Dual roles are usually a guaranteed plot point to make a movie entertaining. From
Uthama Puthiran to the latest
Attagaasam , movies with dual roles have used familiar
concepts like mistaken identities, switching places, etc. to successfully entertain
us. But there are always exceptions to the rule and Jai Soorya, which casts
Arjun in a double role, is unfortunately, one such exception.
Soorya(Arjun), assisted by Baby(Laila), is a conman whose services can be bought by anyone
for the right price. His tricks result in the dismissal of both the Assistant Commissioner
(Ilavarasu) and his brother, the Police minister(Rajkapoor). So they seek the help of
Pasupathy(Sobhraj), another dada in Madras. When Pasupathy is recruited by a goon from
Calcutta to kidnap the Kancheepuram collector, Soorya decides to foil his plan and save
the collector. When saving the man, he finds that the collector Jai Anand(Arjun) is a
spitting image of himself. Jai's fiancee Priya(Chaya Singh) tells Soorya about Jai's past
as the collector in Calcutta.
Jai Soorya is not a disaster from the word 'go'. Arjun's tricks with Ilavarasu and
Rajkapoor are marginally interesting even if not terribly clever(though it is debatable
if someone would turn around and suspend his own brother over something a total stranger
has said). While such acts label him as a conman, it is surprising when he is suddenly
called one of the two leading dadas in Madras! The other big chunk of the movie is
occupied by the collector's flashback. It just serves to bring forth more enemies but
is otherwise cliched and predictable as Arjun, in this role, stands upto Kazhan Khan and
'Kota' Srinivasa Rao.
Movies with dual roles usually pick up the pace and become more interesting after the two
characters meet. But the reverse happens in Jai Soorya. Things get ridiculous and
the movie skids to a complete stop after the collector's flashback. The usual plot
point of the look-alikes switching places is used here too but leads to some inane and
ridiculous sequences as the conman takes the place of the collector. An out-of-the-blue
song starting off about Aishwarya Rai and a ridiculous press conference add to the
silliness of the proceedings.
Arjun differentiates sufficiently well between the two roles. Laila relishes the role of
Arjun's parter-in-crime and delivers a cute performance though the role doesn't sit too
well on her. Chaya Singh is wasted as she is forced to tag around with Arjun. As is the
trend in movies these days, there is a long line of villains here too with none of them
particularly standing out.
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