Taking the Love, Sex Aur Dhokha franchise ahead with a sequel, Dibakar Banerjee bifurcates his world into three chapters: Love, Sex, and Betrayal. Like how the first part was about three interconnected stories that flowed through each other, and their consequences showed the three themes from the title. The movie is a very interesting experiment, but is that enough? Let's find out.

LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 Review

Hear me out, Dibakar Banerjee is by far one of Hindi cinema's modern era’s most experimental filmmakers. His movies are more than what meets the eyes and much deeper than one would think in the first viewing. He challenged the idea of gender in his last film (Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar), he looked at the elite eating off the have-nots and showed what rebellion looks like (Shanghai), he looked at a family trying to get their land back with a very interesting lens (Khosla Ka Ghosla). Even with the first LSD, he was the filmmaker trying to build a world out of dark and complex characters of which he was the God and could move characters like pawns wherever and whenever he wished. So when you enter the cinema hall to watch the sequel to the movie, even if you do not plan, you still walk in with some expectations.

But to our collective dismay, those expectations are far from being met and must be far from being even half satisfied in Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 which is now in theaters near you. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee, who also wrote it with Shubham and Prateek Vats, both latter responsible for the stunning film Eeb Allay Ooo!, Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 is a dive into the world of social media and the fickle life of people who are living around it. Three chapters titled Like, Share, and Download look at three people who are in a way suffering from gender identity but also very connected to the digital world where an audience is constantly judging them and deciding what their lives will be like. Their life is being looked at by an audience that is lying on their bed or maybe traveling to work. So when the leads cater to them, their lives become fodder to an audience that will probably forget them the next minute.

But what we forget instead is most of LSD 2 after we have walked out of the cinema hall. What causes this? Not like Dibakar hasn't invested enough brain, and neither are these first-time writers who have invested in the script. Dibakar, Prateek, and Shubham try their best to bring as much realism as possible to this world, at least in the last two stories. When they show how the world is manipulated by these reality shows that function on shock value rather than content even if it is a singing reality show. Or when they are clever enough to show how a transgendered person who runs a niche YouTube Channel with their boyfriend is conveniently used by her employers to build a ‘brand’, but when it backfires, they are left to suffer alone. My favorite part was when the 18-year-old boy with his gaming and being abusive on the internet saying the most rotten things has earned good money and installed an Air Conditioner in his kitchen that otherwise needs emergency renovation.

Dibakar Banerjee has genuinely tried to replicate the audacious evils of the world of the Internet that we have all surrendered to. But then what goes against this is his urge to tell you a whole lot in a very crisp runtime. For instance, when it talks about the world of reality shows, it never takes the effort to explain why this show is so bizarre when people are having orgasms on TV. How can one mix a very controversial show with a dance competition, why is everyone transferred to a Bigg Boss-like house after making them dance on a stage? What is this meter? We are told nothing. Similarly, when a trans woman is sexually abused and left to die but she rather chooses to be silent about it because she needs that job, we are never taken into the heart of that story. The face of it is an actual transgendered person Bonita Rajpurohit who has a strong screen presence and captivates but to a very bare minimum impact.

Similar is the story where a boy is being bullied for being homosexual, whereas he himself is not sure whether he is one or not. Dibakar chooses to focus on the metaverse and AI rather than the mind of an 18-year-old who has been broken into pieces by this technology that has ripped his clothes literally and figuratively. Whoever thought of naming this boy Shubham, read the byline to this review, and tell me why you would do that. Anywho, this lack of attention on things deserved it makes you ignore the fact that Tusshar Kapoor is a judge in a show where Anu Malik breaks into a Maa song in the most bizarre sequence. There is Mouni Roy who feels like she was around that day and she decided to be in the frame.

However, there are also moments that remind you this is Dibakar Banerjee who made those stellar films. A transitioning trans woman talking about getting surgery done that would give her a close to real-looking and feeling vagina. Or an authentic portrayal of spoiled brats who are selling on the internet. But that is not enough. Meanwhile, the fresh faces are great. Especially Bonita and Abhinav Singh who get into the skin of their parts.

Sneha Khanwalkar’s music is as epic as it gets though. The lyrics feel like someone who has eaten SEO with Algorithms for breakfast has written them and the music is catchy. The music of the first part has become cult back in the day and the sequel fails to give us another brilliant title track. While the camera work sticks to being very wild like the first part where it makes you an audience, DOPs Anand Bansal, Riju Das, and Priyashankar Ghosh try to bring a vibe where it feels like the audience is a ghost in the story sitting somewhere in the corner while it unfolds. The editing is quite interesting in the last two segments as it interestingly jumps from one scene to another and mostly to the most random part where you aren't prepared.

But the conversation boils down to the conclusion that none of this feels like a bulletproof contribution when you have actually forgotten most part of the film in a couple of hours and the impact is not as strong as the first one that haunted us for days if not weeks.

LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 Review - Final Verdict

Dibakar Banerjee has given us some gems of movies and Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 certainly doesn't sit well with those. It is an idea that must have been interesting on paper, but the on-screen fails to create the impact it desires.

LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2 releases on the big screen today, April 19, 2024.

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