LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha

What seemed like a tiny blip on the radar has by now completely shaken the entire network of film industry spread across the country. Easily a milestone in Indian cinema this path breaking film is arguably better than most blockbusters released this year, or for that matter any year.

The underlying mood of the film being antiestablishmentarianism, LOVE, SEX aur DHOKHA is a raw and uncompromising take on life. Deliciously entertaining, intensely honest and fiery in its mission, LSD is a riveting ride you won't forget. Showcasing the pitiable plight of hopeless underdogs and their frantic attempts to live up against the misfortunes thrown upon them by the establishment, LSD is a running commentary of social satire at its peak. Epitomizing contemporary social scenario, LSD has an intensity that is disturbingly painful and shockingly shameful leaving you with memorable characters of outcasts, misfits, freaks and geeks. A real gem, this cinema is a challenge on the sensibilities of the Indian movie watching crowd to re-discover their sensitive sides.

Showcasing a disruptive chronological order (la strada, memento, pulp fiction) this spellbinding mockumentary, a boon for true film lovers, is not to be missed. The outstanding nonlinear narrative structure with three stories cleverly intertwined is truly refreshing to witness compared to boring social lectures of epic proportions which has become the hallmark of mainstream Indian cinema. Perhaps the most fascinating thing LSD belts out is Life as it is. It serves you a slice of current life on a platter for you to relish. Stand back in awe. This film is the sign of times.

An intense movie about frantic lives, the neoclassic LSD is a dizzying ride from silence that screams from a dead couple, to dreams and desires being annexed and annihilated by the engulfing fire of penury. LSD explores a dystopian world where love, bending knees, gets buried, amid deranged relationships between desperate people. LSD is definitely an entertaining attempt in the guise of black comedy to disembark and expose a self-righteous dysfunctional, hedonistic, dystopian society gone haywire. Go ahead and laugh yourself silly over its dark humor as you're caught glued to every passing frame of this slick horror drama. Ultimately the joke's on you (Read : society) as the superlatively captivating tongue in cheek title song embarks with the credits rolling in the end. What a show.

Delivering a sledgehammer impact with a treatment as furious as the message, Dibakar Banerjee is the man on fire scorching all those who resist him. Bold. Daring. Dangerous. Dibakar is a force to reckon. With dollops of attitude and awards predicted worldwide, this director is here to stay. Open your eyes. The master has arrived. This director has single handedly made the badshahs of this trade redundant with his genius. Uprooting the pundits of this industry as well, with simple plots and unheard actors. This is modern-day cinema at its best.

Having acquired a cult status with a cult following within days of release.. LSD is addictive. For some, it's an obsession. I say it's a belter.

The intriguing part of the film is its found footage genre. One rarely sees experiment in Bollywood. And that's why the film should be watched once. The film does not have any big star and involves new actors due to which the film gives a feeling of reality. The film is divided into three stories justifying the title. All three stories are awesome and the way that they are linked is more amazing. This is another masterpiece from Dibakar Banerjee.

PROS:

The screenplay is good so no matter what, you are bound to sit once you have started the film. The acting by all is satisfactory. All three stories have been given full attention and full development. The found footage shooting was good. Dibakar is one promising director currently.

MESSAGE: "You got to be sharp and smart or you become victim."

VERDICT: "A must watch Bollywood film."

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.

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.

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