The original Ragini MMS told the story of a couple who go to spend a dirty weekend in an abandoned house, but instead end up getting haunted by the ghost of a lady who was once accused to be a witch. Ragini MMS 2, then, is a film about a film being made on the happenings of the first film. Yes, here Sunny Leone plays herself (i.e., a pornstar turned film actress), who will be donning the role of Ragini, to tell her story. For this, she, her director (Parvis Dabbas), her co-star (Karan Mehra) and the entire crew head to the same haunted house to shoot the film. But, as you can guess, the house is still haunted, and the ghost of that woman still lurks.
The thing about Ragini MMS 2 is that the film is pretty much exactly what you would expect from it, so even if it’s not technically a good watch, it’s difficult to lament that fact. Even before you go in to the cinema, you know what you’re going for – Baby Doll, a Yo Yo Honey Singh song, a scantily clad Sunny Leone, lots of sleaze, and some wannabe scary scenes thrown in just to live up to the “horror” part of “horrex” (because we all know it’s really all about the sex). In that case, Ragini MMS 2 delivers just what it promises, and there is no doubt a certain section of the audience will be more than satisfied with the film for what it is. It depends, then, on how you plan on seeing it.
For me, Ragini MMS 2 works well as a parody, and I wish the makers had thrown in the towel and made it a full-blown spoof rather than lumbering somewhere in the middle of mockery and seriousness. In fact, in three ways, they did do parody really well:
1. Sunny playing Sunny
Getting Sunny Leone to play herself is something that really worked in the film’s favour. The actress takes the opportunity to shove it to her detractors by proving that porn is hard work too through this amusing sequence involving lots of heaving and panting. In that, Sunny spoofs her own self and her work as a pornstar, and you can’t help but chuckle when her co-star looks on dumbfounded – both turned on and put in his place at the same time.
2. The dialogues
Ragini MMS 2 is filled with the kind of masterful dialogue that you can laugh at just for how bad it all is. For example, Sunny is asked, “Tum porno se Rituporno kab ban gayi?” The best, though, is when the lead actor is trying to convince everyone he made out with Sunny Leone, but they all think he’s deluded. He yells out in frustration, “Main kya Sheila Ki Jawaani hoon, jo khud se make out karunga?” I laughed for a minute straight and probably everyone judged me for all of those sixty seconds, but stuff like that is funny only because you know the makers were probably cringing when they threw it in there themselves.
3. The television spoof
A scene where the main lead (who plays a television actor) parodies TV stars is even funnier than it normally would be, just because this movie comes from Balaji. In the scene, he talks about “action” and “reaction” (you know, a million shots from every angle of the same expression) and how they’re called upon to display a “variety” of emotions (though, when he acts them out, they all look the same). You know the team at Balaji is chuckling to themselves, and you laugh too, because it’s always funny when people take digs at themselves.
Unfortunately, this film still tries to be too much of a “proper” horror film, and that’s where it fails because it’s too formulaic to be genuinely scary – there’s an exaggerated background score, lots of chanting, cop outs (like a “scary” scene that is 2 minutes later revealed to be just a dream), etc.
Verdict:
You know what to expect from Ragini MMS 2, so go watch it only if that’s exactly what you want to see. Otherwise, it’s not worth your time.