REVIEW 149: JISM 2

Release date:	August 3, 2012
Director:	Pooja Bhatt
Cast: Language:	Sunny Leone, Arunoday Singh, Randeep Hooda, Arif Zakaria Hindi

Let me state this right at the start... Sunny Leone is many galactic miles behind Bipasha Basu! The US-based porn star of Indo-Canadian origin is, as you know, the heroine of director Pooja Bhatt’s Jism 2. It boggles the mind that Pooja would not have realised that while Sunny is pretty, sweet-faced, busty and has a fit body, she has neither Bipasha’s screen presence and charisma nor that same oomph that could out-burn temperatures in the Sahara Desert as Ms Basu has done for about a decade now. To then position Sunny as some sort of successor to Bipasha by casting her in Jism 2 – a title which harks back to the Bipasha-starrer of 2003 – is not just an error of judgement but also misleading to the audience. 

Limp, flaccid, lifeless … I can think of a number of adjectives to describe this yawn-worthy film. The only pertness on screen comes from Sunny’s bosom generously displayed in tiny outfits with plunging necklines and from the obliging shirtlessness of those two very muscular heroes. Jism 2 has been marketed as an erotic thriller, but there is neither erotica nor any thrill in evidence here. The polished production design and good-looking locations can hardly be considered compensation for the failure to deliver on that promise. Film-goers hoping for loads of sex should be warned that there’s not much more love making in Jism 2 than there was in Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna … meaning, there’s not much at all. Mahesh Bhatt has been quoted in the press as saying that the Censor Board cut out 50 per cent of the film’s ‘adult’ scenes. Well whatever be the reason, frankly, there was 10 times more between-and-beyond-the-sheets action in Jism which was released almost a decade back and in the Bhatts’ own Murder 2 just last year. In fact, Jism 2 seems stuck in some sort of time warp and the director seems strangely out of touch with what Indian audiences have been exposed to in recent years. C’mon … a few shots of a bare-backed heroine are hardly likely to shock film-goers who, in 2011, watched those torrid scenes between Randeep Hooda and Mahie Gill in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb Biwi aur Gangster!

Even for those walking into the theatre hoping for some completely asexual entertainment, this film has nothing to offer. The story – if you can call it that at all – is about a porn star called Izna (Sunny) who is roped in by intelligence official Ayaan (Arunoday Singh) and his boss (Arif Zakaria) to serve as a honey trap for the terrorist Kabir Wilson (Randeep Hooda). Sunny doesn’t act as much as she poses around cutely … and oh boy, is she cute! She also insists on wearing stilettoes almost throughout, although her walk suggests a painful discomfort with those killer heels.

I’ll be honest here … Unlike some of you (yes, I write the words “unlike some of you” with tongue firmly in cheek and a smile) … Unlike some of you, I have not seen any of Sunny’s earlier films. Therefore, I can’t put this present performance in perspective in comparison with her other work. Randeep Hooda and newcomer Arunoday Singh are a different story however. Both are good actors. In films like Saheb Biwi aur Gangster and Yeh Saali Zindagi, both have also shown us that they are uninhibited and capable of steaming up the screen with a strong female co-star in bed (or on rock formations, in the case of Mr Hooda). Yet, look what passionless direction and verbose dialogues can do to even the best of actors … Arunoday comes across as inexplicably wooden in parts of Jism 2 and the otherwise-often-excellent Randeep appears to be hamming uncontrollably here. In fact, his love-making with Sunny’s Izna must rank as one of the most embarrassingly posed and cold examples of sex ever in Bollywood. Hopefully Arunoday and Randeep will have better films coming up soon that will erase this one from our memories. And hopefully next time Pooja will give us a heroine who can act!

Rating (out of five): *

CBFC Rating (India):	A
Running time:	132 minutes

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jism_2       

REVIEW 61: MURDER 2

Release date:	July 8, 2011
Director:	Mohit Suri
Cast:	Emraan Hashmi, Prashant Narayanan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sudhanshu Pandey

Murder 2 has nothing in common with Anurag Basu’s 2004 hit Murder barring Emraan Hashmi, the production house and the title. Mallika Sherawat is out, and in comes Jacqueline Fernandez. While that has translated into the heroine being an insubstantial presence in the film, what’s good is that the murderer in this case is a disturbing creature played by the inimitable Prashant Narayanan.

