Jism 2 Review

“Why should boys have all the fun?” Well we have cerebral Pooja Bhatt not just taking a call but making a clear if leisurely statement. With two hunks and a porn star you know that this is uninhibited Bhatt product. However the promos of the film are its greatest undoing. It raises expectations ( sorry for the poor pun) and delivers a product far superior to the promise. This disappoints a whole section of the audience that hoped to see the film as a indulgence in legitimate voyeurism.
To the credit of Pooja Bhatt it must be said that she has made an adult film not necessarily a sex dosed film. Viewed from this angle it is adult without being lewd. It undoing is the audience that has had salacious expectations and are disappointed that the narration falls short of their expectations. We also have an audience that has not come to terms with a man woman intimacy of screen and betray a near eagerness to see the act than the foreplay. The lewd comments throughout the film from the audience is a poor reflection on the Indian collective and is paradoxical that it is so viewed on a day when the citizenry has chosen to take the bull by the horns on the concept of corruption (Ref: Anna’s announcement on joining mainstream politics) In the dark consigns of a theatre, unnoticed, we lay bare our lack of sophistication. In that sense, the audience is a bigger let down than the film and/ or its content.
Jism 2 is a Mahesh Bhatt take on Dhoom. It does not have the sophistry and richness of the Yash Raj platform. It has the punch and rawness typical of Bhatt. The story is about planting a person to catch the crook and a constant dilemma whether the planted person is reliable or is suffering the Stockholm syndrome. Izna ( Sunny Leone) is picked by an intelligence body headed by Guru ( Arif Zakaria) through Ayaan ( Arunoday Singh) to be planted in the life of Kabir ( Randeep Hooda) an in exile killer . A quick look at the past at this stage is that Izna has had an affair with Kabir before he just disappeared from her life. Like a teaser on the cover of a best seller, he attracted her but left her without cause or explanation.
Izna and Ayaan reach a fancy resort in Sri Lanka as accidental neighbours of Kabir. Kabir is said to have some where lost his balance and is living his luxurious life with no company save his Man Friday Sumin ( Imran Zahid) . While Izna walks into Kabir’s life he initially suspects her motive but soon gives in to her alluring charms (frankly conspicuously absent). The twists and turns of this love hate and political intrigue leads to a lot of blood and constant volley of confidence crisis among the principal characters. It finally ends where it all begins with blood death and a dramatic declaration that life in Bhatt’s world is nasty, fatal and the one big bonus is love seen again as a four letter word.
The screenplay by Mahesh Bhatt is disappointing and takes the film though jerky routes and throws up a few loose ends. Nigam Bomzan ( cinematography) is very pleasing to the eye. He steps away from the dark stereo type of such cinema and chooses a hue of blue that is symbolic and pleasant to the eye. Sunny Leone is obviously there to show more than do and thus fits the bill. Arunodhay Singh is beefy but lost . Randeep Hooda is the surprise packet. He delivers the right note and manages a heady mix of the playing the hunk with the heart. The slightly disturbed angle to his character adds to the challenge. Above all, for all its flaws, the film needs to be appreciated for the effort of Pooja Bhatt who is willing to take on a bold film and does not get carried away by just presenting the audience with skin and smooch. For one who is willing to pierce through the voyeuristic detail and give the emotional content of the film some thought, for one who is willing to see style over sex, Jism 2 could be an interesting if not absorbing take.
L. Ravichander.