The makers of Ragini MMS 2 had one unique selling proposition – Sunny Leone. So now what is the best you can do with a porn star in an Indian mainstream context? Create a ‘horrex’, of course. And while director Bhushan Patel exploits his heroine to the max establishing the sex part, the horror part is simply boring.
The scares come mainly thanks to sound effects and eerie situations, which build suspense of what might be lurking rather than actually making you jump out of your seat.
Picking up from the 2011 sleeper hit Ragini MMS, the sequel lazily leans on the film-within-a-film device. An over-the-top, sleazy director (Parvin Dabas) decides to make a movie on Uday and Ragini’s experiences and shoot it in the same deserted, haunted house where their MMS was shot.
The star of Ragini MMS 2 is Sunny Leone (kind of playing herself). For research purposes, Leone visits Ragini in the mental institution where she an inmate. But when she arrives on set, Sunny is not the same.
No points for guessing what transpired in that brief encounter. Needless to say the cast of hammy actors populating the very house where they are shooting, providing some intentional and some unintentional laughs, will each meet a bloody end. At points, Ragini MMS 2 feels less ‘horrex’ more ‘spoofex’.
Across town, a doctor (Divya Dutta) in dresses two sizes too small, is fervently researching the back story of that house and attempting to unravel the mystery behind Ragini’s state. She cracks the case on a full moon night when the climax will unfold.
Banging doors, ghostly apparitions, gouged eyes and some appalling make up do not offer enough chills. The suspense runs dry very soon leaving you to marvel at Sunny Leone’s fine lingerie collection. Which other actor in Hindi cinema today would unabashedly kiss another girl, fake an orgasm, walk around in lace lingerie, show ample cleavage and agree to be romanced by a greasy-looking supporting actor? As the USP of this film, Leone has been utilized single-mindedly.
The script by writers Suhani Kanwar and Tanweer Bookwala is flimsy; the special effects amateur and there are obvious ‘inspirations’ from Hollywood films such as The Conjuring.
I remember being rather disturbed by Ragini MMS. The only thing disturbing about the sequel is the possibility of part three!
Rating: *1/2
