Love Sex Aur Dhokha Movie Review: Love Sex aur Dhokha: Filmgoer Turns Voyeur!

Expect the unexpected. Or so, should be the maxim, as regards director Dibakar Banerjee. And he certainly lives up to his promise of offering something different, and with 'Love Sex aur Dhokha' comes up with subject matter that has never been seen before in Hindi cinema. This one is truly different.

His earlier two films have been different, but they don't really prepare you for this. With 'Love Sex aur Dhokha, Banerjee really pushes the boundaries of narration in Hindi film. What's most surprising is to spot Ekta Kapoor, the queen of regressive soap operas on Indian television, bag credit as the producer of the movie.

Despite the titillating title, the fare in 'Love Sex aur Dhokha, is not really so. It provokes, yes, but more than that, it unveils the hypocrisy of Indian middle class morality and rips it apart, as it takes us through every possible sex scandal that has assailed Indian society in the last few years. It also makes a very pertinent point of technology, and how it has managed to invade even the privacy of our bedrooms with mobiles, spycams and what you will.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the movie is the hand held camera which acts as a voyeur and records everything in its jerky, sly fashion. The film which talks of voyeurism, manages to marry its content with style perfectly.

We, the audience, see the incidents that happen in the movie as voyeurs. Structurally, the film has been divided into three parts, each of which talks of different aspects of voyeurism. The attempt is to spotlight everything that is bold and scandalous, and one cannot stay indifferent to the movie.

After the initial sense of discomfort with the hand held camera, the audience gets totally taken up by the narrative, because of the compelling manner in which each of the three stories are told. The common thread running through each of the three stories is not just the use and misuse of technology, but also the peek that Banerjee gives us into contemporary's India's attitude towards love, sex and crime.

The first story deals with two students from a film institute, who are making their diploma film. They are making a love story and end up falling in love with each other, elope and get married, much to the chagrin of their parents.

The second story takes place in a shopping mall. The protagonist of this story is in desperate need of cash and so decides to make a short porn film using the security cameras in the mall. His victim happens to be a girl who works in the mall. But before he can set his plan into action, he has to woo the girl and then betray her.

The final story is about a sting journalist who is out on an assignment to uncover the casting couch in the entertainment business, with the help of a wannabe dancer.

While the first story is a take off on the Raj and Simran pair of 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge', the second story about the making of an MMS clip is actually quite revolting. The explicit scenes in this segment are not titillating; rather, they're repulsive.

The third story takes a look at not just the manner in which sting operations are conducted, but also at the change in the nature of what makes 'breaking news'. And of course, there is the bit about the casting couch, which is a reality despite those shrill protests from the film industry.

What works for this movie is the fact that its cast consists of a bunch of youngsters, thus making it more realistic in nature. All of these youngsters, Anshuman Jha and Shruti as the lovers in the first story, Raj Kumar Yadav and Neha in the second story and Amit Sial, Arya Devdutta and Herry Tangri are superbly convincing and natural.

The choice of stories by Banerjee is excellent. He manages to string them together quite innovatively, bringing out the central theme of the film. Another area of experimentation has been with the camera and the cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis does a wonderful job in imparting that voyeuristic look and feel to the movie. Namrata Rao's editing too super smart.

Banerjee's experiments with the form and the content are quite revolutionary and he ensures that his audiences will get shocked, provoked and entertained, in turn, with his movie. And he couldn't have found a more apt title for the movie than 'Love Sex aur Dhokha'. This is a movie of the times, told in a manner that today's generation can clearly relate to. Bravo Banerjee!