Jism

Channel 4 in the UK has been showing a late night season of Bollywood movies . I have to be brutally honest and say this holds little interest for me since I can't be bothered with watching a three hour movie padded out with song and dance numbers but JISM pricked my interest somewhat since it had caused some controversy . It was marketed as a steamy erotic Bollywood remake of Lawrence Kasdan's BODY HEAT and Bollywood movies are very puritanical where sex is concerned so I watched mainly to see how erotic it could be

The truth is that there seems to be no Hindi word for " erotic " , every time the two protagonists Kabir and Sonia get it on the action cuts to the bedroom after they've had sex . If you're going to watch JISM for purely the wrong reason ( And let me reiterate I was just watching out of curiosity ) then you're going to be bitterly disappointed . That said the film still works because the leads John Abraham and Bipasha Basu really do burn up the screen with their sexual chemistry

..but with beautiful songs. The songs made the movie popular, and of course, John and Bipasha took the movie to another level through their chemistry. One can sense it that they are bonding apart from their acting in the movie.

Some great romantic scenes.

The story is meh... no "WOW" aspect, I guess.

It's just a 130 minute movie but still has a very weak first half, poorly written dialogues. The actors were fine although both their voices were dubbed.

The songs were great and so was the cinematography but this could have been a much better thriller.

Jism is a psychological thriller. NOT your average film where the point of the movie is totally obvious from the start.This movie reminded me a little bit of a film with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger" Double Indemnity" that had the "Married women/ Lawyer" plot line. But that was the only similarity. I think the subtlety in the sex scenes are a lot hotter than your regular "take it all off" scene's. What's so hot about that? As for a lack of sexual chemistry, between the central character's alluded to by a previous comment, I beg to differ with that. The chemistry was most obvious in the song sequence "Jadoo Hain Nasha Hain" which is my personal favourite. The music in that song was excellent and I understand the singer won an award for that song. Well deserved. This song captures the female character's state of mind, while the song "Avarapan, Banjarpan" captures the psychological state of Kabir Lal.(John Abraham).

This story is about a journey. About choices that take you down paths that you can't re-trace. There was a melancholy feel to this film that gives you the impression that this movie is not about making a "cheap sexual thriller", but it's about exploring the minds of the protagonists. Sex in my opinion is another character in this film, that keeps walking a line between lust and love, and keeps colliding with each other throughout the story. Especially Kabir Lal, who we know feels that the path he has taken is wrong, but keeps going down it anyway, irrevocably drawn down it by the power of lust and love. "Jism" is not about showing "Jism", but about the alluding to it. If you sat down to watch this movie hoping it was a movie about a "down and dirty sexual fling" then too bad, you chose the wrong movie. This was a lot better than that. Bips was a sizzler, and John was quite good actually. Unlike in many other Indian movies, the two central character's carry most of the burden of the film. Without their acting being effective this movie would not have worked. But the supporting cast was very good too. Though their roles where small they where effective. Especially the role of Sonia Khanna's alcoholic sister in law Priyanka who puts a spanner in the works. Kudos to the makers of "Jism" for daring to try something different.

When I saw double indemnity I just loved it and then when Jism came out I saw and I found out it is a remake of double indemnity. Very good movie to watch.. Bipasha Basu is just hot and John abraham is a very talented actor though he does needs to improve a little on some of his acting skills. A must watch.

My rating- 10/10