Jism 2 Movie Review

Read the Jism 2 Movie Review

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Star-Cast: Sunny Leone, Arunoday Singh, Randeep Hooda

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Director: Pooja Bhatt

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Producer: Dino Morea, Mukesh Bhatt

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Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Jism 2 like The Tree of Life, starts with a quote from the Book of Job (Ahem). Before entering the theater, I was wondering if this film would be another remake of a Hollywood film like Jism wished it was a remake of Billy Wilders masterpiece: Double Indemnity (1944). Hell, they wish it had been a remake of Body Heat (1981) (which was also a remake of Double of Indemnity) but it was a mere trifle.

I was wondering which other 40s film by a master filmmaker will they taint this time. To my horror, this film was indeed a pseudo-remake. I wouldn't like to call it loosely based because that would be giving the filmmakers too much credit for shamelessly lifting another masterpiece. This time they chose the Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece: Notorious (1946).

The film begins with an awkward scene between Izna (Sunny Leone) and Ayaan (Arunoday Singh) as they lustfully slip into bed. Next morning, he asks her to become a spy for him and retrieve top-secret data for his Intelligence Agency. The carrier of the data is her ex-lover, who she presumed dead but is alive and kicking. In fact he is a terrorist now. She is hesitant to take up the job due to her grief (?) even if it will pay her 10 crores. (Who pays 10 crores for THAT!?)

Sunny Leone makes porn stars look bad. If this is called hot, there is something seriously wrong with the men of our country. She respirates heavily in random scenes. Her body seems to be doing something else while her face is on another tangent and the dialogues convey something else entirely. No wonder she is a porn actress. Her body knows what to do while the camera is on. The only problem is that she doesn't manage to look good while doing it. A major hurdle Miss Leone faces is that her character has to pretend to still be in love with Kabir (Randeep Hooda), her ex-boyfriend. Hence, Leone not just has to act in a film but her character also has to put on an act. Assessment: double the pressure, double the failure.

At the beginning, I thought Randeep Hooda is the only one who has a command over his role. Then he suddenly starts hamming and soon, the hamming turns into something psychotic. Hes quite a good actor but has chosen the wrong projects. Along with the recent Cocktail, Jism 2 is one of the bad decisions hes made.

Izna finally meets Kabir (Randeep Hooda) after all those years she mourned sleeping with other men. She is supposed to act surprised. Awkwardly enough, not a single facial muscle makes a twitch. You could argue that she was in shock and couldn't move. But she didn't look shocked either! Kabir also shuts the door on her, which gives a new meaning to the new-age acronym WTF. He is now living in a weird blue planetarium (it could also be a wannabe aquarium). He also has newfound cello-playing skills. But if thats an excuse to put in the song, Maula, I can totally understand. That song is an absolute winner but sadly, no other song really makes a mark.

Izna is unable to decide who she is in love with for most of the duration of the film. Arunoday is unable to decide which facial muscle to spaz out. Randeep is unable to decide which intense look to make. Certain dramatic scenes are laughable. The dialogues are terrible. I couldn't believe my ears when a character said: Tum jaanti ho ek terrorist ko marna punya hota hai (You know that killing a terrorist is a good deed). It was a competition between the three actors of who can make the weirdest, most inappropriate expressions. My winner is the retarded attacks of Arunoday Singh. This guy is definitely on something. He takes the unintentionally funny drama of the film to unfathomable depths.

There is a twist in the end, which the filmmakers wish, would blow our brains away. Apart from the fact that it can be seen miles away, it makes the political stance of the film extremely juvenile. This brings me back to Notorious where the politics was impeccably layered. It is one of the most romantic, one of the best films ever made. It masterfully juggles personal trust issues with patriotism, devotion to the country with devotion to your lover. It is also a poem on the heart-crushing emotion of jealousy. Jism 2 completely misses the point, not just of Notorious, but also of its own plot. Its understandable if they didn't want to make a romantic film but what about the basic suspense of the film? It could have been a good film, if only the Bhatts didnt watch Hitchcock films (including Suspicion) without studying the grammar behind them.

I cant recommend this film. But I can highly recommend Notorious. If you haven't seen it, watch it right now. If you have, watch it again instead of watching this. Jism 2 fails as an erotic thriller but primarily fails as a film. There is no excuse for bad filmmaking. If Mahesh Bhatt had got the script right (or maybe got somebody else to write it), he should have then got the casting right, and then probably got somebody else to direct. Oh wait.

Verdict: Jism 2 fails as an erotic thriller but primarily fails as a film.
Ratings: 1/5