Ragini MMS 2

A sequel to the well-made Ragini MMS, 'Ragini MMS 2' is a Fun watch! An Erotic-Horror flick, along-with some intentional & unintentional humor, makes up for a good time-pass fare!

'Ragini MMS 2' starts off from where Ragini MMS ended which revolved around a young couple Ragini & Uday who went to an isolated house for a dirty weekend and the creepy and paranormal happenings that took place to them there. Uday had planned to make an MMS scandal of Ragini in that house. But the MMS shot goes viral, Uday goes missing and Ragini after that incident became crazy & ended up in a mental hospital. The Ragini MMS scandal catches the attention of a filmmaker who plans to make a film on it. He casts a Bollywood actress in his film to play the lead, Ragini. The film crew goes to shoot the film in the same house where the MMS scandal took place, leading to further horrible & creepy happenings.

'Ragini MMS 2' focuses more on sex, than horror, at least in the first-hour. The protagonist, played by Sunny Leone, shows off quite possibly everything in here, which, definitely, will work big time with the masses. The horror element, however, strikes in more prominently in its second-hour, where some spine-chilling moments are presented, along-with a noisy climax.

'Ragini MMS 2' shouldn't be taken seriously. In fact, this film belongs to 'The Evil Dead' category of film, where the focus is not only on horror, but also on sleaze & surprisingly, even comedy. The Screenplay works, but its more erotic than terrifying. Bhushan Patel's Direction is atmospheric. Cinematography is average. Editing is fine. Art Design & Make-Up, are superb. Songs are peppy.

Performance-Wise: Sunny Leone looks sexy, flaunts her body without any inhibitions whatsoever & participates freely in sex scenes. As far as her performance is concerned, she is strictly okay. Saahil Prem seems to have taken this film a bit too seriously. Sandhya Mridul is entertaining. Parvin Dabas is gloriously over-the-top. Karan Mehra is fair. Divya Dutta is efficient. Kainaz Motivala is sincere in a cameo.

On the whole, 'Ragini MMS 2' isn't great, but its entertaining till it lasts.

The movie is an inspiration from the Japanese movie Reincarnation and scenes of some classics like Shining (scene with 2 kids at the corridor), Ringu (makeovers), Exorcist (the exorcism scene) etc were added to screenplay. There is a flashback like most Indian movies which breaks the suspense before the climax. The director actually wanted the movie to be more sensual and more frightening than the first. Sunny Leone displaying her assets (you must know what i mean), walking half-naked at nights, baby doll song etc added some sensuality to the movie. There were some frightnening images to fear kids and sensitive viewers but no substance to fear others unless you're easily scared. The script and screenplay could have been much much better.

Bottom line : Too many inspirations from foreign movies. Still a film to watch lonely late at night for an okay/average horror. You'll be displeased to watch for sensuality.

The film is a sequel to the 2010 horror movie Ragini MMS.The horror scenes are very similar to the recent Hollywood horror movie.First half of the movie is good with horror and other stuff but when it comes to second half the story loses track and quite frustrating. The director had concentrated more on horror scenes rather than the story.Pros of the movie are few scenes like in which Sunny manages to show a spark of brilliance in a scene where she parodies herself and fakes an orgasm, few horror scenes are good.Cons of the movie are music, sound effect are uncomfortable.By infusing it in almost every scene to add to the horror value. This works on a basic level but as it progressed towards the climax, the movie begins to jar on the ears.The makeup work is atrocious.The acting of the cast is just average. It is better to avoid this movie.

Making a good horror movie is a tough job. Modern day digitally connected, and increasingly rational audience is notoriously demanding fresh takes at traditional horror concepts. This is also leading to fusion of genres. Ragini MMS2 is one such genre mix- horror and sex.

I know Balaji Telefilms has taken it upon them to be "bold" but a movie such as this starring a porn star in and as a porn star is questionable. The original Ragini MMS had some amount of originality- a couple unknowingly going to a haunted house to shoot a MMS and becoming the target of an evil spirit.

In a recent interview, Sunny is quoted to have said that directors approach her with scripts just to find a reason to meet her. Parvin Dabas plays one such sleazy director, who comes up with this brilliant idea of shooting a movie based on the plot of the first movie, at the same spooky house. He also wants real actors, not big stars and strangely so, he selects the one actor who has made a career out of faking it, as the lead. Rest of the plot is a lift from the recently released The Conjuring- creaky house, an angry poltergeist, possession, levitating chairs, missing children, human sacrifice, a tree hanging, the spirit embodied in an object from the past- all is been there done that category.

It is a known fact that clothes and Sunny do not like each other. So much to the satisfaction of front row whistle blowers, all throughout the movie, she features in various stages of undress. At one point, Sunny says that she wants to research for her role. To which the director pulls out an epic quote- "Porno se Rituporno kab ban gayi". In many ways, this statement sums up Sunny's real life quest for respect in the acting world. But can the audience ever stop objectifying her? Surely, not when she is thrusting out her assets at the slightest instance, and indulging in sex in the lake, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, and in the rain.

And surprisingly though, she acts pretty well, especially considering how insipidly written the other characters are. Director Bhushan Patel ensures that decent actors like Sandhya Mridul, Dabas, and Divya Dutta come out unintentionally funny. Divya Dutta is an incredible character in herself- she is a psychiatrist who moonlights as an exorcist! The crazy cinematography has ghosts appearing in almost every alternate frame, but with no sense of drama and hence leaves little impact. Even her porn movies have seen better direction. So ultimately you only get to do the guy thing and admire Leone's body.

So there it is- baby doll and bottles of vodkas notwithstanding, Ragini MM2 is generic horror, devoid of logic and scares, it is little more than an uninhibited skin show. But maybe that's something deep down in our hearts we actually wanted- 4/10

Ragini MMS 2 review:

As a kid, the first horror film I saw was Ramsay's Veerana (1986). I remember quietly sneaking in the video cassette and watching it on vcr when my parents were away. The film had an evil force (Ramsay regular Anirudh Agarwal with mud pack on his face), a hot and sexy Jasmin under a shower and typical exorcism tamasha.

As I watched Ekta Kapoor's Ragini MMS 2, I was reminded of Veerana. It has all the above story elements only with bigger production design, slicker technical effects and ofcourse, Sunny Leone in place of Jasmin. Still, I aint impressed. Clearly, Hindi horror hasn't matured yet. Come back Ramsays, you are being missed...

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni