LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha

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.

Welcome Mr. Dibaker Lucky Khosla back on screen, representing the new age Bollywood Cinema of the current times from the front. With a completely unexpected, novel and experimental kind of project, the director returns with a bang, walking on his own invented path, breaking all the pre-existing molds of film-making in India. His latest may or may not get instant appreciation from the common man, but will undoubtedly be remembered as an important breakthrough in Indian Cinema and its thought process on the medium.

First of all, don't go for this movie, simply expecting many over the top, sexual sequences showing the skin, as suggested by its title. As a matter of fact, if you are just there in the theater, to watch a sex-movie then you are going to be disappointed a lot. Because this is not merely a sensational piece of work, trying to cash on its title and sex scenes. On the contrary LSD is a thought provoking film, which forces you to think about whether there still exists any private life in this fast progressing technical world around us? The movie basically showcases three distinct youthful stories, which have the important ingredients of love, passion, greed and lust in different dosages. All the three, are related to each other in a peculiar way, quite similar to the movies of the world renowned director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel fame. However, Dibaker shows the interconnection between the 3, only towards their respective ends which actually provides another surprise element into the narration and works to a great extent. As far as camera-work is concerned, he also seems to be inspired from the recent Hit project shot on handy cam called "Paranormal Activity".

Content wise, once again the director indicates his immense liking towards subjects inspired from the real life incidents. The movie is full of cases which you may have heard or seen on the net in the recent past. There are clear references of real life episodes such as Miss Merrut's sting operation, MMS clips of a newly-wed, Sex clips of a young couple in a store and a Hip-Hop singer speaking Punjabi and getting involved in the case of casting couch. In fact Dibaker Bannerjee has got an unmatchable skill of using the real life news clips in his projects. And this is a proved fact, taking into account, both his previous movies which were highly inspired from real life facts and characters. However, his films might not always be a pleasant experience to watch with the entire family due to his overuse of abusive language and inclusion of highly suggestive sexual scenes in the scripts.

Besides this, the other exclusive master touch possessed by the director is the way he uses Punjabi language in his dialogues and also names of famous places of Delhi in his sequences. For instance just notice the way, the morning shift store girl (in the second story) speaks her dialogues with a distinctive Delhi Punjabi accent. It clearly shows the strong influence of Delhi and its friendly punjabi life style on Dibaker. Frankly speaking, I can easily vouch that till date the most authentic portrayal of the city Delhi and its life style can easily be found in all the three movies coming from the talented director in the recent years.

Coming to the technical aspects of the movie, Yes, the camera is shaking, the images get blurred and there is a substantial use of night vision. But these all concern you only for a few initial moments and that's it. After the first few scenes, the subject takes you in and you simply forget about all the technical hitches coming on the screen at regular intervals. Especially the opening titles of the movie explain it all and help in building up the right mood for the movie's novel concept and treatment.

Cinematography is simply superb, very realistic and leaves such an impact that at times you don't even remember you are watching a movie in the theater. Particularly the use of Handy cams, security cameras and spy cameras is really commendable. Editing is fast, crisp and very close to the real life movement we all witness in our daily lives. Musically, the title track is very catchy and already popular in the youth. Another song of the movie, which had very vulgar lyrics, could not make it to the screen due to the strict censorship. But strangely, it is openly discussed by the characters in the third story. Also the creative artwork of the movie deserves a special mention as it highly innovative and suggestive. The film consists of all new talents who are able to impress and never ever show the signs of their first project on screen. Everyone just looks like his or her character in the script and their collectively effort is a real treat to watch.

The ruling queen of the small screen, Ekta Kapoor has made a very noticeable debut in the genre of experimental cinema, which will surely bring her both profits and appreciation together. And what to say about the director, Dibaker Bannerjee! He won millions of hearts with his first two movies and now once again delivers a worth watching & path breaking project consistently. Unarguably, he is one of the most talented and innovative directors of our times who can ensure you serious content along with his own stamp of comedy and satire.

In simple words, if you eat, live & drink cinema then you are sure going to love this great piece of art. And for all other friends, who only watch movies as just another form of entertainment, you may or may not like it…..but you will not be able to neglect it.

How many times does it happen that during the 8.30 am 'first-day-first-show', you also have one of the lead actors watching the film? It happened today. The actor was Raj Kumar Yadav, who plays the lead in the second story of the film, with his bunch of friends, to cheer at the CBFC certificate and clap at the rolling credits. The film was LSD – which is going to be remembered as one of the gutsiest film ever made in this country. And if you ask me, it is one of the better made ones too.

Everyone is talking about the use of digital cameras in the film, that shake, that go out of focus, that even get stained by blood and water. They are talking about how 'different' it is in its theme, style and use of unknown actors. But it is not the elements that make this film different and significantly better than most of others, it is how the director uses them - an evidence of how cinema can be created by a basic understanding of the medium, of picture and sound, and storytelling, and how a style can be carved out of the technology you use. And this technology, as Godard et al taught us, need not be expensive or state-of-art.

