Dujone review: A mediocre attempt at a romantic thriller

2.5/5

Story:

Essentially a tale of love and lies, the thriller sets its premise around the lives of Amar Basu Thakur and his wife Ahona. After encountering and barely surviving a dreadful car accident, Amar seems to be a changed man. From his mannerisms to not remembering things, from his likes to his dislikes, he starts behaving like a different person altogether. Even after getting assurance from the doctor that it is because of the trauma of the mishap, Ahona continues to suspect that something might be amiss. She refuses to believe that a person can change so much as a result of an accident. She sets out to investigate what is wrong with Amar and soon exposes a whole set of lies, hidden secrets and conspiracies, that threatens her relationship with her husband, as she is forced to question the basic belief – whether she knew Amar at all or not.

Review:

The central subject of the film is engrossing and involves a love story at the heart of a gripping thriller. Integrating a love story and thriller is a difficult task to achieve, yet director Promita Bhattacharya performs well in that department. From laudable cinematography to enjoyable music tracks, Dujone is entertaining at points.

Soham Chakraborty as Amar Basu Thakur delivers a commendable performance, switching between his innocent smiles and cunning grin, never giving you an opportunity to decide which one is his real self. Two other highlights of the series are Adrija Roy as Kalki Rai and Debshankar Haldar as Rajat Basu Thakur, who steal the show with their nuanced acting and multi-layered characters. Srabanti Chatterjee’s portrayal of Ahona is linear and monotonous, failing to convey the dilemma of a character who suddenly notices change in their loved one, and is both scared yet determined to uncover the truth. This makes it hard for us to relate to Ahona, and feel the turmoil she is going through.

The climax at the end of the tale is riveting, as it is bound to throw you into a state of confusion and crisis, contemplating whether what you have witnessed throughout the series is true or just a mind-blowing façade that is set up cunningly. It would make you doubt your preformed notions and beliefs, generating eagerness for Season 2 of the show.

However, an extremely slow pace disrupts the flow of the plot, making it tedious and uninteresting to watch. For the first five episodes, there is not enough material to chew on. The story continuously hints that something is off, but never reveals what it is, making the narrative quite dull and repetitive, as you wait for what seems like an eternity, in the hope of a twist or turn.

In spite of having a good storyline, the straight path of the plot renders it vanilla, which fails to hold on to the attention of the viewers due to its predictability. What could have been a tightly-knit story and an engaging series, is ruined by dragging it to 10 episodes, when it should have been over by five.

The show also utilises the cliched concept of identical people having the same faces, who suddenly arrive in their alter egos life just when the series needs it. This idea is so overused that it destroys the authenticity of any plot, whenever used.

All-in-all, Dujone is a mediocre attempt at a thriller, due to its sizeable number of downs. Yet, the compelling theme, note-worthy performances, and worthy camerawork – may convince you of giving this series at least a watch