‘Nishaanchi’ review: Saga of identical squabbling twins misses its mark

In Kanpur in 2006, the identical twins Babloo and Dabloo (Aaishvary Thackeray) set out to rob a bank, accompanied by Babloo’s girlfriend Rinku. The shoddily planned robbery fails, Babloo is jailed and Rinku (Vedika Pinto) is left without his protection. Dabloo finally dares to emerge from under Babloo’s shadow.

Anurag Kashyap’s Nishaanchi (Shooter) is the first in a two-part drama about brothers divided by temperament and their love for the same woman. Although smoothly crafted and deftly performed, Nishaanchi is also a conventional and predictable tale of ambition and revenge via mild sibling rivalry.

Kashyap’s near-academic study of classic Bollywood conventions contains nearly everything you expect from this kind of film: squabbling twins, a widow tailoring away to survive, a villain keen on grabbing things that doesn’t belong to him. Kashyap and co-writers Prasoon Mishra and Ranjan Chandel dial down the sentimentality, treating formulaic devices in a realistic, gritty manner.

The Iago-like Ambika Prasad (Kumud Mishra) drives a wedge between the wrestler Jabardast (Viineet Kumar Siingh) and Jabardast’s mentor. Jabardast’s wife Manjari (Monika Panwar) struggles to bring up her twin sons by herself. Babloo grows up to be a bundle of swagger, while Dabloo dutifully disappears into his buttoned-up shirts.

When Ambika threatens Rinku’s security, Babloo goes from being Ambika’s...

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