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Double XL UA

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Double XL Movie Review : A promising subject weighed down by cliches and mediocre writing

• Times Of India

Double XL - Official Trailer

Double XL - Official Teaser

Double XL | Song - Taali Taali

Double XL | Song - Ki Jaana

Double XL | Song - Tumse Mila Doon

Double XL - Dialogue Promo

Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

blisson antony 273 days ago

watched on Netflix. i loved it. plumpy girls are so beautiful. its a good hearted film. also loved the Tali tali song ...

MANISHA SIRWANI 559 days ago

Double XL , a light hearted Simple Movie which trying to spread the word about &quot;self love&quot; / &quot;be yourself&quot; through the perspectives of Two Plus Size Women. Trailer clearly shows that they are going to London to prove themselves &amp; as it's a Hindi Movie we know the climax is going to be a Happy Ending. However with such good Subject, Actors in lead &amp; Supporting, film is unable to make that connect . The Writing &amp; Dialogues are bit old fashioned. Zorawar Rahmani's Character who keeps insisting to address himself as Zo,Za Zoo, becomes annoying after a point. Huma Qureshi as always wins heart &amp; Mahat Sir is the surprising package of the Movie. I specially love when he addresses Huma Qureshi as &quot;Director Sir.&quot; Music is underrated, i personally liked it. <br/>When we Talk about Self Love, Dear Zindagi is the first movie which will come to our mind. Bollywood will really have to Work hard to match that Standard.

User 676 days ago

Bp 720 days ago

Total waste of time. I don't know what the movie maker was trying to convey with that lip piercing. As it is, Sonakshi is a sub standard actress. The piercing kills the character completely.

ScrinkZ 724 days ago

Good acting, but why is your film industry having a Muslim family roles as they are going against there believes, oh a non Muslim gifting a wine bottle and drinking together. Start showing a non Muslim having circumcised when there child os born too then haha not trying to insult but respect other religions and earn respect.

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Common Sense Media Review

Indian comedy-drama promotes body positivity amid fatphobia.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Double XL is an Indian comedy-drama with strong messages about body positivity, challenging prejudice toward fat people so often seen in society. The two leads are Rajshri (Huma Qureshi) and Saira (Sonakshi Sinha) who learn to celebrate their "fatness." Both are shown to be…

Why Age 13+?

Frequent fatphobic language. Curse words like "screw" and "bloody hell." Slut-sh

A character is portrayed as a typical "stoner." They are seen smoking cannabis i

Visuals of eating disorders and binge eating. Reference to the death of a parent

Characters flirt and fall in love. References to arranged marriage. In one scene

Brand placements for British Airways, Big Moe's Diner, and the hotel chain Shang

Any Positive Content?

Embrace and be proud of how you look, no matter your size. Talent is more import

Rajshri Trivedi is an aspiring sports presenter from a small town who wants to m

Fat women are the central characters and there are plenty of important messages

Parents need to know that Double XL is an Indian comedy-drama with strong messages about body positivity, challenging prejudice toward fat people so often seen in society. The two leads are Rajshri ( Huma Qureshi ) and Saira ( Sonakshi Sinha ) who learn to celebrate their "fatness." Both are shown to be successful career women but face instances of fatphobia including a fraught mother-daughter dynamic, which accurately reflects the reality of Indian society where a woman's weight determines her prospects in life. There are visuals of eating disorders and binge eating, which may be triggering to some. A character frequently smokes cannabis and later opens up about struggling with a parent's death. There is also drinking with some drunkenness depicted. As the story plays out, Rajshri and Saira resolve their traumas and embrace themselves with the help of two love interests who see beyond their body size and treat them with the respect and kindness they deserve. The film is Hindi with English subtitles, though the translation of some of these subtitles are confusing and fatphobic.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Frequent fatphobic language. Curse words like "screw" and "bloody hell." Slut-shaming comments. Subtitles mis-translate Hindi words for "fat/fatness" to "obese/obesity." This makes some dialogue confusing and fatphobic for non-Hindi speakers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A character is portrayed as a typical "stoner." They are seen smoking cannabis in many scenes. The song "Taali Taali" glorifies drinking. The hook line translates to "don't stop the flow of booze" as characters drink shots, dance in a bar, and then walk on the streets in a drunken state. In another scene, all characters are seen drinking at a dinner party and the "stoner" smokes cannabis from a hookah.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Visuals of eating disorders and binge eating. Reference to the death of a parent.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Characters flirt and fall in love. References to arranged marriage. In one scene, a character wearing only a blanket hides on a balcony and another character yanks the blanket off, but no nudity is seen. A packet of condoms is delivered to a character's house.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Brand placements for British Airways, Big Moe's Diner, and the hotel chain Shangri-La.