The film is placed in Goa where an unscrupulous ex-cop Arjun Bhagwat (Hashmi) is now a freelance investigator. When a pimp calls him in to solve a case of disappearing prostitutes, Arjun discovers that there’s a sinister force at play here that the police will not pursue.

Arjun’s scruffy look and unconventional lifestyle suit Emraan Hashmi’s personality. Jacqueline Fernandez as Priya, the model who is in love with him, is yet to develop much mobility in her facial muscles, but in this film her acting skills don’t matter much since her primary job is to look hot and boy oh boy, does she do that well!

But the scene-stealer in Murder 2 is Narayanan playing the film’s woman-hating, cross-dressing, mentally unhinged, amoral, brutal serial killer. The nice part of the characterisation is that the film makes no apologies for this vile human being, nor does it try to earn our sympathy for him with a moving back story. No, Dheeraj Pandey is pure, unadulterated evil. The man actually enjoys finding uncommon implements to hack his victims, and punish them for being what he believes all women are: temptresses. Full stop. Narayanan is a fine actor who appeared in the gangster flick Bhindi Bazaar Inc just last month as the conscienceless, foul-mouthed and ambitious street-kid-turned-don. Earlier in the year he was a mobster in Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi. In Murder 2 he gives Dheeraj Pandey an eerie edge, but I do wish Bollywood would give this versatile actor a shot at moving out of the bad guy slot.

Incidentally, Murder 2’s make-up artiste does an interesting job with Narayanan. But I wonder why we were given so many close-ups of the rash on Hashmi’s torso. Anyone heard of concealer? Or better lighting? Or camera work that camouflages flaws?

Since this is a Bhatt production, I don’t suppose there’s any point in mentioning that Murder 2 seems to have been “inspired” by the South Korean film The Chaser. But the negatives in Murder 2 go beyond the producers’ penchant for plagiarism. Arjun and Priya are shown making love in bed and elsewhere, but there is little chemistry between the actors (a contrast to the sparks that flew between Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat in Murder). Their ‘relationship’ seems to be confined to sex and since we discover little else about Priya beyond the fact that she has a stunning body, it’s hard to be moved by her love for Arjun or the fact that he ultimately falls in love with her. His bitterness towards God and the world too appears contrived because the story needed an ex-policeman who would cooperate with his former colleagues when they are being hemmed in by a powerful politician. The hurriedly given explanation for his perennial negativity feels like an afterthought.

With so much to criticise in this film, the surprise is that I still found it entertaining. Much of that has to do with the fact that Mohit Suri and his editor have kept the proceedings taut and pacy. The direction that can be faulted on certain fronts is remarkably deft elsewhere. There is one particularly well-executed moment of secularism woven in – unpreachy, unspoken and moving – when a Muslim prostitute seeks refuge from Dheeraj in a temple manned by a kind Hindu pandit. Equally well handled is this woman’s desperation and the frustrations of the film’s honest policemen that could have fallen prey to over-acting but do not. And a question raised by one of the call girls is particularly significant in a world debating the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case.

Surprisingly for a Bhatt venture, the songs in Murder 2 are not particularly inspiring. On occasion they are even too loud. But some of the background music is effective, as is the way the serial killer twists the lyrics of Murder’s Bheege hotth tere to suit his purpose.

Murder 2 is a cleverly handled erotic crime thriller with a villain so sneaky that he’s definitely worth your time.

Rating (out of five): ***

CBFC Rating:                       A without cuts

Running time:                        125 Minutes

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_2    

  

REVIEW 44: SHAGIRD

Release date:	May 13, 2011
Director:	Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast:	Nana Patekar, Mohit Ahlawat, Rimi Sen, Zakir Hussain

If Shagird had been released about 15 years back, it might have had a stronger impact. This story of a corrupt policeman who gets caught up in the circle of violence and corruption that he cashes in on, has enough meat to sustain itself through its two-hours-plus running time. The problem is that in the past decade-and-a-half, we’ve seen so many gritty thrillers about the nexus between criminals, cops and politicians that it would take something earth-shatteringly different for a film to grab our attention and stay with it. Shagird doesn’t break too much new ground and is terribly unrealistic in parts. But it does give us Nana Patekar playing one of the quirkiest Hindi film policemen that I’ve seen in a while. His character is what makes this film worth watching.

