Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 movie review: Dark, gritty & gripping affair

Star Cast: Paritosh Tiwari, Swastika Mukherjee, Bonita Rajpurohit and Abhinav Santosh Singh

Director: Dibakar Banerjee

In 2010, we witnessed an experimental cinema, which was way ahead of its time. Yes, it was Love Sex Aur Dhokha. Right from camera angles to bold sequences and themes, the movie was a revolution in all senses.

Now, the movie has returned after a hiatus of 14 years with its sequel and just its predecessor, it is loosely interconnected and explores the themes of gender and sexuality along with GenZ’s craze towards social media and its dark and ugly world.

The makers have introduced a new acronym with LSD 2, that is  ‘Like, Share and Download’ and it rightfully justifies the theme and plot of the movie.

Love? No, it’s Like

In the first story, we are at the controversial reality show titled Truth Ya Naach based on the lines of Bigg Boss with over-dramatic judges played by Tusshar Kapoor, Sophie Choudhry, and Anu Malik. A trans woman named Noor (Paritosh Tiwari) craves fame and fast-earning money through this reality and is unabashed and unapologetic for choosing this way and to go any level.

Sex? It’s Share

The second story takes us to the life of another trans person named Kulu (Bonita Rajpurohit), one of the many trans employees at Metro Railway station. While her story connects to us more on an emotional level, it somehow loses its impact after her dubious boss Lovina (Swastika Mukherjee) convinces her to file a police complaint that she has been sexually assaulted.

Dhokha? No, it’s Download

The subplot of the second story interconnects to the third one through Lovina’s teenage son. An 18-year-old influencer Shubham aka Game Paapi (Abhinav Santosh Singh), who posts adult content on his channels, gets involved in a scandal. It shows the dark world of social media exploring the themes of gaming, online sex videos, meme culture, collabs and the head-scratching world of the metaverse.

Dibakar Banerjee has masterfully intertwined the sub-plots and made sure to deliver a hard-hitting thrilling drama which hits hard at your face.

Talking about the performances, Paritosh Tiwari, Bonita Rajpurohit and Abhinav Santosh Singh portray their characters to the T. However, a versatile star like Swastika Mukherjee was seemingly wasted as her character had no meat. Cameos from Mouni Roy and Uorfi Javed are simply outstanding.

On the whole, Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 is a hard-hitting and relevant affair, which has all the potential to strike a chord with Gen Z.

Rating: 3.5 (out of 5 stars)

Love Sex Aur Dhokha is playing in cinemas near you