Positive Messages

Embrace and be proud of how you look, no matter your size. Talent is more important than looks.

Positive Role Models

Rajshri Trivedi is an aspiring sports presenter from a small town who wants to make it big but faces challenges at every step. She stands up to the unrelenting fat-shaming by her family and prospective employers, and ultimately finds a way to land her dream gig with help from her friends. She manages to have empathy for her biggest critic, her own mother, and helps her understand that the way their bodies look should have no bearing on the love they share. Saira Khanna is a designer who wants to make clothes for all bodies. She befriends Rajshri at her lowest moment and helps build up her self-confidence. Shrikanth and Zorawar, who are romantically interested in Rajshri and Saira respectively, never mention their weight. To them, these are talented, extraordinary women and their fatness doesn't even warrant a comment.

Diverse Representations

Fat women are the central characters and there are plenty of important messages around body positivity. Shrikanth's character plays into some South Indian stereotypes but his beautiful songs that feature a combination of Tamil and Hindi make up for it. The cast and crew are majority Indian, although much of the film takes place in London.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Where to Watch

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents Say

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What's the Story?

DOUBLE XL tells the tale of two women as they try to mend their relationship with food and their bodies. While Rajshri ( Huma Qureshi ) struggles to battle misogyny and avoid an arranged marriage, Saira ( Sonakshi Sinha ) keeps getting hurt in romantic relationships with men who don't respect her. Both of them lose career opportunities because of fatphobia, but when they band together, their support leads each other to success.

Is It Any Good?

The Indian comedy-drama sets out to change the world, but forgets to populate its story with enough novelty to keep the audience engaged. The pace of Double XL wavers frequently, Zaheer Iqbal as Zorawar is hammy and irritating, and Qureshi as Rajshri is burdened with carrying the entire movie on her shoulders. The subtitles are also a hack job, mis-translating important conversations by using "overweight/obese/obesity" when the Hindi words actually meant "fat/fatness." This really takes away from the movie for non-Hindi speakers. What's more, for a movie that spends a considerable portion of its time prepping the launch of a fashion line, the clothes are atrocious. This frumpiness takes away from the satisfaction and euphoria the audience could have felt at the climax. Spending 128 minutes pontificating about fatphobia while making all their fat characters wear ugly clothes defeats the purpose. Though the movie is certainly enjoyable in parts, fat women deserve better representation.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what Double XL had to say about our bodies. What do you understand the term " body positivity " to mean? Why is it important to be kind to ourselves with regard to how we look? How does fatphobia affect fat people's mental health and confidence?

The film touches upon eating disorders. How can one recognize disordered eating? Where can you seek help if you or someone you know is struggling?

How did some of the characters display teamwork , perseverance , compassion , empathy , and courage ? Why are these such important life skills to have?

How was drinking and drug use depicted in the film? Were they glamorized? Why does that matter?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 4, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : December 28, 2022
• Cast : Huma Qureshi , Sonakshi Sinha , Zaheer Iqbal
• Director : Satramm Ramani
• Inclusion Information : Indian/South Asian directors, Female actors, Indian/South Asian actors, Female writers, Indian/South Asian writers
• Studio : AA Films
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Friendship , Music and Sing-Along
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Courage , Empathy , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 128 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : October 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Related topics.

• Perseverance
• Music and Sing-Along

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• Cast & crew

User reviews

Sonakshi Sinha & Huma Qureshi's Social Drama Doesn't Even Have An X Factor, Forget L (Lessons).

• SAMTHEBESTEST
• Nov 4, 2022

Not a bad size

• sameerlodaya

Movie with a clear narrative

• Jan 1, 2023

Horrible movie..watch at risk

• navalmendiratta
• Dec 29, 2022

Astonishing bigotry on display!

• Dec 28, 2022

A promising concept but failed to deliver

• cromaine-11970

Great concept and a fun movie

• Misskayaubrey
• May 8, 2023

Clichéd and was a torture.

