Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 (LSD 2) Review: Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 returned 14 years after the first film rocked the country. And this time around, Dibakar Banerjee has chosen to adopt the ‘Like, Share and Download’ as his new subplots. The filmmaker also brings back some OG elements but looks at the internet from a Gen Z perspective. He narrates three stories, much like the first film, and shows his view on today’s internet culture. The first film revolves around Noor, a transitioning female. She is a participant in a dance competition that meets Bigg Boss-style reality show. She goes all out to sell her pity story for the camera to gain sympathy and victory points and even calls in her mother, who hasn’t spoken to her for over two years, to get more ‘likes’.
The second story, Share, also revolves around a trans woman, Kullu, who works at one of the metro stations in the city and is also a vlogger. One night, she is sexually harassed and it unfolds a series of events, right from the police investigation to the impact of it on her job but there is a larger truth which associates with ‘share’.
The third story, Download, revolves around a teenage gamer whose thirst for more followers lands him in a massive trouble. Alleged photos of him with another man leaked online, leaving the world believing that he was a queer person. While he tries to defend himself, the AI world comes into play, leaving him questioning his reality.
Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 looks at the dark web from the Queer eye, trying to present how the attachment to the cameras has affected a certain community and Gen Z. The approach is refreshing but the writing isn’t. Dibakar Banerjee opts to use the OG style of LSD which restricts him from going the distance. The stories shown seem dated, especially Noor and Kullu’s stories.
In an age where there are several real-life cases of people going to any extent on reality shows to get likes, Noor’s story feels predictable. It feels like a recap of the biggest moments over the years but with BTS moments. Dibakar tries to narrate the tales of Noor’s life with a dollop full of mockery but scenes that are supposed to shock you only end up boring. Rakhi Sawant has made a better mockery of reality with stronger shock value elements on a platform like Instagram.
The chapter did leave me in splits in a few places. Especially, the part where Tusshar Kapoor gets emotional at the drop of the hat. It felt like a fun jibe at reality show judges. Even Anu Malik (yes, you read it right, he is in this film) had me chuckling when he channelled his Indian Idol, pre-Me-too era.
With Kullu, Dibakar had the opportunity to dive deep into a sensitive subject. The topic was bold and refreshing for the big screen and it could have caused a conversation. However, it seems as though the filmmaker wasn’t sure about his approach. He packed in several elements, such as the lower wages trans women get to office politics and even to a point, karma, that the chapter gets overly packed and loses the subject of the film. Kullu’s story doesn’t fully explore the title of ‘Share’. I wished this story would have been treated better, it had the potential to hit home.
The third story, however, did hold onto my interest. The story brings in the elements of the influencer culture, meta-universe, and more under the title Download. Given that the subject is not fully explored on the big screen, especially from the negative aspect of India, it was refreshing. But it wasn’t enough to save the film on the whole.
While Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 falls short on the writing, the acting somewhat works in the film’s favour. Paritosh Tiwari has a strong screen presence as Noor. Bonita Rajpurohit is as sweet as Kullu but is overshadowed by the brilliant Swastika Mukherjee. Portraying the character who dabbles with her emotional side in a professional worm space, Swastika holds your attention in every scene. Another memorable appearance was Urfi Javed. She’s a fun addition to the mix. Abhinav Santosh Singh also puts up a strong performance as well.
Dibakar Banerjee should have paid a tad more attention to the songs as well. The OG title track, sung by Kailash Kher, continues to be a headbanger. However, the new one doesn’t have such a recall value.
Bottom line: In a world where there are several projects around the impact of social media on human behaviour, Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 falls short in giving a true picture on the subject. I would only recommend you to watch Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 if you have nothing else to do this weekend.
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