A reputed director active at Facebook once posted a straight forward status about Sunny Leone referring to her as ‘The most truthful person ever witnessed by the Hindi film industry”. And agreeing to his bold statement (keeping aside the other debates on the issue) I would like to state that, yes she is the most truthful phenomenon ever, since here is a girl who is not interested in hiding her ‘controversial’ past at all, is not willing to pose or portray herself as any ‘purest find’ ever and is ready to deliver what is exactly expected from her in the films without feeling any kind of shame or guilt whatsoever.
So when you have Sunny Leone featuring in a movie then you are sure to get the exact content you are looking for in those 2 hours and EK PAHELI LEELA largely delivers the same (in a stylish manner) with not one but two Sunny Leone’s playing the contrasting characters of a gorgeous new age model and an innocent village girl of the olden times.
For the few interested in its storyline (pun intended), its about reincarnation of two loving souls and an evil one who are here again to complete their interrupted love saga. The concept of a renowned sculptor of the past killing a beautiful girl (his subject) and her lover, only to find them again in the rebirth was earlier seen in B. Subhash’s hit English (adult) movie titled DIVINE LOVERS released in 1997 featuring Marc Zuber, Himent Birje and many foreign artists. Admittedly the present version is not as bold as the B. Subhash film that ran for quite long in the Indian theatres due to its x-rated content, but it still has Sunny Leone showcased in a more glamorous manner than ever before in her Hindi film career till date.
To give you an unbiased idea of the film, EK PAHELI LEELA does have its illogical plot developments, few average performances, a lengthy duration, excessive songs and some cheap double meaning dialogues too thrown in repeatedly to generate an instant laughter. But the film certainly doesn’t have the look and feel of any B-C grade movie as was being looked upon before its release. And the complete credit for this ‘unexpected excellence’ goes to three departments in particular, namely its cinematography, art direction (including location & costumes) and the soundtrack featuring many hit tracks such as “Desi Look”, “Saiyaan Superstar”, “Tere Bin Nahin”, “Glamourous Akhiyaan” and the best of the lot “Khuda Bhi Jab Tumhein Mere Paas Dekhta Hoga”.
So when you have such strong merits associated with a film along with Sunny Leone giving her best performance till date both in terms of glamourous-sex appeal as well as improved acting then it doesn’t let you rate the film anywhere close to something trash or ignorable, mediocre stuff quite honestly. In fact it was after a long time (going into decades) when I once again witnessed loud shouts, whistles and madness in a single screen theatre on the entry scene of a heroine (after that enigmatic era of Madhuri and Sridevi in the late 80s-early 90s). However no doubt here the whistles were obviously not for the on-screen enigma but for something else known widely.
Directed by debutant Bobby Khan, the film has its glamour factor exploited real well and that’s where Bobby scores the best ahead than the script and its emotional aspect dealing with love and reincarnation. Where the first half doesn’t let you take your eyes off the screen due to Sunny Leone simply looking stunning in all her scenes and well choreographed dance movements (particularly in track ‘Glamorous Akhiyan’), there the second half could have been trimmed a lot with the suspense factor executed in a different and much elaborated manner, avoiding a few un-required songs and dragging sequences. However one truly has to applaud the director as well as his DOP for handling the skin show in the film so elegantly that it never turns out to be even close to something cheap as seen in Leone’s earlier movies.
Regarding performances, Sunny Leone clearly leads the project boldly putting forward her best act till date in Hindi films and its really a visual treat to watch her grooving on the well composed tracks shot on some artistically designed sets and striking locations of Rajasthan. Recalling her earlier ventures, in both JISM 2 and RAGINI MMS 2 she was mere used as a sex object who was supposed to start shedding off her clothes with the word ‘action’, treating the audience too as fools sitting in the theatre. Moreover even Sunny was majorly interested in getting some kind of hold in the industry at that time agreeing to such kind of ‘clear exploitive’ projects readily, for the sole purpose of establishing herself as a saleable star instead of an actor. However with EK PAHELI LEELA it seems that she really is taking the acting career in India quite seriously, learning the art step by step and the director here too is not just interested in using her as a sex object alone ignoring everything else in the process. And that’s what clearly visible in the hard work Bobby and his team puts in the film’s interesting story selection, eye-catching sets, colourful costumes, enjoyable choreography, noticeable lyrics, well composed music and Sunny’s better performance too.
In the supporting cast, Jay Bhanushali tries hard to perform well in his ill defined role, Rajneesh Duggal, Mohit Ahlawat, Andy and Rahul Dev are all just ok making a decent impact, but Jas Arora despite being over the top gets some loud support from the viewers due to his cheeky dialogues rendered in a more vulgar style.
Summing up, EK PAHELI LEELA is a well shot, colorful, seductive, musical show presenting Sunny Leone like never before in a Hindi film. Hence it cannot be rated as anything trash just for the sake of it, as was the case in Sunny’s last few projects. The film offers what is expected of it aesthetically without going into any cheap zone and thus deserves to be rated decently due to its visible merits.
Rating : 2.5 / 5 (Including a big 1 for its cinematography, art direction, costumes and a hit soundtrack.)
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