• Dec 30, 2022
• alisardar-69246
• Jan 6, 2023
• Jan 3, 2023

Motivational

• sameerkhan666
• Mar 8, 2023
• charlesfredericks
• Dec 31, 2022

Couldn't handle even first few mins

• dilipjatolia-29-628878

What ever this was

• rehmankhilji

WASTE OF TIME

• shahyou-57563
• Jan 2, 2023

Problems of obese ladies chasing their dreams

• madanmarwah
• Jan 10, 2023

Note worthy concept ruined by bad film making

• lakshmishaks88
• Jan 15, 2023

Complete Garbage

• Mar 18, 2023

Entertaining movie

• raushansharma-88312
• May 3, 2024

Huma got paid well probably but a career risk for her

Modern fun new.

• May 18, 2023

How girl's suffer to complete own hobby after conviencing own family

• shubhamsh-00743
• Jan 18, 2023

Powerful MSG In This Movie Must Watch

• MehdiRizvi-7867
• Nov 6, 2022

Awesome film.. recommend to watch

• nehasuri-91259

The best Bollywood movie of 2022

• rupamrajdas
• Dec 27, 2022

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Double XL Review: All Dressed Up with Nowhere To Go

Director: Satram Ramani Writers: Sasha Singh, Mudassar Aziz Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Zaheer Iqbal, Mahat Raghavendra

Every time I open an empty Word document after watching a substandard Hindi film – or, actually, a ‘bad’ Hindi film (if there’s one thing that Double XL taught me, it’s to not sugarcoat politically incorrect terms) – a single question echoes through my wounded mind: “Where do I begin?” It’s not an unusual reaction to have. But I often wonder if it’s a line worth typing in a review – because it’s so rudimentary, so plain, so unbecoming of a film critic sitting down to dissect a movie. Yet, for music lovers in particular, there’s another pressing problem with this line: It’s impossible to think of without singing it to the tune of Andy Williams’ famous Love Story song ( Where do I begin / To tell the story of how flawed a film can be? ) You get the gist. My belief is that if I sing this anthem in my head and keep paraphrasing, perhaps the review won’t be as basic as the film itself. 

This cheap thrill – or brain fart, actually, who am I kidding? – has everything and nothing to do with Double XL , which is not the first mainstream Bollywood film to be so chuffed with its (socially significant) theme that its design becomes a distant afterthought. The premise revolves around two overweight young women who join forces to take on this body-shaming world. There’s Rajshri Trivedi ( Huma Qureshi ), an aspiring sports presenter from Meerut whose dreams feature ballroom dances with cricketer Shikhar Dhawan; Rajshri shoots and edits her own videos in the hope of getting noticed some day. And there’s Saira Khanna ( Sonakshi Sinha ), a funky Delhi-based fashion designer who dreams of starting her own label.

Their professions, as you might notice, aren’t exactly rooted in notions of inner beauty. Again, not the worst idea on paper. Rajshri travels to Delhi to interview with a top channel, but is rejected on the basis of her size. Saira catches her very Delhi boyfriend cheating, and so for some roundabout reason finds herself without a director for a fashion video she’s slated to make in London. This is when their paths cross – in a washroom of all places, with both of them howling their guts out. And voila, just like that, Rajshri agrees to be Saira’s director, and Saira becomes Rajshri’s ticket to London so that she can confront the CEO of the sports channel and prove her worth. Completing their team of misfits is a weed-loving Tamil cameraman named Srikanth (Mahat Raghavendra) and a flirty Muslim line producer named Zoravar (Zaheer Iqbal). I’m not sure if the message is that birds of a marginalized feather flock together, but if so, the problems with Double XL start with its oblivious gaze.  

For a film that positions itself as sensitive and authentic (especially with the cast), it is frightfully detached from reality. For starters, the presence of a male director (Satram Ramani) and co-writer (Mudassar Aziz) means that nearly everything comes from a space of social appropriation. The two women – with their “condition” – are presented the way humans look at animals: with a curious mix of apathy and sympathy. As per the norms of a culture afraid of confronting its own double standards, humour becomes a cheap front for insight. Most of their moments are played for sound-cued comedy, as if to say: If we can fat-shame ourselves, you won’t need to. In her first scene, Saira tears an XL dress in a trial room. In her second scene, Rajshri debunks the term “healthy” and chastises a small-town male suitor. The only half-decent quip features a Dum Laga Ke Haisha nod; the mother taunts Rajshri’s eating habits, wondering if even Ayushmann Khurrana will marry her.