Hanumant Singh (Patekar) is an openly corrupt officer in the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch. He thinks nothing of gunning down a room full of drug dealers and their buyers who walk in shortly afterwards, so that he can walk away with both the prized narcotics and the money that would have paid for it. When Mohit Kumar (Mohit Ahlawat) enters the force, he is shocked to witness this brazen loot taking place in the name of policing. Hanumant, incidentally, is a flunkie of senior neta Rajmani Singh (Zakir Hussain) who is on the verge of becoming the Union External Affairs Minister. Mohit happens to be in love with TV journalist Varsha Mathur (Rimi Sen) who is tracking Hanumant. The action heats up when Rajmani’s associate Bunty Bhaiyya (Anurag Kashyap) is imprisoned and three journalists are abducted by unknown elements demanding the release of a couple of notorious terrorists and Bunty in exchange for them. Who are these mysterious kidnappers? Is there anyone Rajmani will not sacrifice to achieve his goals? Will Hanumant stop at nothing to increase his bank balance? And is Mohit a worthy disciple to Hanumant? The answers to these questions are what Shagird is all about.

First let’s talk about Patekar. It has to be said that the man has been repeating himself unrelentingly for years now – every dialogue spoken in the same casual undertone, his real-life personality suiting the roles he’s been cast in much more than the actor moulding himself to any character. This marriage of actor and role is what made him ideal for a film like Taxi No. 9211. Then in a crazy, OTT film like Welcome, he explored new territory, discovered a funny bone and surprised us all. In Shagird, he sinks his teeth into a role after a long time, lends little touches to the character that make him delightful (Hanumant washes his hands with mineral water after peeing on the roadside) and seems to be having a jolly good time while he’s at it. The casualness with which Hanumant commits his crimes is now old hat for Hindi film goers (most recently, we had the incredible Mr Irrfan Khan taking crime to a whole new level of cool in Yeh Saali Zindagi). What’s amusing and entertaining about Hanumant though is the manner in which every misdeed is played out against the backdrop of his passion for food and his obsession with old Hindi film music. At one point, he has just bumped off a colleague who had been assigned to shoot him. By the time the dead man’s puppeteer phones a few minutes later, Hanumant is calmly stuffing himself with gol guppas not many metres away from where the body lies. In another scene, as he waits to swoop down on a bunch of goons, he notes with interest that they’re  watching a Nutan-Dev Anand classic on TV; when they switch channels to Emraan Hashmi mouthing Himesh Reshammiya’s Jhalak dikhla ja, Hanumant’s temper flares and he mows them down. Towards the end, that wry sense of humour does get stretched a bit, but not so much as to kill the experience of the preceding two hours for us.

Patekar gets a mixed bag of actors to work with in Shagird. Ram Gopal Varma’s discovery Mohit Ahlawat is still a tad too beefy and expressionless to be convincing. Zakir Hussain is as real as he usually is. Anurag Kashyap seems to be enjoying himself while testing his acting chops in the middle of a flourishing career as a writer-director – he lent a creepy air to the paedophile stepdad he played in Onir’s I Am just recently, and is effectively cocky and despairing by turns in Shagird. Rimi Sen is a natural actress but has done shockingly little research for this role. No Ms Sen, female political/daily news journalists in India do not usually wear strapped and halter-necked tops on their reporting assignments!

The beauty of director Tigmanshu Dhulia’s unheralded debut film Haasil (2003) was that in the middle of a wave of underworld flicks from Bollywood, he took a gangster story and transported it to Allahabad University to give us a unique and extremely realistic crime-on-campus caper. In the past 15 years or so, for dedicated film followers brought up on Ram Gopal Varma’s classics Satya and Company, Sudhir Mishra’s Iss Raat ki Subah Nahin, Ramu’s Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, and Once Upon A Time in Mumbaii, Shagird does not have that much that’s new to offer, in spite of Patekar’s eccentric crookish cop act. So let’s chalk out a balance sheet here. Assets: Patekar’s Hanumant Singh and the fun of catching snatches of Tere ghar ke saamne, Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam and other old film songs playing in the background throughout the film. Liabilities: the lack of novelty, some unconvincing twists in the end (why exactly did Mohit lie about his girlfriend?) and the stretch of imagination that requires us to believe, among so many other things, that a potential Exernal Affairs Minister would shoot a known crook in Central Delhi in the daytime in his own car and keep the body there while he drives to Parliament.

So I guess what I’m saying is that if you are in an undemanding, unquestioning mood, you could give Shagird a shot … for Hanumant Singh alone.

Rating (out of five): **1/2

CBFC Rating:                       A without cuts

Running time:                        128 Minutes

Language:                              Hindi

Photograph courtesy: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/shagirdmovie