It’s a year of sequels for the Hindi film industry. After Bheja Fry 2 and Double Dhamaal, the Bhatt camp has re-released sleaze and serial kissing in the air with Murder 2. The title itself is quite uninviting though: ‘Murder’, with the alphabet ‘2’ alongside it. I thought if you’ve seen one murder, you’ve seen them all, but apparently not! And on top of that, the Murder franchise is hardly about the supposed ‘murder’ that happens in the film, it’s more about what happens between the sheets...Err… I meant, between the lines. As to why did I watch the film? I’ll use Albert Speer’s excuse that he used when asked the reason he went to see Hitler speak for the first time – “it was at the insistence of my friends”. Let me clarify what I make of the film first up: it is a soft core erotica. That’s that. If pornography ever became mainstream in Indian cinema, this is probably what it would look like. And let’s not downgrade this by calling it ‘cheap’ or glorify it by calling it ‘aesthetic’. Murder 2 is a high end, glamorized erotica film that doesn’t make the audience, or whoever’s watching it, feel cheap or guilty about being in the theatre. And I don’t know whether or not you are familiar with the erotica genre, but the general formula is 2-3 lengthy ‘love making’ scenes, a story thrown in for good measure (as an interlude for the scenes) and songs (which either lead up to the love making or show the emotional state of the character). Murder 2 follows this formula to the T. And that doesn’t mean that this sort of film is ‘bad’. The Bhatt camp is aware that there is definite audience out there willing to consume such a product and they give the audience what they want. Their advertising is very straightforward. What you see in the promos is exactly what you get and I applaud them for that.
Plot:
Well, the Bhatt camp has never been one for an original storyline. And wisely so, I believe. Both Dhamaal and Bheja Fry did not have original plot lines and they were a box office hit. However, for the sequels, when the writers were finally woken up, the result was appalling. The Bhatt camp knows their limitations and has realized that a ‘plot’ is not their forte and ‘inspiration’ is definitely the way forward for them. At least this one is not a scene by scene copy (like their previous ventures ‘The Killer’ aka Collateral, ‘The Train’ aka Derailed). And think of the positives. At least an effort is being made to not get ‘inspired’ from Hollywood. At least for once, you hear of an obscure Korean movie which you didn’t know about previously. Well, what does it matter? If the screenplay is taught, then you have to deal with the fact that no one wants to ‘risk’ money on an original story. Films have become quite like fast food – mechanical production which recycles old stuff and repackages it!
Arjun Bhagwat (Emraan Hashmi in Saif’s ‘Tom Cruise’ look reminiscent of Hum Tum) is an ex-cop who abuses the power he once had to earn a livelihood. He is a very materialistic person. Arjun gets in touch with Sameer, who tells him that his hookers have been disappearing and lures him to take up the job of finding them by offering a lot of money. Naturally, Arjun obliges. Priya (Jacqueline Fernandez, who has an allergy from wearing clothes and rightly so) is Arjun’s girlfriend but Arjun is hesitant to take the ‘next step’ with her. This tension drives them apart, which obviously leaves room for a ‘love making’ scene in the flashback (when both of them are reminiscing the good times) and another ‘love making’ scene after they make up (towards the end). Plenty of fodder for the hungry cattle. Arjun realizes that a customer is involved and decides to send an informer of his own (Reshma played by Sulagna Panigrahi) to trap the culprit. The culprit Dheeraj Pandey (Prashant Narayanan) turns out to be a psychopathic murderer whose sexual status is intriguing to say the least (there must be something left for the readers to unlock. I can’t give everything away!). Arjun catches Dheeraj. He admits to all his crimes. But that’s not the end of it. Dheeraj escapes and goes after Priya. Now, Arjun’s time to be the savior and the cue for another ‘love’ scene after the hero saves the day. Curtains!
Jacqueline Fernandez is hot. That’s it. If you appreciate the gravity of this sentence, then you’ll definitely like the film. I did not think of her to be ‘hot’ before this film, to be honest. But the Bhatt camp forces you to re-evaluate the female form. I was not aware that the female body could be shot from so many different angles. My head was literally following the camera as it went from one shot to the other! And that’s the thing: Murder 2 is like a guilty pleasure (for men and women). And the fact is, there is a very fine line between vulgar and erotic. The film never delves into the ‘loud’ territory. It may be bold, erotic and an ode to lust but its not crass or sketchy. At no time, as the viewer you feel like you should not be watching this. Rather, the film teases the viewer, showing a lot, while hiding a lot more. It’s to do with camerawork. As an example, let me cite the beginning credits of Barbarella. If you understand that sort of camerawork, you can appreciate what is done in Murder 2.
Cast:
There’s not a lot to do for Jacqueline apart from looking hot. Not a lot of acting, per se. She looks hot when she is on camera and her job’s done. Any attempt at acting, I considered to be a mise en scene. Thankfully, any such attempt at acting is short-lived. Emraan’s character does not have much scope. He begins with the ‘bad boy’ with a charm act that he has done in almost all his films before and then it leads to kissing, which also, to his credit, he has done a lot of before. Both areas are in his range and tried and tested by him which means that there is nothing standout here. Prashant Narayanan, who plays the antagonist, is definitely the standout here. He has a commanding screen presence and his character is also sketched in such a way that it gives him scope to impress and he does.
The music is very enjoyable as has become a custom from the Bhatt camp. The songs are a good interlude in the narrative arc (as an excuse for Jacqueline to look hot, Emraan to gauge her with lustful eyes or just to shed a tear or two). Haal –E-Dil and Aa Zara are my pick from the lot. Yana Gupta’s dancing was suggestive to say the least but in the context of the film, it did not appear to be anything extra. In fact, Yana appeared quite tame compared to how much of a ‘revelation’ Jacqueline was (pardon the pun). All in all, Murder 2 is slightly above average because of its cinematography, songs and glamour. And I’ll give it a slightly above average rating – 2.5 stars out of 5.