Even their sadness is fetishized. In the washroom scene where they meet, the two converse through cartoonish sobs. When Saira catches her boyfriend red-handed, the moment is diffused – through a girl stranded naked in the balcony – on the brink of seriousness. When Saira is heartbroken, the camera first titillates us with a slew of empty food boxes before revealing her kebab-roll-stuffed face. At different points in the film, we see packets of chips and burgers and shakes – even alcohol and weed and, well, slim women who smoke at house parties – through the lens of vacant comedy. When Saira and Rajshri reach that unapologetic screw-society stage in London, they speak to each other in stand-up punchlines rather than actual words. They are also shown eating pizza crusts while watching Fashion TV to drive home the revolution. 

The issue with Double XL is that it genuinely seems to believe that it’s the first movie ever to explore the prickly relationship between body weight, self-confidence and societal scrutiny. For instance, Saira’s decision to become an inclusive fashion stylist (“one size for all bodies”) is framed as the sort of brainwave that might put Isaac Newton and his apple to shame. Has nobody met the internet? Evidently not, from the way Rajshri randomly lands an interview with Kapil Dev, whose movie-cameo career has reached a point where nothing less than long-haired-rockstar silhouette shots will do. Needless to mention, montage-like music drowns out this career-making chat, because scripting a neat sports interview would require the sort of research that might have made Saira’s clothes – and fashion line – look more human(e). It would also require the kind of knowledge that allows the film to distinguish between presenter (anchor) and cricket commentator. Rattling off Rohit Sharma’s statistics is as deep as the writing goes to reveal Rajshri’s passion. But phrases like “most popular sports show in India” are par for the course in this film. One language for all words, I suppose. 

Fortunately, or not, this ignorance extends to the world at large. A British server at a fast food outlet speaks as if he’s putting on a fake British accent. The team is on a limited budget in London (from whatever network greenlights “fashion label videos”), but live in a pretty boutique hotel by a lake so that they can stare at said lake during introspective moments. When they visit Zoravar’s ‘humble’ home for a dinner where Srikanth breaks into a Tamil song to offset the Urdu vibe, they arrive by speedboat no less. The romantic tracks are some of the most forced in recent history, defined solely by men giving women the push to succeed in life. 

Which brings me to those men, whose brief seems to be: Imagine if a Rajpal Yadav character were not a Rajpal Yadav character. There’s Zoravar, the A-grade creep who makes rape jokes in a hospital but is supposed to be Saira’s knight in cross-cultural armour. He delivers a “not all guys'' monologue to her seconds after jokingly threatening to exploit her. He wins over Saira by placing life-size cutouts of her all over his quaint cottage – a red flag not as blatant as his annoying catchphrase (“Zo Zee Zaa”), which suggests that the film thinks he’s a charming fellow. Srikanth, for his part, delivers an endless emo monologue about how his father never lived to see him become a cinematographer, but the dubbing of his dialogue throughout the film suggests that he might have been better off as a sound designer. The way London is shot, too, reminded me of the glorified Swedish tourism advert that was Jia Aur Jia (2017), another tacky female-buddy dramedy starring two capable actresses. I had opened that review with: I have so much to say. Which is more or less the spiritual prelude to: Where do I even begin?

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Double XL Review: Huma Qureshi And Sonakshi Sinha's Film Translates Into More Than Just Double Trouble

Double xl review: the film is a female-led dramedy that addresses the issue of body image and its repercussions but somehow seems to believe that men deserve a lot of play..

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Zaheer Iqbal and Mahat Raghavendra

Director: Satramm Ramani

Rating: 1.5 stars (out of 5)

It has plus size ambitions but Double XL , directed by Satramm Ramani, lacks the wherewithal to measure up to the demands of its weighty theme. All flab and fluff and not much fun, the film never gets its punches right, what with the actors screaming their lungs out at the slightest provocation and still failing to make their point.

Double XL , with its one-size-fits-all approach, translates into more than just double trouble. It makes a terrible hash of a story of two victims of body-shaming who learn to take all swipes on the chin and fight on to prove to the world that the clothes that fit them do not define who they are.

