It has always been my fate that what ever movie I am desperate about, I get the chance to that pretty late. Same happened with Jism also. Somewhere I was also avoiding this movie because after a very long time I loved the music of any movie from the bottom of my heart and somehow that music/songs/lyrics created an image of the involved characters and I was scared that if I watch the movie and the characters disappoint me then the music would become distasteful. Thankfully it did not happen.
First of all I want to say that what ever I heard about this movie, that its just a cheap ’’soft porn’’ kind of movie and the main motive behind this movie is to show skin and mint money, is absolutely wrong. Had this been the motive, the director could have showed much more skin than what has been shown. But whatever skin has been shown is not incongruous to the story line.
Story Line -
It was same old story used by Hollywood manytimes without any variation. Sometimes I felt that director didn’t even bother to change few plots and ’’copied’’ and ’’pasted’’ it from few hollywood movies. Movie goers who are totally dedicated to Hindi movie would find the subject and story totally new but people who watch english movies also would find the story line, characters pretty stale.
Direction -
Sometimes I felt that this movie was directed by few different people. As sometimes movie was wandering, characters were confusing and director seemed to be confused about how to express what he feels but sometimes It was slick and gripping. Scenes of John with his friends were of class and could’nt have been made better. Kabir’s (John) character was well crafted, basically Jism is more of John’s movie, and John has done true justice to the character. He suited the image created by the director but sometime things became melodramic, like when Kabir goes to back to Sonia’s house and bangs all the doors and windows, but overall that character was quite realistic. Initial introduction of Kabir and Sonia was pathetic where Kabir goes to Sonia and says ’’kaash mere paas bhee koi hota jo is thake jism ko sehlaata ....bla bla ... ’’, isn’t it too farfetched and dramatic. Sonia’s character formation was pathetic.
Director seemed pretty confused. Had she erally loved Kabir ?? this question remained unanswered. If getting his husband killed was her main intention then she could have get it done by his ’’another’’ boyfriend also. Things were not clear but you can assume that the ’’another’’ guy was aware of Sonia and John’s relationship and if he could have tried to kill John then he could have easily killed her Husband also.
And if was just lust then she could have carried that on without getting into all those complications because she would have understood by then that Kabir was surely in love with her. Ohhh .. too much of complications, Are our hindi film characters suppose to think so much ? No way. There we are beaten by Hollywood. Love scenes between John and Bipasha were less than sensuous. Very ordinary and methodical. Bipasha could not do other than oooh and aaah ... without any expression. Bad taste. I don’t understand how can anyone rate this movie as sensuous. Overall direction was very predictable but there were stints of good shots. I think over the period of time director would mature and would be able to give consistent touch to the whole movie.
Photography and Art direction
Amazing photography. This was one part that gave very professional look to this movie. I donno who was the man behind the camera but all credit goes to him for giving this movie a totally different look.
Acting -
John, John and John. What a fabulous performance. He has give life to the character. Personally I feel that John has given way beyond what is expected. Bipasha was pathetic. She can only look glamourous but she does not know how to act that way. She has a very plain face devoid of any expression. It was pain to see her in intmate scenes.
Music-
Fabulous. Thats the best part of the movie. Songs were well in context. Music was totally amazing and match the beat of the movie. Picturization of the songs were also beautiful. I am ready to give 101 out of 100 to the music. Music and lyrics were so beautifully blended that after sometime you won’t realize that both are different entities, its a niche of a good film music.
Overall I can say that it’s a movie worth a look. Its a good effort and gives a hope that in future we would see some good hindi movie.