actors in double roles

Hum Dono (Dev Anand) -1961
China Town (Shammi Kapoor) - 1962
Ram Aur Shyam (Dilip Kumar) - 1967 
Aaradhana (Rajesh Khanna) - 1969
Sachcha Jhootha (Rajesh Khanna) - 1970
Don (Amitabh Bachchan) - 1978
Ghazab (Dharmendra) - 1982
Angoor (Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma) - 1982
Satte Pe Satta (Amitabh Bachchan) - 1982
Desh Premee (Amitabh Bachchan) - 1982
Aakhree Raasta (Amitabh Bachchan) - 1986
Kishen Kanhaiya (Anil Kapoor) - 1990
Aankhein (Govinda) - 1993
Gopi Kishan (Suniel Shetty) - 1994
Judwaa (Salman Khan) - 1997
Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda) - 1998
Duplicate (Shah Rukh Khan) - 1998
Sooryavansham (Amitabh Bachchan) - 1999
Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (Hrithik Roshan) - 2000
Kaminey (Shahid Kapoor) - 2009
Rowdy Rathore (Akshay Kumar) - 2012
Krish 3 (Hrithik Roshan) - 2013
Dhoom 3 (Aamir Khan) - 2013
Happy New Year (Abhishek Bachchan) - 2014
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (Salman Khan) - 2015

Actresses in double roles

Anhonee (Nargis) - 1952
Sharmeelee (Rakhee) - 1971
Seeta Aur Geeta (Hema Malini) - 1972
Mausam (Sharmila Tagore) - 1975
Chaalbaaz (Sridevi) - 1989
Sangeet (Madhuri Dixit) - 1992
Dushman (Kajol) - 1998
Dhoom 2 (Bipasha Basu) - 2006 
Om Shanti Om (Deepika Padukone) - 2007
Love Story 2050 (Priyanka Chopra) - 2008
Chandni Chowk to China (Deepika Padukone) - 2009
Alone (Bipasha Basu) - 2015
Roy (Jacqueline Fernandez) - 2015