Ek Paheli Leela, Review: ‘Porn’ again?
Sunny Leone plays Meera, the pseudo-Italian model/performer who sets England ablaze with her hot numbers and even hotter anatomy. (Italy is the favourite real-life destination of the 34 year-old Canada-born porn-star, whose real name is Karenjit Kaur Vohra). A long and high profile assignment in the desert of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, follows the London extravaganza, but Meera has a mental condition that makes her terrified of flying, so she turns it down. Photographer Radhika (Shivani Tanksale) and co-ordinator Candy (Nausheen Ahmed) hatch an elaborate plot to get her drugged, put her on a chartered plane and fly her to Jodhpur. When she gets up, she throws the expected trance, and then gets mesmerised by the natural beauty of her ancestral country. A chance encounter during the shooting lays the foundation of a romantic journey between the crown prince of Jaisalmer, Ranveer Singh, and Meera. Although Meera expects Ranveer to behave like a typical Maharaja, she is surprised to find that he is a modern and well-read person.

As Ranveer’s love and charm distracts Meera away from her loneliness, depression and inner fears, which she has lived with since she survived a plane crash that killed her parents but let her survive, Meera plans to stay back with Ranveer, who proposes marriage to her. Meera accepts his proposal. One day, Karan, who is a music composer and Radhika’s brother, comes in their life, to unveil the bitter truth of Karan's, Meera's and Ranveer's past lives, which ended brutally, with Meera (then Leela) and her lover Shravan being killed at the hands of an obsessed and jealous lover, the sculptor Bhairo. Not far away from Ranveer’s palace lives his cousin Bikram, embodying all that is evil and selfish among feudal lords. He is bent on finding Leela’s 300 year-old statue, carved by Bhairo, that will fetch a handsome price, and rescue him from bankruptcy.

There are three main locations: the glamour-world of 2014 London, the desert and royal splendor of Jaisalmer desert in north India and the bygone era of 300 years ago, when the three characters played out the doomed love-story, with two brutal killings. Sunny Leone was to play three roles, as Meera, Leela and Neelima. Wonder what happened to Neelima. Did she appear and disappear in the batting of an eyelid? Or did she end up on the editing table? Although presented in simplistic terms, the London angle is slick and has a hit song to boot. Drugging Meera into flying is a clever idea, yet sounds improbable. Jaisalmer is convincing, with the Ranveer-Bikram, dignified-brash extremes well etched-out, until they bring in a bumbling man Friday, who speaks atrocious English, spouts brazen double-entendre and, what takes the cake, even sleep-walks. It is completely unnecessary intrusions like these that spoil the impact of the ambience.

Bobby Khan and Jojo Khan’s script pays tribute to Mughal-e-Azam while bringing in the sculpting track, though in execution, it’s more like the re-incarnation outing, Neelkamal. Of course, the narrative is quite different in Ek Paheli Leela. Bunty Rathore (Dhamaal, Khiladi 786)’s dialogue dips from the inspired to the pedestrian to cheap with such alacrity that you begin to wonder if it is the same man at work. Whatever be the locale or era, there is a riot of colours, frenetic cameras (Basha Lal Syed) and captivating sets. As many as nine songs are incorporated, including the ‘Dholi taro dhol baje’, reprised from an earlier hit film, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. You tend to recall maybe 12, not nine, numbers, but then there is so much dance music that it satiates you. Lyrics are often at variance with the situations, written to suit the beat and metre. Music is by Meet Bros, Uzair Jaswal (from Pakistan), Tony Kakkar, Amal Mallik and Dr. Zeus, while the voices on the sound-track come from Tulsi Kumar, Arijit Singh, Kanika Kapoor, Neha Kakkar, Aishwarya Majumdar, Alam Khan and Krishna Beura.

In his debut film as director, choreographer Bobby Khan assigns choreography duties to his brother Ahmed (also a producer on this film) and his mentor, veteran Saroj Khan. And, not to forget, porn-star Sunny Leone (Jism 2, Ragini MMS 2) is Bobby’s heroine. All of them go overboard in projecting Sunny’s gyrating and hip-thrusting prowess and the choreographers’ ‘out to impress’ moves. Bobby also creates scenes where Sunny is expected to do more than flaunt the largesse of her cleavage—to meet demands on real acting. To be fair, Sunny is in no apparent hurry to shed her porn image, an area where assets have universal approval. On the acting front, she is passable, certainly no dud.

Mohit Ahlawat as Prince Ranveer (Shiva, Shagird), with his 6’2” frame reminds us of old-timer Ajeet and his son Shahzad. He underplays to the level of appearing unrealistically sanitised. It is Nausheen Ahmed debut as Candy, and she is sweet enough. Jas Arora as Prince Bikram (TV series Achar! and film Chalte Chalte) hams away to glory and exhibits a high level of Gulshan Grover fixation. In context, that’s not all too bad. Jay Bhanushali (Hate Story 2, Desi Katte) plays Karan, the most confused and most poorly written character, unless you justify the means with the climax the writers wanted to reach. Rahul Dev, veteran villain, is cast as Bhairo. The only real ‘name’ in this saga, he is a treat to watch. From expressions to dialogue delivery, one could learn from his prowess. Rajneesh Duggal (Antham, Samrat & Co.) plays Shravan, the chocolate-faced, tall, well-built Shravan. He gets to sing some good songs, generates a lot of sympathy for his plight and gets to have best of Sunny Leone’s body when SHE seduces him, in a long, lingering scene. Shivani Tanksale (The President is Coming, Happy Ending, Zed Plus) as Radhika is a natural, gushing and radiant.

All said and done, Ek Paheli Leela just about makes it to the ‘take a look’ list.

Rating: **

Trailer: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2gl8cz