tajmahal-shaan

JOHN ABRAHAM

MOVIES ONLINE

JISM

Director: Amit Saxena
Music: M.M Kreem;Lyrics: Sayeed Quadri/Neelesh Mishra
Year: 2003
Running Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

O.K. – stop giggling. Jism. Get it out of your system and say it out loud a few times. Considering the focus of the pre-release hype for this film it’s no wonder that many coming across the title might think Jism was more in line with the English meaning than the Hindi meaning (body). The advance publicity was all about selling sex – the raciest Bollywood film ever, graphic sexual situations, lots of revealing flesh and starring two of Bollywood’s hottest young actors – one of them being the current poster pin-up girl Bipasha Basu. It sounded like a heady mix of murder and desire that had the older film establishment wagging their tongues in disapproval – here was the beginning of the decline of good taste in Indian cinema as they adapted western standards on sex, promiscuity and morality.

In the end, it turned out that much of this hype and rumor was exaggerated to get ticket buyers in the seats. There is no nudity and not really any more revealing flesh than a typical modern Bollywood film, there are not any steamy sex scenes either though use is made of blindfolds and ice cubes in an erotic fashion – but what the film does deliver is a deliciously immoral heroine with really no redeeming qualities beyond glistening kissable lips, perfect almond eyes and a killer body that has good men doing bad things.

Unfortunately, it isn’t really enough to give this film the shot of adrenaline that it badly needs. It sputters along in a tired obvious manner until it picks up near the end and at times tested my patience to the near breaking point. The main problem is a simple one – Bipasha is the main reason to see this film, but she is the mystery woman and so the viewers are given only selected cloudy pieces of her – the prime focus of the film follows Kabir who falls under the sexual magnetism and mystique of Bipasha – and Kabir (played by newcomer John Abraham) is a very annoying and unsympathetic fool.

Sonia (Bipasha) is beautiful, desirable, wealthy and married. She likes the first three parts of that equation, but isn’t so fond of the fourth as her husband (Gulshan Grover) is an older man who rightfully wants to keep her and her libido on a short leash. She should wear a neon sign as a fashion accessory that blinks “femme fatale” in red lights so that no one could miss it. Except poor Kabir – he would even miss the blinking sign. Kabir is a bottom rung lawyer more in touch with his whiskey flask than his few clients, but still manages to look very Miami Vice with his always present two day stubble and his lightweight linen suits.

One morning he sees Sonia coming out of the surf and he goes into smarmy overdrive like a dog searching for his bone – almost tripping over his tongue in his eagerness to bed her. She protests that she is a married woman and wiggles her hips and licks her lips as she plays him like a yo-yo in need of a spin. He is soon so smitten with her that his colors almost clash and he painfully alternates expressions between a lounge lizard smirk and a crybaby pout. His lack of acting skills would have a holy man on a meditation retreat cursing him in silence. Boo-hoo – the husband has the nerve to touch his woman – the thought is soon torturing Kabir – gee, Sonia whispers gently into his ear – if only my husband wasn’t here we would be together and be rich – ding – the light bulb goes on in Kabir’s empty head. My advice is to watch the American film that this was modeled on - Body Heat - instead.

The musical numbers are fairly forgettable – no choreography to speak of as the picturization mainly consists of the two love birds looking into each other eyes and taking long walks on the beach – and though the music is serviceable the songs are primarily ballads that didn’t stick in my head for any time at all. Bispasha on the other is stuck there like crazy glue on steroids!

MADHOSHI

Starring: John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Priyanshu Chatterjee

Director: Tanveer Khan

Revathy dealt with AIDS in Phir Milenge. And how wonderfully she did her job is something the industry as well as the film-watchers have been raving about. In Madhoshi, director Tanveer Khan tackles the subject of schizophrenia. And how badly he has dealt with this subject is something we cannot help but take note of. Mixing and matching from Hollywood biggies like A Beautiful Mind and Face Off, Khan generates a complete mishmash which not many film-watchers will prefer to remember for too long: provided they make an effort to go to the hall and watch this film.

The film takes off with the footage of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center which kills Anu’s (Bipasha) sister and brother-in-law and causes a serious mental setback to her. In comes Arpit (Priyanshu), a renowned ad filmmaker who gets engaged to Anu. But then, Anu comes across Aman (that word means peace, and the character is played by John) who is the member of an anti-terrorist organisation. She falls for the man – his lofty idealism makes that possible – but there is a problem. A big problem, buddy. Aman does not exist!

The film has been marketed with the tag of being ‘an illusion beyond imagination’, so you know what this phrase implies. So, where all has the director Khan gone wrong? Unlike Revathy in Phir Milenge, he employs cliched tactics to draw the viewers without realizing that in a subject like this, a lot more subtlety is required. So, you have these songs, these hot scenes, which end up making no value addition whatsoever. Bipasha is okay, but at times, she goes overboard. Can’t blame her really. The director should have done the job of toning her down. John is okay too, and Priyanshu is the one who makes some kind of an impact with a measured performance.

The basic idea of the film is nice, but the overuse of cliches has finished it totally. The music does not sound pleasant, and what makes the film crumble is the way the story drags on and on. With a plot such as this one in which Khan has been ‘inspired’ by Hollywood, he could have done well to try out the idea of shortening the length of the film. But he is clearly of the belief that in our industry, what works best is the philosophy of ‘no risk, all gain.’ Sorry, but we don’t agree, just like many viewers who would have lost half their hosh after watching this film.