Jism (2003) User Reviews

Perhaps I Should Have Watched For The Right Reasons ?

[Theo Robertson · 6/10 · 25 November 2005]

Channel 4 in the UK has been showing a late night season of Bollywood movies . I have to be brutally honest and say this holds little interest for me since I can't be bothered with watching a three hour movie padded out with song and dance numbers but JISM pricked my interest somewhat since it had caused some controversy . It was marketed as a steamy erotic Bollywood remake of Lawrence Kasdan's BODY HEAT and Bollywood movies are very puritanical where sex is concerned so I watched mainly to see how erotic it could be

The truth is that there seems to be no Hindi word for " erotic " , every time the two protagonists Kabir and Sonia get it on the action cuts to the bedroom after they've had sex . If you're going to watch JISM for purely the wrong reason ( And let me reiterate I was just watching out of curiosity ) then you're going to be bitterly disappointed . That said the film still works because the leads John Abraham and Bipasha Basu really do burn up the screen with their sexual chemistry

Bipasha sizzles in Pondicherry.

[Hysteria28 · 5/10 · 5 April 2010]

This movie is a frame to frame copy of Lawrence Kasden's classic 'Body Heat' from 1981. At this time the theme of adultery and extra marital affairs was a new for Bollywood. So this was an experiment. This movie also marked the beginning for Pooja Bhatt's directorial career. As a director she was impressive. She proved that she has learnt direction from her father's movies.

Unfortunately this was a disappointing attempt to remake a classic. But this was bound to happen when a subject or theme which is more suited to western tastes is indianised. The movie failed to recreate the superiorism and charisma of the original. The elements at base level were taken in to consideration but the detailed and complex portions were ignored. The interesting segments of the movie were supposed to be the events and investigations scenario after the murder. However this was covered at a basic level.Too much time focuses on the intimate and sexually natured scenes in the first half. The movie also seemed rushed towards the end. Even the climax was changed which left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The movie is not bad as one could imagine. The direction and cinematography are the highlights of the movie. The setting of Pondicherry gives the movie the right atmosphere and glamorous look. Bipasha Basu has sex appeal no doubt, but it was too early in her career to attempt such a complex role. Some of her facial expressions were weak. However she did look very good in her different variety of dresses. John Abraham made his acting debut. He makes a honest and sincere effort. Maybe it would have made a better impact if he had dubbed his own voice. Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey presences makes the movie interesting to watch at regular intervals. They bring life in the movie at certain points.

Terrible copy of a beautiful Hollywood movie

[sendmailtojk · 4/10 · 24 December 2011]

Disgusting says it all. Out of shape female lead, clueless acting by male lead. Just because they are involved with each other in real life they thought they would look natural in the movie? Just the opposite it seems. If the Producer wanted to make a sizzling soft porn he should have at least have the decency not to copy a Halle Berry movie for Gods sake. The songs are melodious but when you copy a Hollywood movie can we just avoid them? Disgrace for a Mahesh Bhatt movie. Strongly suggested NOT TO BE SEEN movie. I will stick to Hollywood movies. On the positive side I am pleased they shot this in Pondicherry. And not some studio. Or Mumbai for that matter

Jaddo Tha.... Nasha Tha..!

[Manuja · 17 October 2004]

Jism is a psychological thriller. NOT your average film where the point of the movie is totally obvious from the start.This movie reminded me a little bit of a film with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger" Double Indemnity" that had the "Married women/ Lawyer" plot line. But that was the only similarity. I think the subtlety in the sex scenes are a lot hotter than your regular "take it all off" scene's. What's so hot about that? As for a lack of sexual chemistry, between the central character's alluded to by a previous comment, I beg to differ with that. The chemistry was most obvious in the song sequence "Jadoo Hain Nasha Hain" which is my personal favourite. The music in that song was excellent and I understand the singer won an award for that song. Well deserved. This song captures the female character's state of mind, while the song "Avarapan, Banjarpan" captures the psychological state of Kabir Lal.(John Abraham).

This story is about a journey. About choices that take you down paths that you can't re-trace. There was a melancholy feel to this film that gives you the impression that this movie is not about making a "cheap sexual thriller", but it's about exploring the minds of the protagonists. Sex in my opinion is another character in this film, that keeps walking a line between lust and love, and keeps colliding with each other throughout the story. Especially Kabir Lal, who we know feels that the path he has taken is wrong, but keeps going down it anyway, irrevocably drawn down it by the power of lust and love. "Jism" is not about showing "Jism", but about the alluding to it. If you sat down to watch this movie hoping it was a movie about a "down and dirty sexual fling" then too bad, you chose the wrong movie. This was a lot better than that. Bips was a sizzler, and John was quite good actually. Unlike in many other Indian movies, the two central character's carry most of the burden of the film. Without their acting being effective this movie would not have worked. But the supporting cast was very good too. Though their roles where small they where effective. Especially the role of Sonia Khanna's alcoholic sister in law Priyanka who puts a spanner in the works. Kudos to the makers of "Jism" for daring to try something different.