It wants to make a lofty statement. All it manages to be is a flimsy 130-minute film that says what it has to all within the first ten minutes. The rest is mere padding.

Double XL , written by Mudassar Aziz and Sasha Singh, wades through loads of banality. With the writing all over the place, the two principal characters, played by Sonakshi Sinha and Huma Qureshi, reduced to perpetuating frogmarching stereotypes rather than being allowed to create real, empathetic portraits of women of substance.

The defiant duo gorges on junk food and carps incessantly about being picked on. Burgers and ice-cream scoops are their symbols of rebellion against a world that wants them to fit in. But it is really never clear why they must stuff themselves to assert themselves. In presenting them as two girls who love going on a binge when the chips are down, the film turns them into caricatures that reinforce the notions that they are out to fight.

Sonakshi and Huma are trapped in roles that allow little room for development beyond the physical attributes of the two characters and the treatment that they receive on account of how they look. These are two women with gifts that have the power to fetch them everything that their heart desires. It takes them forever to reveal their hands. They mope way too much to be convincing.

The pair has to reckon with the screenplay's lack of nuance. The film fluctuates between the stolid and the just about serviceable, with the former weighing heavy on the latter more often than not.

What is Double XL really about? Two talented young women grapple with obstacles as they chase their professional dreams in London. Their aspirations are thwarted because they do not conform to standards of beauty prevalent in their respective industries. They battle to find their place in the sun. It does not yield an engaging spectacle.

Although Double XL is focused on a thorny theme, it takes recourse to drollery to liven things up. Much of the humour, especially in the film's first half, does not hit home because the characters on the screen fall prey to a build-up that is not only half-hearted but also lopsided.

Feisty fashion designer Saira Khanna (Sinha) is a Delhiite who hopes to launch her own label one day. Her introduction scene catches her in the middle of a raging showdown with a man in an apparel store over the supposedly wrong size tag on a dress that she wants to buy for an upcoming party at her boyfriend's place.

Rajshree Trivedi (Qureshi) is a Meerut girl who has her sights set on a career as a television sports presenter. When we first see her, she is in the middle of a dream in which cricketer Shikhar Dhawan requests her for "the pleasure of a dance". Her waking hours aren't as happy. She has to deal with a mother (Alka Badola Kaushal) who frets and fumes over her reluctance to get married and settle down.

The paths of Saira and Rajshree cross by chance when the two are at the lowest ebbs of their lives - one has lost the chance to helm a fashion travelogue, the other has been told to her face that she has no chance of landing the job she craves. When all seems lost, a brainwave strikes Saira. She talks Rajshree into accompanying her to London for a shoot.

Two men join them in their endeavour. Srikanth Sreevardhan (debutant Mahat Raghavendra), a Tamil cameraman who speaks just enough Hindi to get by, completes a three-member crew. In London, they are met by a garrulous line producer, Zorawar Rahmani (Zaheer Iqbal). He revels in all manner of excess, neither funny nor useful.

Zorawar - Zo, Zee, Zoo, call me what you will, he keeps parroting - resorts to a lie to set up an interview with cricket legend Kapil Dev (who puts in a brief special appearance). The encounter, a crucial plot point, becomes just the opening that Rajshree needs. The brownie points that it helps her earn comes in handy when push comes to shove.

It is not until its last 30 minutes that Double XL comes anywhere near springing to something akin to life. As breakthroughs beckon, Saira and Rajshree are poised at emotional turning points that give the principal thematic context of Double XL a modicum of shape and clarity. Until this juncture in the story, the film meandering mess in search of an ill-formed core. A case of too little too late.

Double XL is a female-led dramedy that addresses the issue of body image and its repercussions but somehow seems to believe that men deserve a lot of play. Rajshree's mother is the biggest thorn in her side, constantly pillorying her for not controlling her diet. Her dad (Kanwaljit Singh) is the supportive one, constantly egging her on to follow her heart.

Saira has an obnoxious boyfriend. Her elder brother, who holds a position of authority in a television network, always has her back. Once she and Rajshree are in London, the two men they work with become their principal sources of strength.

It is hard to believe that these two 'tough' girls would need the helping hand of a man at every step in finding their feet in a world that they have already sized up to perfection. If only the men behind the film had sought and factored in advice from women, Double XL might not have sunk into the sort of morass of mediocrity that it wallows in.

