(Published in The New Sunday Express, 5 August 2012, retrieved from http://newindianexpress.com/entertainment/reviews/article583153.ece)
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Sunny Leone, Arunoday Singh, Arif Zakaria
Director: Pooja Bhatt
Rating: 2 stars
Let’s not kid ourselves. There are two categories of people who will watch Jism 2: the ones who want to see as much of Sunny Leone as they will get to on the big screen, and the people who go in there to point and laugh. I discovered there is a third category that this film can cater to as well – those who want to see as much of Randeep Hooda as they will get to on the big screen.
The story, you ask? Well, when you combine sex and Intelligence, chances are you’ll end up with something completely non-cerebral. The movie begins on such a premise. Izna (Sunny Leone) claims to be a porn star, but she seems to be a hooker. Ayaan Thakur (Arunoday Singh), whose mental faculties seem somewhat compromised after a night with Izna, figures out that the only way to get an internationally wanted terrorist whose location has been traced, is to send a former fling after him.
Thus, Izna makes her way to Galle in Sri Lanka, where Kabir Wilson (Randeep Hooda) juggles ammunition and violins. Her motivation: patriotism and dhokha. Wilson had a torrid affair with her and then went AWOL, and she intends to do the same.
If you went in prepared for a ham fest garnished with soft porn, you might actually enjoy this movie. The camera work is tasteful, and while the promos have already told us Sunny Leone will be topless for the better part of the movie, the sex scenes aren’t crass.
Randeep Hooda, who excelled in Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster, has only been cast in bad movies since. Cases in point – Jannat 2, Cocktail.However, he manages to play his role convincingly, despite the cringe-inducing dialogues he’s forced to utter. The trickiest of these are his intense, poetic tributes to his “porn star” girlfriend, who receives his verbal overtures with the same expression that she reserves for his physical overtures.
Sunny Leone is a treat to watch. A career in the porn industry clearly hasn’t equipped her for the role of prostitute. Yes, in the film, ‘porn star’ is basically euphemism, if one may call it that, for ‘prostitute’. To the viewer’s delight, this film makes her character realise her parents had larger ambitions in mind for their daughter when they named her ‘Izna’ – radiance. Another epiphany she has is inspired by a line from Ayaan: “Har jism ki expiry date hoti hai.”
I suggest you leave all logic aside – I mean, why an Intelligence agent would have to pretend to be the fiancé of a prostitute who is being paid Rs 10 crore for her trouble, and move into an apartment right opposite the one where Wilson hides out, knowing that all incriminating evidence required to corner him is stored on his laptop is beyond comprehension. And if his excuse is that he’ll get to bed Izna, well, he could simply hire her for a lot less than Rs 10 crore.
The Verdict: If you’re looking for skin show and good music, you know where to go. If you’re looking for a good story, well, go kick Bhatt.
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