Forgettable

[akshatpandey66 · 5/10 · 13 July 2021]

It's just a 130 minute movie but still has a very weak first half, poorly written dialogues. The actors were fine although both their voices were dubbed.

The songs were great and so was the cinematography but this could have been a much better thriller.

Bollywood noir?

[suchenwi · 7/10 · 21 April 2008]

The German DVD of Jism advertises it as "Bollywood noir". Is that so? Or is it rather a "Ken & Barbie in lust and death" piece? Some commenters claimed Jism to be a remake of Double Indemnity, which certainly is considered a classic noir. Looking at a popular set of criteria: "We'd be oversimplifying things in calling film noir oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel...." (Oneiric is dreamlike). Erotic it certainly is - not by exposing private parts, but just in the ways people talk and act. Strange? Ambivalent? Cruel? All to some degree. I failed to find "oneiric" elements, but the above list is not meant to be all-required.

Other frequent associations with film noir include the roles of femme fatale (check - very fatal, for him and herself), the lone, miserable, maverick male (anti-)hero (check); strong darkness/light contrasts (Jism has some, but not over-strong), and an unhappy ending (check - though it could have used a surprising twist there...) So yes, I'd support the classification as a neo-noir movie, especially when set in contrast to other Bollies. In any case, it's an entertaining sexy thriller. I give it a 7 and will watch it again.

Good movie from pooja bhatt

[dy38493 · 5/10 · 5 December 2020]

Good movie to watch for especially john abraham and bipasha basu chemistry the movie is a good remake of hollywood movie good songs I love awarapan banjaarapan.

Ending always makes me cry

[designercandlesu · 7/10 · 9 January 2021]

You can see that his friends try to save him- just like family and loved ones try to save a drug addict from falling into the pits, but the addict doesn't listen. In a similar fashion, he is addicted to his lust then followed by love. He is in madness about her and that's an addiction and that ends up being his end. I really like the movie as a grownup, hated it as a teenager when it came out because didn't really understand it.

Took Erotica to new level

[silvan-desouza · 6/10 · 16 February 2014]

Hindi films have seldomly shown erotica, maybe in Feroz Khan and Raj kapoor films a bit but JISM took it forward, The film was promoted as an erotica film, The film is similar to Body Heat The film was Pooja Bhatt's first production The film starts well, the John-Bipasha scenes are well handled, the erotic scenes too are well handled, the twist happens when Gulshan enters the frame, the scenes involving his murder are well handled and twists and turns do startle you However the pace is too slow especially in the first half, while some characters could be better handled, the end too is flawed raising questions regarding Bipasha's change in character

Direction by Amit Saxena is decent Music by MM Kreem is good, Awarapan is good, Jaadu Hai Nasha and other songs are fab, this film took Shreya Goshal's career to new level.

John Abraham in his debut did a good job though his voice is dubbed yet he does a good job sadly people only noticed his looks. Bipasha Basu go a sex symbol tag with this film, her voice again was dubbed for 4th time since Ajnabee, Raaz, Gunaah. her expressions were too much at times. Vinay Pathak and Ranveer Shorey play their pars well, those days they were not so famous Gulshan Grover is okay while Anahita Oberoi is good

Good remake of Double Indemnity

[dhruvdude · 10/10 · 14 February 2003]

When I saw double indemnity I just loved it and then when Jism came out I saw and I found out it is a remake of double indemnity. Very good movie to watch.. Bipasha Basu is just hot and John abraham is a very talented actor though he does needs to improve a little on some of his acting skills. A must watch.

My rating- 10/10

Decent remake of "Double Indemnity"

[gazebo · 16 October 2004]

"MINOR SPOILER!!!"

I don't watch a lot of Bollywood films, but most of what I saw, I've always enjoyed. I noticed that the love scenes in Bollywood movies always consisted of singing and dancing. There was never any kissing or deep fondling of any sort. Bollywood love scenes are extremely tame by Hollywood standards.

I watched "Jism", because, heck, the title of the film sounded.....intriguing.

Man! This is like, the sexiest Bollywood film I've ever seen! The two main characters, Khabir and Sonia generate a lot of sexual heat. They kiss deeply and hold each other a lot. The actors that played Khabir and Sonia are so pretty to look at. The acting is very good. The beautiful actress that plays Sonia is sweetly sexy. She doesn't try to act sexy, she just is. I can understand why the foolish Khabir would fall for her. The actor that plays Khabir plays Khabir as a charming, foolish and a very likable character in spite of his alcoholism.

I've seen "Double Indemnity" and "Body Heat" so I pretty much know what's going to happen in the movie, but I was still impressed by the acting. When Sonia shows her true colors to Khabir, her coldness was such a shock to me, as well as to Khabir. Khabir is pretty much tortured after committing the murder and realizing that the woman he loved was just a user, it was sad to see all this realized on his face.

