LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha

I haven't seen any of Dibakar Banarjee's previous films - "Oye Lucky Lucky Oye" & "Khosla Ka Khosla" yet. But I have heard good about them. I saw "LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha" last night... and talking about the movie, I'd say, its truly an ingenious work. I've seen several POV (point of view) films such as .REC & Paranormal Activity. But this one.. this LSD... totally blew me away. Acting is surprisingly flawless, even though all the actors are newbies. Visuals are authentic as hell. Overall, an important Indian movie. Its disturbing too. A film that no one can ignore. Direction is... too damn GREAT!! Dibakar Banarjee is a true genius!! And I'm looking forward to watch his previous flicks.

Watch it!! You will never regret!!! 9/10

It is easy to review a movie; they say. In many ways it is. We go for movies, we feel inspired, awed, touched, redeemed etc. Our plethora of the abstract is bolstered by the very existence of the notion that beyond our daily weariness there is a world of cinema, where people make movies and we can be entertained.

Then there are those who are part of the 'Divulge' process. This would only happen if you have every attempted to catch something on camera; not accidentally but intentionally. Staged it; you framed it, cut it & displayed it. We so called Movie Buffs love criticizing the effort and all that the Film Maker wasn't able to accomplish in comparison to the IMDb Top Ranked Movies.

I once had an interview at RGV factory to work as an unpaid intern; which I had to decline due to academics. Then, I remember boasting to my interviewer of my ability to take a scene and give him at least seven different ways of shooting it. We all are self made maestros in some way or the other. Movies being something we relate to, we are sure we could've done a better job.

Today I saw a movie called Love, Sex & Dhoka. Today I do not need to talk about Tarantino, Kubrick or Goddard. Today, I want to talk about Dibakar Banerjee. A director who has taken Indian movies to a pedestal where neither European Maestros, Spanish Cinematographers, Iranian Script Writers or British Actors could go.

He nailed his script with Khosla ka Ghosla. He nailed his screenplay in Oye Lucky Oye. Now he nails his content with LSD. The movie is cinema at its best. It tells us that we do not need exploding cars or flaming superstars to make good movies. We need brilliant performances; and this movie has the best I have seen.

I was almost in tears in the start, I laughed at every joke of the movie, the thrills were superlative, the dialogues were a level above Pulp Fiction, the flow was gripping and the movie is without doubt the best movie I have seen in a long time. It is bold as Da Vinci, dark as a Grimm Fable, as real as the summer sun and as detailed as a Wordsworth poem about majestic beats worked upon in the workshops of the abyss.

Many would question my perspective on the movie but those who know me well would have guessed by now I do not want to reveal anything. But I ask you to go watch it; see what goes into a movie when all you have is the will to entertain, inspire, awe, bevel the audience with humour, strike the emotions with subtle romance and most of all give us a glimpse of film making that would certainly go down in history as a continuation of the legacy that compounds all the talent, previously baptized as Ray, Kurusawa, Kubrick and at least for this movie – this moment Dibakar Banerjee.

My rating 4.5 stars out of 5.

Love, Sex aur Dhokha (LSD) is the 3rd movie directed by Dibakar Banerjee after the hit comedy Khosla ka Ghosla & the entertaining Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. All the actors were newcomers. The movie is produced by Ekta Kapoor ((who, if you are an Indian you would know, is responsible for the daily psychological torture of millions of Indians (mostly males)).

The movie has 3 stories each representing a part of the title. All the 3 stories are shot in a voyeuristic manner. The first story deals with a richgirl-poorboy love story & is shot from the perspective of a hand-held amateur video camera. Most of the humour in LSD is in the first story. The base for the second story is MMS sex clips & is shot from a CCTV camera angle. The third one is about the casting couch & is filmed mainly through the view point of a sting/hidden camera. Although the 3 stories are independent of each other, the characters in the 3 stories are connected. The film itself is non linear in nature as the three stories are running simultaneously.

I generally like innovative opening credits & LSD starts with interesting title sequence. So I advise not to miss the opening. All the actors have done very good job especially considering that this is their debut. Another good thing about LSD is that it has no songs save for one along the end credits. Background score, although not spectacular, isn't bad either. As mentioned earlier traditional camera isn't used here. So the movie is a little grainy at parts & may take a few minutes to get used to.

The end to the 2nd story is a bit forced. Some clarity & development was necessary for the motives of Rashmi for what she does at the end. Also the third story appears a little contrived at parts. Apart from these minor glitches the movie was very well written.

Dibaker Banerjee has tackled a very dangerous & taboo subject in a superb manner. Full marks to him. Bollywood is lucky to have directors like him, Anurag Kashyap & Vishal Bhardwaj.

