LSD - An experimental movie with 3 short stories with the 3 title ingredients...

Firstly, before I start, let me make this clear this is NOT a sleazy movie. Please don’t go by the name or the trailers or even the posters (though you would hardly find any). It’s a bit strange that the director has chosen such kind of promotion.

Moving on to the movie, these days, apart from the likes of Johars, Barjatyas, Chopras, Ghais, there is an emergence of a new breed of directors. The breeds who have created products like No Smoking, and Dev.D. Such directors are not scared of the outcomes or the Friday openings or the weekend figures. They just want to test their creativity and indirectly the maturity of the audiences. Love, Sex aur Dhokha (or LSD to be short) is one such movie which is taking this breed to a new extreme. Its very clear such experimental movies will be difficult to be digested by a wider audience. These are not just for urban multiplex audiences but within that also for a truly niche segment.

What makes it even more interesting is LSD comes from a director who has earlier given “Full-on” entertainers like “Khosla ka Ghosla” and “Oye lucky lucky oye”.

To come to the point, LSD is different (in fact really different). Whether its good or bad, interesting or boring, likable or dull depends on the audience and also the mood with which you watch the movie. The product might be a bit ahead of its times offering a glimpse of tomorrow’s cinema but considering the onslaught of mms scandals, sting operations these days, you might just say it’s on time.
The direction / treatment also explains why no established faces were taken. The director wanted the audiences to get a feel as if they are watching some scandalous video at Youtube within the close confinements of their homes. (In fact, this is one movie whose DVD version might work better)

Overall, you can give it a try (purely at your own risk). This movie will be remembered for the way it has been shot and the way its subject / characters have been handled. At the end, whether you like or dislike this movie, you certainly will carry home an opinion on it.

Though in the beginning, I mentioned its not sleazy but respect the "A" certificate of the movie and would suggest not to watch with your full family not because it has any obscenity or vulgarity but purely because of the treatment of the movie.

By the way, the movie also passes on a relevant message. In today’s times of omnipresent cameras (be it CCTV, spy pen, mobile or digitial), you are always being watched. SO be cautious next time.

Atithi...tum kab Jaoge?... Its different

This time, I got a chance to read other reviews before I wrote this blog… Interestingly, not many critics have liked the movie…
I believe in today’s times, its difficult to digest a movie which doesn’t have any crude language, no abusive words, no remix nos, no foreign locales or jazzy colorful sets, where the script doesn’t demand any item numbers or kissing scenes, where the actress doesn’t walk in exposing clothes or a bikini line just for the heck of it, where the humor is not forced into the dialogues by including some bad PJs or sick jokes or getting some third party "so-called" comedians into the movie.

Yes, "Atithi tum kab jaoge" is a movie which doesn’t have any of these. The movie is therefore, a bit dull, a bit boring, and also feels a bit lengthy. But still, in my opinion, the makers deserve credit for creating a cinema which was last attempted in 80s (or was it even earlier) when the likes of Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Utpal Dutt and so on existed.

Ok, to once again correct myself, the movie is no where compared to those masterpieces, be it the subtleties, the acting or the humor but still this movie is a worthy attempt that should not go unnoticed.

The movie is as simple as it can be… A couple (Ajay Devgn and Konkona) is living a fast difficult life in the ever congested (and I am not just talking of roads and traffic) Mumbai. An unsolicited guest (Paresh Rawal) arrives and disrupts their normal routine. He leaves behind a tale of chaos, confusion, and disruption, but also a bit of love, emotions, long-forgotten family values and traditions.

This simple story has somehow been extended into a 2+ hrs drama (with no twists and turns unless of course you consider the end which is definitely worth staying till then) and thats where the film fails to capture the attention of today's multiplex audiences.

The acting is good with 3 established actors. There is never a doubt on any of them. One special point to mention here is Ajay Devgn who has started keeping himself underexposed. He has learnt the art of restraining his act by giving more space to other characters in the movie. I noticed this first in his home production “All the best” where he allows Sanjay Dutt to steal the show. In this movie, he lets Paresh Rawal run the movie and aptly so.

There is not much to write about the music as there are hardly any songs.
Overall, the movie can be watched with your extended family for one of the lazy Sunday outings.