The minor actor that I was most impressed with was the actor that played Siddharth, a policeman and Khabir's best friend. Siddharth vacillates from wanting to beat the hell out of Khabir to wanting to protect Khabir. The performance of the actor that plays Siddharth is outstanding, especially at the ending of the film.

This movie is a very, very pretty movie. Everyone in the film looks pretty affluent (with the exception of the character of Frankie) and they all dress stylishly and expensively. The surroundings (Pondicherry) in which these people live are quite beautiful, all lush and green. As a matter of fact, this movie is such eye candy it almost detracts the plot of the movie.

The best scenes are the romantic musical scenes of the movie where Sonia and Khabir are out on the beach. He is lying down on the sand with his shirt opened all the way and Sonia is on top of him, practically sitting on his crotch and writhing away to the music.

If anyone has ever seen "Double Indemnity" or "Body Heat", this movie adds nothing special to the same old plot. But it still is worth watching if you want to see beautiful people in beautiful surroundings acting in less than beautiful ways.

I really like this movie. It's not a perfect film, but it's still worth watching for the very good acting.

I give this film a B+.

Double Indemnity Bollywood style and it's HOT!

[Sherazade · 8/10 · 13 March 2006]

This was John Abraham's first film and he definitely made his presence known. He just breaks your heart as this happy-go-lucky man who falls in love with a dangerous married woman (played by Bipasha Basu), and as they say "Satan provides work for the idle man" and this is just what happens to Abraham here. That and more as he grows dangerously and toxic-ally in love with this woman with a secret past, a deadly present and not to mention the not so good future. His world as he knows it slowly begins to crumble with his insatiable thirst for more of Basu's character. She feeds his urge until she no longer can, then the nature of her past becomes revealed as she shows her true face to him. Bitter and heartbroken, Abraham does the inevitable in this film that will leave the faint hearted shocked and breathless to say the least.

Terrible

[DesiMovieGuy · 5 May 2003]

This so-called Sexy Thriller was neither Sexy nor Thrilling. Since so much hoopla was about the sexiness and eroticism of this movie, I am going to address those issues instead of lamenting the usual lack of good acting, script and direction in majority of commercial Hindi movies (and there was plenty of that in the offering as well). The suffering at DesiMovieMansion began early during the movie and lasted all the way to the end. The sex scenes were pathetic and the actors looked terribly self-conscious while doing intimate scenes. The kissing scenes were not much better than the usual hindi movie moments of discomfort. As for showing "jism" it was almost a no-show. Just some legs and midriff (and a somewhate bare back once). Although given Bipasha Basu's not-so-hot body, this was probably a blessing in disguise. The average hindi pop song video is HOTTER than than the love scenes in this movie, and the average hindi pop song video girl would have been a better choice over Ms. Basu. There was no sexual tension between John and Bipasha during the woo-ing phase. Considering that Gulshan Grover marries Bipasha because she's the trophy-wife, it was laughable (unintentionally) when he was completely exhausted after a romp with her. Bipasha on the other hand, had all her clothes on and even her make-up didn't get sumdged a bit. May be she got-on-top of poor Gulshan, who couldn't handle all that weight!

Save your time and money and don't even bother renting this overrated DesiMovieGarbage. I give it a 3/10.

A mediocre love-story...

[asifakberali · 8/10 · 12 January 2022]

..but with beautiful songs. The songs made the movie popular, and of course, John and Bipasha took the movie to another level through their chemistry. One can sense it that they are bonding apart from their acting in the movie.

Some great romantic scenes.

The story is meh... no "WOW" aspect, I guess.

jism (A)--------------Rating: 4/5

[yunusitboss · 9/10 · 11 May 2012]

jism (A)--------------Rating: 4/5

It is a thriller flick that has a new concept..... Cast has done a great job to smoothly moves away without any hesitations for us.... Music and background score was extreme as tuned for ghost thriller.... Romance between the cast was weight for the movie.... An adult flick which decently taken.....

Kabir Lal is an alcoholic lawyer whose life is looking as if going down the drain. One morning he sees a stunningly attractive woman on a beach and is instantly enamored by her. By chance he sees her again in a restaurant and offers to buy her a drink. In the process he learns that her name is Sonia and she is married. Unable to resist, he asks her whether she would show him her home. It marks the beginning of a passionate affair, during which Kabir is told that Sonia's husband neglects her. But Sonia cannot leave him because she cannot support herself without her husband's money. Sonia suggests murder and Kabir, blind with lust, agrees. They manage to kill Sonia's husband and make it look like an accident, but then Kabir gets to see Sonia's other side: she no longer is the passionate lover as before, but is a cool-headed mean woman now who won't let go of her wealth at any cost.