There are scenes in the film pictured in long single shots – as there is just one evident hidden camera. Unlike other films, here you do not have multiple camera setups, so you can not cut between shots – unless you want to use the obviously jerky jump-cut (which in my opinion often breaks the dramatic build-up of the scene). So, you obviously can not 'cut time' and hence the scene occurs in real time, giving you not only dialogue but also the pauses between them – those significant, dramatic moments between the conversations. And to add to that, there is no background music here, only ambient sound. By something as basic as this, the director has managed to create unforgettable cinematic moments and deeply affecting scenes. This is just one of styles adopted by LSD – that makes it truly different, as far as Hindi films are concerned.

You will find so many similar small but brilliant international films in festivals. This time, thanks to the producers, we have one such gem from India, released commercially. I pray for its success – it will help not only independent and digital cinema, but Hindi cinema in general. After Khosla ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, with LSD, Dibakar Banerjee establishes himself as one of those few men in our industry, who know cinema, and who have an expression of their own. And I must congratulate and thank him for proving once again, that to make a good film you hardly need budget and stars. You just need to have a story you are dying to tell, and the cinematic vision, the heart, and a little guts, to do that.

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.

India has never been as innocent as it consistently claims to be. If you are, however, one of those naïve citizens sitting behind a veil of ridiculous reasons who actually believes this, then I couldn't feel sorrier for you. In fact, if you pay closer attention to reality, you might never look at our beloved nation the same way again. One simple Google search and you will find an alarming amount of voyeuristic material of folks in brazenly compromising positions peppered all over the Internet. And no – it isn't just those light headed, dizzy for that fifteen seconds of fame teens or fellers in their early 20s who are churning out these clips either – no. A good amount of it comes from middle aged, aging, and even ancient crisis-ridden junta who are desperate for some sort of thrill in their otherwise mundane and excruciatingly cliché-laden lives that contains nothing more than mindless work.

With that preface done with – let us now focus on Dibakar Banerjee's latest offering 'Love, Sex aur Dhoka' (LSD). I am sure enough spice has already been generated thanks to the extremely obvious hint in the title itself of a dozen saucily executed romp scenes just waiting to tease your aphrodisiacal senses. And yes – this will also take a good amount of our sex-starved nation's goggle-eyed wannabes to go see the flick too. But that's when the fine line between those who went into the cinema expecting a popularized version of a badly edited B-grade mallu movie type sleaze-fest and the ones who walked in expecting a new way of storytelling becomes quite apparent. A divide, I am hoping, will have more fans in the latter category.

After watching the 1 hour 40 something minute dish called LSD, one thing is certain. Dibakar is one of those refreshingly cocky bunch of film makers who are quite unperturbed by what the mass populace has to say as long as their distinct tone of message is sent across without fear. It is in this essence of movie making, that Dibakar scores points in my book. Come what may, he seems to say, I will show you my vision the way I want you to see it. It is in this raw, unedited, low-light/night-shot array of frames that the much needed breaking of stereotypical shackles Indian cinema is bound with can be heard – loud and clear. If only, of course, you are willing to listen. If only, of course, you are willing to acknowledge.

LSD is completely shot via hand-held digital cameras, security cameras installed in public places and hidden spy cams tucked away in not-so- obvious spots. The tale unwraps with three distinct stories of Love, Sex and Dhokha – as is obvious in the title. What is not so obvious is the way Dibakar stitches the characters in each of them so craftily that the moments where their connections become apparent are truly memorable. The minimalist usage of background music layered with the brave attempts at showcasing emotions in their true and blue nature emanating from nameless faces is truly a new attempt in Bollywood. Actually it is quite new to Indian cinema too.

My take on the execution part of LSD is more to do with technique and philosophy rather than the stories themselves. Sure, the plots have their moments but they aren't anything we haven't already heard of or seen. Some of the scenes are overdone and there are even characters that let you down by actually 'acting'. So, in my humble opinion, walking into LSD to expect it to sweep you off the feet with the narrative could be a tad misleading. What I would hope you pay special attention to is how the fine line between fiction and reality gets blurred without you even realizing it. There came a point in the film when my wife turned to me and said 'This is nonsense! It just seems like they have stitched together some clips from YouTube!'

Notwithstanding her disapproving conclusion on the film, I must say, that is exactly what Dibakar was trying to achieve. Fading out that line where you forget these people are actors and that they do realize there is a camera somewhere recording their actions.

My suspicion with this theme then is the following. LSD will have two clear opinions. One - folks who loved the piece and understood the intentions with which Dibakar shot the flick and narrated the tale the way he did. And two, a majority from what I can tell, who absolutely hated the movie and found it annoyingly ambitious and contrived in its bizarre Hollywood-style-pretentiousness like approach executed in a rather disturbing and amateurish fashion. Either way, LSD will evoke a reaction in you that will stay long with you after having long left the cinema.

My recommendation then? Go watch it. Not just to love it immensely or hate it profusely, but to be part of a threshold that has never been tapped on before. To be witness to a milestone in Indian film making where the director is absent from the scenes. To be an audience to a movie where the camera is calling the shots. Just for this, LSD to me will be a unique movie watching experience. And yes – do also watch it before a dozen more remakes flood the market claiming to be better than the original.