As bugs to a flame. Review on Jism

Spoiler Ahead

Jism is the story of an exceptionally beautiful woman whose body turns into an instrument of destruction for a young man who is sucked into her charms. The central message is that the body knows no love, only hunger and pleasure. This idea is emphasized time and again in the film. This is a part of life that happens all around us yet we seldom put it on film, but Mahesh Bhutt has made no secret of it. This film may be unsuitable to the average Bollywood crowd who have been fed a steady diet of altered reality by mainstream cinema. For whom truth and reality can come as a mild shock. In a society where sex and the naked human form is considered as taboo this film is a change from the norm.

Plot

A young lawyer is infatuated with a beautiful woman who is already the wife of a rich businessman. They fall in love and plan to eliminate the husband and live together. The young lawyer orchestrates and commits the murder. But he latter realizes that he was a pawn in the woman’s greed to her dead husbands wealth.

The moral of the story: Bugs will be attracted to the flame and on impact will die a miserable death.

The story also criticizes the morals and ethics of living together without being in love. Perhaps justify the woman’s adulterous affair. The young man in question is a handsome chap who shows off months of working out in the gym by walking around half naked for the better part of the film. In fact John Abraham shows more skin than Bipasha Basu.

One might be misled into thinking that this is grand erotic feast of a film, unfortunately for some, there isn't enough material to qualify for such a film. The love scenes are tastefully and sensually executed. There is grace, fluidity and charm in the scene where John and Ms Basu perform foreplay with Ice cubes. The objective here is not to show the audience boisterous unbridled passion, but to be sensual with the subject and visual. Any more skin than what was shown would have driven the focus entirely out of the subject matter of sensuality into sex.

Several regular Bollywood formulae have been wisely dropped from this film. Like the regular song and dance numbers with 200 extras running around in uniform costumes. The choice and direction of extras are executed with care and planning. We can see these details in the restaurant scene. Many Indian directors fail in this very important aspect of direction. However some Bollywood techniques still remain. The entire story is told in flash back by a dude who was shot in the back. There have been some loose attempts at building character relationships. But nothing is heard of Johns girlfriend, Sheeba, who makes a brief appearance in the restaurant dressed in a pink nightgown. Her performance, although brief, was still commendable. Performance by the rest of the cast is controlled and satisfactory.

Acting

Bipasha Basu cannot act. Several scenes where she should be showing emotions end up with very little result. Emotions you will never find on Ms Basus face: Fear, anxiety, lust, excitement, exctacy and sorrow. A frozen chicken will show more emotion than Ms Basu face. The rest of her did a great job. She does have a body that can launch at least 10 ships if not a thousand. Bipasha Basu should forget about an acting career and stick with her day job at the catwalk.

Debut actor John Abraham on the other hand does a decent job. But since the women folk in the audience would be looking at his glistening body, they might miss it altogether. He has made rather successful attempts at all the above mentioned emotions satisfactorily. This man may have a career.

Gulshan Grover is perhaps the only experienced actor in the film. This fine actor’s potential is yet untapped by the industry.

Title Design

The opening credits of Jism are outstanding. For each main title, a bug hovers over a candle and extinguishes the candle by flying right into the flame. This is a symbolic representation of the films theme. The young man drawn to the hauntingly beautiful woman extinguishes his life as he gets closer to her. Nice! Blurred images of the human body in slow sensual movement are shown vaguely in the background as the titles appear in the foreground. The computer graphics used here are also elegantly unobtrusive to the viewers’ senses. We are reminded of the bug and the lamp motif once more in the film. Right before the car tries to run down John towards the end of the film the scene opens with a shot of a lamp post with bugs buzzing around the lamp. Throughout the movie one can also see the presence of candles. These motifs reinforces the flame and the bug connection.

Wardrobe

Jism showcases a fine collection of evening wear and casuals that cannot be missed. Bipashas outfits are works of art. And they fit her perfectly. She is best at what she does. Showcasing clothes or its absence. Some of the casuals worn by John Abraham are also smart for the tropics. The general theme of clothing is white casuals which blend well with the white colonial buildings of pondichery.

Music

The music and the songs create a fine unbroken blend that adds atmosphere to the scene. Many of the songs are actually ghazals, this makes perfect sense in this story. The melancholic atmosphere and desolation is highlighted by occasional cello pieces.

Photography

The film is shot in Pondicherry. The film has managed to capture the romantic french atmosphere of this beautiful coastal town. Photography and camera work is fine. Pondichery beach is quite beautiful, and the camera crew has run wild. Bipasha Basus entry in the film is set in the beach. Camera is set on crane mount facing down the shore, and follows her as she walks in from the sea. Filmed in slow-motion with diffused flood lights. simply brilliant. A few mistakes in this scene are the inconsistency of the clouds in different shots. Some shots in the same scene have grey skies while other have blue cloudy skies. I guess I am asking for too much here.

Director of Photography Fuwad Khan seems to have mastered the use of opposite lighting. Lights have been placed angularly opposite the camera in the bedroom scenes.1 This technique creates bold outlines and sharp shadows which highlight human shapes and forms well. Shadows play a very important role in this film. Shadows also help hide Johns face during his break-in and ensuing fight scene.

Diffused lights have been carefully selected to tone the body and face of Ms Basu. This gives her a nice uniform tone to her skin. The reflections from her hair even give away the position of the diffusers used in the shots; A perfect marriage of makeup and lighting.

To summarize: The plot is very thin. The acting is abysmal. However it still is good cinema. Good photography and some nice songs. Then what is it that commands such a careful analysis: Crew. Yes this film will become a success because of its trained production crew. Stars don't make films. dedicated professionals do. This is a film to be seen.