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137 minutes
India (2003)
15
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JISM FILM REVIEW |
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A sultry but uninspired Bollywood skin flick based on Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat
If Jism were as in-your-face (ahem) as its title suggests, it might have proved a lot more fun than it actually is. For cinemagoers in search of some naughty but nice eroticism, it's ultimately little more than a lame remake of Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat (itself a remake of classic film noir Double Indemnity) that was originally launched in India with a ferocious advertising campaign designed to tempt over-expectant punters through the doors with the promise of far more than it would ever have been allowed to deliver.
The first of a wave of Bollywood skin flicks made in response to falling Asian ticket sales, Jism is a sex movie only in the loosest sense of the term. While far more risqué than the usual Bollywood fare, it's only a vaguely sexy thriller by Western standards. Even its attempts to spice things up by pinching key scenes from Body Heat (including an ice cube interlude) prove desperately disappointing.
Sonia Khanna (Basu) and Kabir Lal (Abraham) are illicit lovers conspiring against the former's minted husband Rohit (Grover) in between singing (this is a Bollywood movie, after all) and romping around together in the sweltering heat. The result is a brave addition to the Bollywood canon that inevitably sparked controversy with its (relatively) blatant sexuality and smouldering femme fatale anti-heroine; as such it helped push the boundaries of traditional Hindi cinema culture. Yet for anyone hoping for a hot and heavy skin flick this softer-than-softcore film is guaranteed to disappoint.
Verdict
A lame remake of Body Heat with little sense of the conventions of film noir, Jism is remarkable only for pushing the boundaries of Bollywood's generally prudish attitude towards explicit sexuality.
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