Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 aka LSD 2 carries the legacy of the first film in terms of its soul while introducing three loosely intertwining stories around topics of Love, Sex and Dhokha in the modern day setup featuring the Gen Zs(perfectly represented by the poster of the film with likes in the form of drugs being snorted). And because the film features the Gen Zs, there are new labels to the story that largely captures the various facets of the reel world – be it reality TV, the concept of metaverse or the traumas of social media. So invariably ‘Love’ becomes ‘Like’, ‘Sex’ becomes ‘Share’ and Dhokha becomes ‘Download’. And each of the tales represent the histrionics of the digital world that is a house to alternate versions of ourselves which are distant versions of the real world, and therein lies the searing commentary that runs almost as an undercurrent. The screenplay standing at a shade under two hours is eccentric, trippy, flashy but worth pondering upon, given the kind of issues that it wishes to address. But the subject in itself is niche and therefore the drama is experimental partly acting as a colourful mess which is inviting in many ways while also doubling up as a social mirror on where we find ourselves in the world that is rapidly becoming digital with every passing minute. 

I must admit one thing straight up that the writing isn’t as sharp as the first LSD film. But it is also reflective of the complex times that we find ourselves in wherein the times from the early 2010s felt so simplistic in comparison to today(as things keep getting complicated while typing this review). So the drama labeled as ‘Like’ opens with a reality show which seemed like a crossbreed of Big Boss and Jhalak Dikh Laa Jaa titled ‘Truth Or Naach’. In this show, you are introduced to a character, a seemingly empowering transgender woman who continuously wishes to stay in the limelight through the show. Her popularity is directly proportional on the kind of sensationalism that she resorts to, while laying out a narrative of her mother reluctantly standing by her against all odds to forming an intimate bond with her choreographer to even faking her gender identity. This, while the makers offer her an option of ‘off camera’ wherein she would run the risk of losing out on the popularity points. The histrionics of a reality show isn’t new at all wherein we have all been consistently manipulated by the sob stories of various contestants. More so, the writing exposes them in a rather playful manner almost as a satire featuring sponsors who rule the roosts with creative decisions around contestants taken around their popularity and their image. So even the worst kind of sensationalism often results in a meltdown by the judges who act according to what is fed in their ear-pieces. And so the manipulation game begins and ends just in the name of entertainment and ‘likes’. 

The second drama titled ‘Share’ is closest to the political commentary that you would associate with a Dibakar Banerjee film. This features the case of a transwoman whose unconscious body is identified by a vlogger until a police inquiry reveals a heinous crime committed. Amidst this hoopla is a protagonist belonging to an NGO who offers to help thereby representing a gentle kind of a person. But soon it begins, a twisted game of a twisted narrative which is far from the actual truth wherein the victim of the heinous crime is a victim of politics and capitalism with a clear demarcation in the power hierarchy that forms an integral part of our society even today. This involves punishing the weak and suppressed for no real reason while maintaining an image that is aligned with the public perception of the company or the person in general. This includes twisting rules to suit a narrative by simply exploiting the loopholes in question(seems familiar?). By the end of it, the only person that has actually lost is the victim herself, been brutally sandwiched between her reality and the politics of capitalism. 

The third drama titled ‘Download’ is by far the most eccentric and digitally relevant unboxing of the Gen Z era. This includes a young teenager, a youtuber and a gamer who attains massive popularity of reaching 10 Million Followers on Youtube following a deepfake video of his that goes viral. A minor event in the second story forms a crucial part in this third act wherein popularity is shown to come at a cost. This drama never really dwells deep into the psyche of the teenager being severely affected by the turn of events around him. And that is quite deliberate, given how Gen Zs don’t prefer to dwell deep in the psyche while continuing to be materialistic. Even the role of media is briefly used as a political tool with concepts of AI and Metaverse that form an alternate world of calmness much contrary to the chaos in the actual digital world. The satirical commentary on all of us being consumed by a lot of content online is the common thread across each of the three tales while creating an inviting and trippy picture of our reality that continues to be dangerous by the minute(although jazzy I must say). The screenplay is really well written and if you really wish to enjoy this experiment then do keep a close tab on the themes that tackles the internet culture rather effectively throughout the narrative.