• Cast Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Zaheer Iqbal and Mahat Raghavendra
• Director Satramm Ramani

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• Double XL movie review: Huma Quresi, Sonakshi Sinha starrer has several endearing moments but they s...

Double XL movie review: Huma Quresi, Sonakshi Sinha starrer has several endearing moments but they struggle to cohesively come together

Double xl has the right intentions and does its best to convey them, but it gets lost in translation at more than a few places, owing to the length and shoddy plotting. an important film that makes for a slightly decent watch, but needed to be better..

• By Russel D'Silva
• Published: November 4, 2022 11:38 AM IST

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Double XL movie review: Has Ideas but falls short of the execution

Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha starrer Double XL is perfectly cast, but while it attempts to be sensitive, it also unnecessarily leans into some dated ideas of romance and courtship.

Language: Hindi

Cast: Huma Qureshi, Sonakshi Sinha, Zaheer Iqbal, Mahat Raghavendra

Director: Satram Ramani

In a scene from Double XL , Rajshri played by Huma Qureshi exclaims “ Inhone humare sapno ka size nai dekha, bas humara dekha ”. Rajshri is referring to the world of sports broadcasting but her message is for the rest of the world as well. It registers but is quickly overcome by the corniness of a film that while it intends to pose as sensitive can’t help but he undone by its clunkiness. Double XL is cast right, but beyond that on-paper merit it rarely elevates itself to anything more than a tiresome woke skit.

The story begins with Rajshri, a Meerut residing overweight woman in her 30s. Rajshri is intelligent but also weighed down by the pressure to settle for a groom while she can. Her feisty nature is eked out well in a scene where she confronts a man who is on the opposite end of the weighing scale. “ Iss chatt pe healthy toh koi nahi hai ”, she says. Rajshri’s family is delightfully conflicted, the way most small-town families are imagined in our films these days. The father and grandmother are supportive, the mother critical - and for good reason. A scene where she emotionally harks back to her own struggle with weight resonates well above anything else the otherwise tepid film manages. Rajshri gets an interview in the city but is rejected without a word. Here she meets Saira, played by serviceable Sonakshi Sinha , a heavy fashion designer.

The two hit it off both as a matter of relatability and purpose. This relationship is far too conveniently sped up for the purpose of a labouring narrative. Saira needs a director for a shoot in London, and Rajshri’s modest social media profile makes the cut. It’s far too frivolous to be believable. Not all is lost here though. The two have chemistry and even though the class difference is never quite examined, it is neatly papered over by the tendency for self-doubt.

There is a lot to like about Double XL ’s structural choices but almost all of it has to do with Qureshi ’s far more rooted and fleshed character, including the man she ultimately falls for. The two men playing the love interests in this film are for that matter refreshing if ultimately underwhelming creations. These are after all men happy to play second fiddle to women and their aspirations, but their desire to seek love in a relationship built on transactionality feels insincere, maybe even needless in a film that wants to give women agency, but also make them the subject of a benign male gaze. Why even summon it?

Sonakshi’s character feels undercooked, her entitlement procured rather than unpeeled for depth in this film about agency and privilege. She goes far too conveniently from the have-it-all to know-it-all, without the kind of conflict in between that would have justified the sermon at the end. That is precisely the problem with most social issue films, that they want to carry placards holding up the message rather than subliminally delivering it through prudent writing and direction. Why did the film have to go to London at all, how seamlessly is the class gap overlooked here and just why does one of the men have to overcompensate for the camp, otherwise missing in this film are annoying choices. It veers towards men and insincere leap to recapture the lost glory of rom-coms that a movie trying to liberate its women ought not to have done. Sometimes the best decision is to let things be.

That said, Double XL is not a complete bust. It has its moments. In Qureshi it has a more than decent semi-lead and in Sri, a Tamil speaking stoner as a character, it has the making of an inspired casting choice. If only the film could have conspired to hold down a plot that amounted to something other than a patronising lecture and excavated the class conflict so conveniently looked over, there would have been much to write home about. Instead this is middling fare, heading predictably towards middling, obvious climaxes. It’s not all bad but it could definitely have been resoundingly better.

Double XL is playing in cinemas

Manik Sharma writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between.

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