One Night Stand: Dangerous liaison

Written by a woman, directed by a woman, but that doesn’t change much about what Sunny Leone or her films have come to represent in Bollywood. One Night Stand is also about sex and titillation, yet is eventually square and conventional when it comes to the overarching issues of morality and family values, the good woman and the bad one, the temptress and the caring wife.

Yes, there is some speechifying, especially towards the climax, like Leone questioning a man’s right to be judgmental about a woman or her sexuality. But it doesn’t quite cut very deep. The title is self-explanatory; the film is all about a one night stand, but more on its repercussions on an ostensibly happy marriage. So, you have Urvil (Tanuj) falling for Celina (Sunny) in Bangkok.

The essentials of a sex flick follow: lacy lingerie, naked bodies slithering between white sheets, or writhing in the thick of soap suds, and then on to some intense heavy breathing. Then it’s back home for Urvil to his wife Simran’s (Nyra) love. But soon a tussle follows, as Celina resurfaces in his life, and his obsession for her refuses to let go of him. If you’ve seen one such film, you have seen them all. One Night Stand is about that same old stale feeling.