LSD is a very disturbing movie to say the least. The director has ventured into a risky territory but the movie is definitely worth the risk. Most of the people are not wired to acknowledge the perils of the society that they live in. Generally people tend to ignore & forget the evil or loathsome deeds that they see or hear as soon as possible. They tend to live in their own fantasy lands forcing themselves that all is well. In fact yesterday the front page headline of Times of India is about a 12 year old girl who was repeatedly raped for the past year by not only her cousin but also by another 7-8 people (including a 65 year old man) in her locality. For every couple of weeks there is a news report about an honour killing in Haryana. For every official report there are numerous unofficial ones. But very few people remember these things for this pollutes the general feel good factor that they have towards society (read themselves). It is safe to assume that most of the people will forget the above mentioned headline in a very short time. To tackle such realistic subjects needs a lot of courage. The whole team of LSD should be applauded for their effort.

To remove any apprehensions regarding the word sex in the title, there are no explicit sexual scenes in the movie. A special note regarding the back drop of first story. Actually the love story in it was supposed to have a caste based divide. But the great Indian Censor Board (which doesn't even have a working website & which probably has a rating system from the Ashoka era) has objected to this & forced to change the caste divide into rich-poor divide. A double thumbs-down to the Indian Censor Board. With the caste background the first story would have been more gritty & genuine.

This is the kind of movie where a viewer doesn't have any midway opinion after watching. You either like it immensely or abhor it. I for one am in the former category. Irrespective of what your peers say, I strongly recommend you to watch Love, Sex aur Dhokha at least once.

When Johnny Gaddar came out three years ago I had got a feeling that Indian Cinema is beginning to come of age. It was executing scripts which were never written before. Soon scripts like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Gulaal, Dev D, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Rock on!, Ishqiya, Taare Zameen Par, Black Friday etc had the cake of Indian Cinema nicely baked. Love, Sex Aur Dhokha is almost like an icing on that cake. You can safely say Indian Cinema has come of age and is never gonna look back to the Star system (read Khan System) and the Yash – Barjatya house of melodrama. Even if that will continue to sell more is irrespective.

Still let me point out LSD is not an original its style and premise is copied from Adam Rifkins Look.

Nevertheless, Whats the fuss ? Unfortunately I cannot reveal how LSD unrolls itself and I would suggest you go into the theater expecting nothing. Please do not read any reviews from any national dailies critics they just end up revealing just too much.

So whats the bottom line: Dibakar Banerjee undertakes a biting satire study of the growing fascination of the Indian Middle class with the camera whether it is the MMS scandals, or the umpteen sting operations. Just Like OLLO he takes a heavy dig at the media, the mentality of the Indian middle class and even our fascination with sting operations and voyeur sex.

The beauty of the film lies in the fact that it is actually shot in the first person point of view. Through your web cams, through your hand held, through your Security cams etc.

It must have been difficult to shoot like that but it must have been even more difficult to get the emotions of the characters on screen through to the audience when there are no dramatic camera angles, no mid shot and no extreme close up to shoot. Dibakar however manages the perfect mix of these shots using in most cases a still camera. You feel heavily for his motley crew of characters as they feel happy or totally disoriented in the emotionally heavy (read shocking) script.

That's where the most superlative cast I have ever seen comes on screen. At times you get the feeling Dibakar might have just let them play themselves and left his handy cam on. I don't remember any name but each of them are plain brilliant there's is just no other adjective to describe them.

There is also the most perfect concoction of Humour, Romance, Mind Numbing Violence, Biting satire, strong emotion and sex in the script. To top it Dibakar just refuses to switch off the camera even when you are cringing for the visual to stop. Once the camera's REC button is switched on you better be ready to sit through everything!!

And of course for Delhi lovers lets make no mistake, the typical Delhi characters which is trademark Dibakar with their "Behenchods" and "Oye Haan Jee Haan" are all back with the kick ass Bhangra score

Watch out for the Typical Delhi Office store clerk in the Sex episode who goes with sentences like "Waah Waah Badi Nehru Market Lag Rahi Hai"

Final Verdict : Go watch it and remember this is where Indian Cinema has finally caught up with its international counterparts.

Special Mention for the Item number " I cant hold it any longer" . Just pay attention to the lyrics and the chorus which actually goes "FO… FO… FO… FO"

I would have given it a 10/10 but for the fact that it is copied from LOOK.

Dibakar Banerjee after cult Khosla Ka Ghosla and smart Oye Lucky Lucky Oye tries something very different and he succeeds by a distance. The three stories narrated through cameras that are actually part of the story gives movie a authentic feel. The first story takes its own time to grab your attention and ends you making silent. Second story is best in narration, acting and impact. Third story is the weakest of the three but at the end when all three stories club together is seamless. The song at the end of the movie helps multiply the impact of the movie. The entire cast is new but very convincing.

It is brave, disturbing, path breaking and changing face of bollywood cinema.