A supposed expose of how the young have become obsessed with social media and their repercussion on individuals obsessed with fame
Star Cast: Paritosh Tiwari, Bonita Rajpurohit, Abhinav Singh, Swastika Mukherjee, Anu Malik, Mouni Roy, Tusshar Kapoor, Sophie Choudry
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
What’s Good: Only the intention behind this exercise and a few performances
What’s Bad: Everything else is capped by humongous disrespect for the audience, a trait Dibakar Banerjee has displayed in almost every movie of his that is claimed to be a ‘success.’
Loo Break: Almost all the length of this ‘film’
Watch or Not?: If you must, take two headache pills along. One may not be enough!
Language: Hindi
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 116 Minutes
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In the 2010 prequel Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Dibakar Banerjee explored the socially sensitive topics of sex tapes, unconventional love, honor killings, sting operations, and more. This time, he comes out with a sequel in spirit that tackles the menace of social media and the digital world, the murky terrain of “Likes,” “Shares,” and “Subscribe” in reality shows, and how ambitious youngsters obsessed with fame fall prey to monetary and other temptations.
LSD2 Movie Review: Script Analysis
For any message to reach, connect with and be absorbed by the viewers, some cardinal essentials must be there: One, the narration must be relatable and involving, and two, wherever possible, enjoyable and illuminating. This lofty premise is usually in short supply in most of Dibakar Banerjee’s work after his promising debut in Khosla Ka Ghosla in 2006. Even Love Sex Aur Dhokha appealed to a niche subject.
But this factor is more deficient than in this film. The script tantalizes, sensationalizes, and dramatizes the very aspects it seeks to (supposedly) lay bare (pun intended)! It is also a bit like making a susceptible youngster taste the actual LSD to make him aware of the dangers of getting addicted to it!
The film is a seemingly endless (not to speak of mindless) cavalcade of visuals of webcams, TV shows, and videos that lack coherence and viewer involvement. Some films do not find empathy in theatres that do well for specific, clear reasons on OTT. But this one is in no man’s, woman’s, or transgender’s land.
Yes, transgenders play a crucial role in this film that purports to take up their cause. There are also moments supposed to express irony, humor, and satire, but there is a great chasm between intent and result. Let us also recall Subhash Ghai’s peak-time axiom: “Ideas don’t make films. Scripts do!”
And this script, with segments (fragments would be a better term here!) in the “Love (Like),” “Sex (Share”), and “Dhokha (Download)” attempt to unravel diverse stories. The first segment is about transwoman Noor (Paritosh Tripathi), who is participating in a bizarre reality show named Truth Ya Naach, where his/her mother (Swaroopa Ghosh) is on a different wavelength and then sings a dirty song for her offspring to dance to. This instigates a hot quarrel among the celebrity judges, who are essayed by Anu Malik, Sophie Choudry, and Tusshar Kapoor but are not named so.
“Sex” is denoted by a transgender, Kullu (Bonita Rajpurohit), who is assaulted even as a selfish employer. Lovina (Swastika Mukherjee) exploits the incident. And finally, we have the poor gamer Shubham (Abhinav Singh), a YouTuber who gets much more than he bargained for.
LSD2 Movie Review: Star Performance
The three newcomers put in seasoned performances—to their eternal credit, though the director and workshops must have had a hand. Mouni Roy is correctly restrained as the host, and among the judges, only Anu Malik (billed in the film as Anu Sardar Malik!) makes a mark as he is given some hysterical scenes to enact. Swastika Mukherjee is cool, and the rest of the cast is okay in whatever footage they have.
LSD2 Movie Review: Direction, Music
But at the end of the day, LSD2 is the perfect example of Subhash Ghai’s abovementioned dictum. Forget gratification, learning, or exaltation of any kind; the kinky way of narration induces a headache more than anything else. I will not be surprised if a sizable chunk of the audience does not walk out of the movie hall well before the end. There is extreme madness but no method in it!
Dibakar Banerjee is just flaunting how different and innovative (!) he can be. But cinema, where the viewer must shell out money for a ticket (and more) is not at all the avenue to commit such “dhokha” (deceit) on the viewers who will come to watch his cinematic excess either out of love for such different stories (as in Love Sex Aur Dhokha) or when curious about which “Sex” angles can be shown in 2024, when Censor Certification is much more liberal than it was 14 years ago.
Coming to the songs, “Gandi taal” is well-rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan but is actually ‘dirty’ by conventional standards. But I loved the innuendo-based “Kamsin kali” for its clever lyrics, the folk melody tune, and the haunting interlude.
LSD2 Movie Review: The Last Word
This is excruciatingly impoverished cinematic material in the name of daring, evolved cinema. If this is what “evolution” in movie making is, give me the worst of potboilers any day!
LSD2 Trailer
LSD2 released on 19th April 2024.
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