During the times when Khans, rom-coms and multi-starrers rule the roost of Hindi cinema, it indeed is a daring effort to make a movie with complete set of new-comers, distinct narrative presentation and handling reality content with a dose of fiction(sans fantasy). LSD has scored full marks in seeing this through and the effort is definitely laudable.Dibakar Banerjee, the ace director who had a nice comedy in Khosla Ka Ghosla and a masterpiece in Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye to his forte now has this dark voyeuristic fiction drama to his helm.
With the title leading to the very perception, Love Sex aur Dhoka is not that regular story about relationship from love to sleaze and hence betrayal and cheating. LSD is a collection of the three hard-hitting short stories and interconnected within each other in a non-linear fashion that puts the logical flow in place in the otherwise three distinct stories(read 'camera-tales') making it one dark packaged presentation. One cant obviously be not reminded of similar narratives or the chapter-titling(a la desi ishtyle though) between the stories as in Pulp Fiction or Sin City. The raw content in LSD overrides this inspiration/reference through the tight storytelling by Dibaker and Kanu Bhel.
The stories are commonly bound by the fact that a camera is the medium of story telling - a hand-held, a security cam and a spy cam. Dibakar portrays innocence, charm and subtle romance in the story of Love, with a film student making his diploma certificate movie, gets romantically struck to the lead girl of the movie. Along with the likable romantic depiction of the lead pairs, this is one piece that evokes quite a few laughs with some mocks on our conventional bollywood love stories. While Sex deals with the social stigma of MMS and internet video scandals, with a loan-burdened security cam guy trying to get some sleaze videos from a super-store and make some money out of it, Dhoka dwells around the dark side of the media industry - casting couch and news sensationalism, with a wannabe music video lady artist trying to avenge a casting couch request coincidentally bumping into a newsman trying to make some sting news for his living.
While these may not be everyday stories of our neighborhoods or our candy-floss Hindi movies, Dibakar has chosen some of the commonly occurring incidents in the society that one may not fail to agree to, again ensuring the fictional part of the movie is atmost taken care of hence not lending a documentary/art/cult touch. What makes these three stories distinctly interesting is the tautness in narration carried out by Dibakar and the fashion in which each story converges into the other with conclusive ends of their own.
A full length movie from the camera's point of view is bound to leave the audience dizzy however cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis ensures that the viewers don't hit the threshold. One may often think this is the easiest part of a low cost movie allowing the camera to take its own route or just stay static, thankfully the shots seem to have been completely planned, designed and executed so very well. The edits by Namrata Rao have also contributed to the crispness and narrative flow of the movie, her part of the job has again been neatly executed. Thankfully again, there are no songs to disrupt the tautness of the movie, but the BGM just goes good with the treatment as needed
Stunning performances from the artists is another big bonus, bringing a sense of realism, never leaves the audience thinking that they are faces that have never been seen before. It sure is a tough task to portray as the characters written out with such finesse and make it appear as though they really are them, kudos to the hard work by the artists here. If you loved the cute guy who is a film student, you empathize with the innocent shopgirl at the store and you sure are to be awestruck with the character of the popstar at his precision in singing and playing instruments and on the other side alluring women as though its his easy daily job.
So whats up with LSD? It may not be the path-breaking differently treated movie. You may have felt a deja-vu with Pulp Fiction or Blair Witch Project, but what stands on top is the conviction with which the it has been made and presented - strong, dark and yet simple. The fact that the face of Hindi cinema is still not just Khans, but sometimes its the Anurags, Vishals and Dibakars who also add that winning flavor is upheld here and Hindi cinema truly deserves more of these new treatments to keep such good work going with the fullest motivation.
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