Movie Review: Sunny Leone alone can't turn it on in Jism 2

There is a palpable buzz around Jism 2 given it stars a porn star in a leading role — Indo-Canadian Sunny Leone, a possible first in a film industry that is extremely male-star-driven and is just warming up to married actresses in leading parts of late. Sunny of course, is not only an international porn star, but she is a married girl with, in her own words, bisexual leanings. And Google will tell you everything about her, inside-out quite literally. Mahesh Bhatt who has written the film and his daughter Pooja who has directed it, need to be lauded for signing Sunny and breaking the archaic rules Bollywood swears by. Just for that, I’d say Bollywood is making progressive strides in the real world, never mind its regressive plot lines in half the films that release all year round! [caption id=“attachment_404295” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from the film Jism 2. Courtesy: Facebook[/caption] The excitement around Jism 2 is just that much more amongst men, as was proved by the women-men ratio at the theatre I watched the film in this morning – it was a full house with the men outnumbering the female audience at the screening. Sunny Leone makes for an arresting and stunning opening sequence in the film — the whole porn star vibe consuming the length and breadth of the screen. She introduces herself as Izna, a porn star, in a voice dubbed to sound like her, but fails to match her spanking hot body and lacks the sexy drawl that would accompany a seductress. Izna goes on to ignite sexual warfare among men just by being her sexual self — Kabir Wilson (Randeep Hooda) a honest ex cop turned assassin on the loose in Galle, Sri Lanka and Ayaan Thakur (Arunoday Singh) an Indian Intelligence Officer. It is unclear when Izna turned into a porn star – before she met Kabir or after. The film does not depict her filming any such pornographic activity though. Her sexual dalliance with Ayaan confuses the plot further as to whether she just enjoys casual sex with strangers in plush hotel rooms after a hard day’s work faking it for the porn cameras or she’s a hooker on the side. The entire premise of the film is terribly loose — just showcasing a Penthouse Pet’s acting talent – it is as weak as the French kissing and simulated love-making sequences in the film. Every seductive scene is shot in a picturesque and artistic manner, but leaves you wanting nothing! And that, for a film titled Jism 2, starring a porn star, does not bode well! Katrina Kaif gyrating crazily on the item number, Chikni Chameli in Agneepath, is far sexier to watch than Izna wearing red lingerie, riding a fully clothed Kabir. Of course by Indian Censor board standards, Jism 2 has “bold” scenes, but by the audience standards, they are weak and tepid and fail to seduce. The plot line is so dated that you miss the villainy of Ajit and his loin and Mona moll acts. The refined Urdu dialogues are verbose and are in sharp contrast to the modern aspects of the film, the porn star vocation of the heroine being the main one. Some of them hit home run though like “Har jism ki expiry date hoti hai” and “Jo aadmi ye sochta hai ki woh kal khush hoga, woh kabhi khush nahi ho sakta”. But this one “Jo aadmi apne mulk se wafadari nahin kar saka woh is jism ka wafadar hai” is a hoot. It makes no sense and warrants laughter, laced with sarcasm, at best. The edit is a bit jumpy too and in some scenes the characters, namely between Ayaan and Guru (Arif Zakaria) from the Intelligence team and between Ayaan and Izna, go into hysterical screams and shouts for no apparent reason. The characters are not well-etched out and their graphs move at whim and fancy. There are many questions left unanswered in a screenplay that rides on the sexual presence of a famous porn star, but that’s simply not entertainment. The music though, is melodious. Sunny Leone has a striking screen presence and a natural comfort with the camera, but only till she’s strutting her stuff and doing her thing. The minute she has to act — read express joy, anger and anguish or any such everyday human emotion, she is no actress. There are no dance routines in the film either so her dancing capabilities did not shine this time round. The film does justice to her endearing charm on screen, but it does not expose her real talents —and I am not talking about acting here because that simply is not her forte. But at least she tried and made a film in Bollywood and that’s not easy. Randeep Hooda is fantastic in his role as the crazy patriot of the country and passionate lover of Izna. He tackles the part well, despite knowing the plot line was terribly askew. Arunoday Singh is easy on the eyes, but his sudden shrieks and volatile enactments in some scenes are jarring. Jism 2 does not seduce you into its world at all and that is not Sunny Leone’s fault or the fact that she is no great actress, for she has already seduced the world at large. Rating: *