Sunday, March 21, 2010

LOVE, SEX AUR DHOKHA (2010)

Forget ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ of Anurag Kashyap, forget ‘Kaminey’ of Vishal Bhardwaj for a while…the reason is this absolutely groundbreaking film on Indian screen by the man who hits all the nails hard. In a way it’s film where Dibakar Benrjee throws a hand grenade to the audience. It’s revolutionary film for so many reasons- it’s first Indian film completely shot on hand held camera from start to finish and it gives you feel like watching the world of damn reality, absolutely unknown amateur actors who shed all inhibitions of conventional acting, three completely hard hitting stories as per the title suggests and a direction who’s more an auteur handling all this collage of art. Hail Dibakar Benerjee and Hail Ekta Kapoor for bringing this attack on senses.

Reality television, sting operation, casting couch, shopping mall camera footage, real porn clips or MMS scandal; Benerjee has everything on platter and out of that what he created is something totally mind-blowing and experimental screenplay of three stories. What is more praiseworthy is the way he gives you surprising shocks in each of them and unfolds them as you watch another story and its again brilliant intermixing and editing. But what is most difficult thing he accomplished as an Indian filmmaker is the way he dealt with totally naïve ensemble cast and all mind me they all deserves standing ovation for leaving no stones unturned in their raw expressions, bold attitude and hard hitting realistic acts.

Dibakar lampooned & mimicked India’s most loved and admired bollywood romance DDLJ and director Aditya Chopra in his first story with his own stamp in the end part, the second story was completely mind fucking one and one which is completely 360 degree reverse of what we expected; the best in my opinion. Compared to first two, the third one is quit weaker but not average or avoidable. Compared to his early satiric, funny & character oriented ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ and ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’, this one is absolutely acid material and it’s here where Dibakar has hit the head with all his might bewaring us the most commonly available and the most dangerous hand weapon of today’s time-‘camera’. Yes sir, you’re being watched & howdy ya’ feel about it!!!

By all means watch this new change of Indian cinema…it may possible that it makes you left the theatre in the middle or praising the Indian cinema like never before.

Ratings-10/10 (Can’t control it!!!)

6 comments:

Pratik Modi said...

Dont you think rating this film as the best in the indian film history (by your 10/10 rating I am teling you this) is a bit too stretched? And may be the words/language could be minded for unnecessary profanity!!! What do you say? :-) Pratik

HIREN DAVE said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HIREN DAVE said...

Do you mean to say ‘profanity of language or images?’ By the way in both the cases wouldn’t feel it ‘unnecessary’ at all. Most of the general/family audience would simply hate it since Dibakar showed the ugly face of reality which we don’t want to see…not at least in bollywood cinema- a routine Indian source of typical song-dance-drama entertainment. Conventional is accepted norm by producers, directors and audience…and here comes a director with a unconventional concept, execution and stories which are not just fraction of imagination but everyday ugly reality of this digital camera savvy age…Reality is always hard to digest & bitter to accept, it won’t come in those sugar coated lines,audience freindly convenience...slangs, real porn clips, concocted breaking news by news hungry channels… isn’t it all our everyday reality!!! Here comes a film which shows things as it is...shedding inhibitions of indian conventional standards to let the audience feel the punch.

I do agree that 10/10 is something way over the top and I didn’t mean it claiming the best hindi film either. I sincerely believe that all ratings immaterial of any critic are merely to push the audience view the film…but on the contrary here’s the film which deserves it for many reasons...few I mentioned in my review. It will surely eye opener for many adolescent girls unaware about their early sexuality and its exploitation, same for the wannabe reporters and music video item girls who trapped inside the blind ambition to be in limelight. In a way it’s a film made targeting the youth and not next door neighbor uncle-aunties.

There are so many newspaper critics who gave MNIK four or five stars ratings absolutely undeservingly and here comes a film which redefining our conventional Hindi film... For producer as well as director this film is a deadly gamble and it would definitely becomes flop since the general audience love watching ‘3 Idiots’ repeatedly and not ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ single time!!!

Waiting for your next comment….

Prabhat Poddar said...

Let me watch the movie than i will comment

HIREN DAVE said...

Here's few excerpts from Diwakar Benerjee's interview on filfare.com

TITLE-Dibakar Banerjee: Voyeurism is the extreme of human curiosity.

Little known fact:

Inspired by MMS scandals and politicians caught with their pants down, Dibakar’s LSD has been made on a budget of less than Rs 2 crore.

Que sera sera-

“When you make a film like this, you better have an attitude of jo hoga dekha jayega (we’ll take it as it comes). You can’t make a film like LSD and then worry about it being accepted. There are scenes of sex and violence. Then there are extremely disturbing scenes which have neither sex nor violence. At the same time there are funny scenes that make you roll with laughter. Voyeurism is the extreme of human curiosity.”

On Love, Sex and Dhoka-

“Have you ever taken a knife and stabbed someone? Have you taken a man’s head and placed it against a staircase and then bashed it in with your feet? Have you slit a person’s throat or shot him in the head? How many people do you know who have done that? Films are filled with uncensored violent images but people don’t emulate them. Now can I ask if you’ve had sex? I’m sure you know several people of adult age and sometimes even younger who have had sex. It’s the most natural thing so why must we censor that or be ashamed of showing it?”

On the reactions to LSD-

“The Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers felt the word ‘Sex’ in the title would suddenly corrupt society and everyone would instantly turn into depraved sex maniacs the moment they heard the name. But we managed to persuade them to retain the word sex. About the Censor Board, Dekha jayega yaar. In Khosla Ka Ghosla, the censor board allowed the word bhen****. It was used as a part of speech prevalent in the North and not as a swear word. The censor board has been quite intelligent in that respect. In any case, the board is supposedly liberal when an ‘A’ certificate is asked for, which is what I want. We have graphic scenes in the film in terms of physical and mental violence and scenes that disturb you. We’ll get to the fight and see what happens. When the censor board sees the film they’ll see it has been done with a social purpose in mind.”

On the social purpose of LSD-

“It’s meant to make a statement about intolerance, hypocrisy, double standards, about how people use sex as a tool to further ambition and careers.”

Filmmaking after Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!-

“If a producer says, ‘Mujhe aapke saath kaam karna hai’ (I’d like to work with you), I’ll tell them a couple of my story ideas and ask them what film they want to work on and whether they still want to work with me. That’s the way I test the waters because if I’m on fire about it then the producer should be on fire about it too. Which is what happened with Ekta Kapoor who jumped when she heard the story of LSD. Yes, she is worried about the film and though she loves it, she has her reservations about the wobbly camera movements. She was blown by the film and didn’t expect it to look so real. For the first ten minutes she was shaken up. But the moment she got used to the visual language of the film she forgot everything.”

Dibakar's motto-

“When Oye Lucky! came out, people were up in arms. This is not Khosla, they said. They were expecting Khosla 2. They didn’t expect a dark comic tragedy. Now if people are expecting a Khosla or a Lucky, they’ll be pretty shaken up. It’s a total departure. My motto: keep them guessing.”

Courtesy- FILMFARE (MARCH 3, 2009)

Pratik Modi said...

Hey Buddy, I meant the profanity in your review. The language in which you write. I understand and take it as your prerogative completely. But the quality of review can be much higher with the unnecessary "F" words removed from our written language, which is more formal than spoken.

With regard to you other comments to my comment, I agree completely. In conservative cultures, only a few girls are able to discover their sexuality. And those who do, have to keep to a secret. Movies like this (though I have not watched it, yet), do hit you hard and open up the unacceptable realm of life.

Reading your reviews are fun! Best Wishes.