Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story Review: An unflinching saga of Guts, Choices and REVOLT!

My Verdict – That’s how a BIOPIC is made! HATS OFF

4  out of 5 stars!

It is sometimes said that in the smiling face of every film star, something awful can be glimpsed if you look enough. Something in the glaze of the eyes, or the set of the teeth – the suppressed memory of that entry fee paid at the beginning of a movie career: the casting couch, the indecent proposal, humiliation or nauseating debasement when the star that is now was a powerless youth long ago.

That came back to me watching this super interesting, heartfelt study of Karenjit Kaur who as Sunny Leone is one of the leading stars of Bollywood today! The web series on ZEE5 is one of a kind in its treatment and dishing out of the drama. It starts off with a seemingly nervous Sunny on the sets of her first skinemax movie. When the director says “Robes Off please” we see a hesitant Karenjit doing what she knows she has to! She doesn’t let the hesitation take the better of her!

Slick editing and a gripping treatment sucks you into the story. You just can’t get rid of the inquisitiveness that envelopes you as the non-linear narrative gives you vivid flashes into the life of a teenage Karenjit who sings Gurbani at the Gurudwara with her beautiful voice. You almost start wondering, what could have happened to this coy little girl? How did she become so bold and brazen that taking off her clothes in front of the camera wasn’t much big of a deal for her?!

The first five episodes gives the audiences the understanding of her upbringing, her familial background and the moulding of her mind to have ideologies she stands by to this very day!

Rysa Sujania who plays the young Karenjit is impressive with her rabbit locks, her meet in the middle eyebrows or her anglicised Hindi – all of which are to the point. In the scene where she is bullied by her class mates for having unshaved legs – the embarrassment on her countenance is palpable or when the ‘Asian’ girl who is seeking acceptance from her peers gets solace in one of her classmates, she doesn’t hold back and is experiencing her first kiss gets reprimanded from her dad; seething with anger that stems from his deep rooted Indian values – the terrified look on her face makes us feel sorry for her.

Bijay Jasjit Anand as Sunny’s dad is commendable. He instinctively steps into the character of a man who is pretty materialistic and wants to migrate from Canada to LA but at the same time is pretty conservative and bigoted in his outlooks. On the other hand, Grusha Singh who plays Sunny’s mother makes her character plausible with her Punjabi accent. She does a swell job as the overtly strict and closeted alcoholic mom who tries her best to repress her daughter’s independent mindset.

Sunny’s brother played by Karamvir Lamba is at once funny and at once loveable and concerned! He is the confidante in whom Sunny shares all her deep dark secrets. He is a guy of today, pretty open-minded, well-informed and trusting! The young man is distraught when his sister confides in him about her first ‘skinemax’ movie offer. Visibly concerned about her, he rigidly instructs her to give him the names, numbers and addresses of everyone she would be working with but again, at the same time we also see him unflinchingly trading the pictures of her for cash! – his justification – “Life in LA is too hard!”

Raj Arjun plays the TV journalist who hates Sunny for what she is and leaves no stone unturned to humiliate her on national television. This episode is taken from the Leone’s life when she was asked awful questions on the CNN IBN talk show titled ‘The Hotseat’ which was hosted by Bhupendra Chaubey. In the web series the title of the talk show has been altered, it’s called ‘The Tough Talks’ and Bhupendra’s name has been changed to Anupam but his surname has been retained for obvious reasons!

Sunny Leone is mind blowing! Her body language speaks volumes, her eyes speak volumes! She makes sure, she is there in every scene with her mind, body, and soul! She looks b-e-a-utiful in every shot! Her confidence in front of the camera seems to have increased manifold. The very first scene when the director calls out her, “the young lady with the black tresses, why don’t you step up to the mark?” the nervousness in her demeanor is evident. The poise with which she answers Anupam’s questions in the web series catapults her into a league of her own! When Anupam says “There’s not much difference between a prostitute and a pornstar,” she readily answers “there’s one thing common though – GUTS.”  She is not any other run-of-the-mill Bollywood actress! She has carved a niche of her own, on her own terms! She is sharp, she is sassy, she is intelligent and she does have ‘nerves of steel’!

All in all, a captivating story without many cinematic liberties at play. Ladies and gentlemen, Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story is an example of how biopics should be made! It is as raw as can be. The interplay of the sub-conscious which conjures up storms within and then makes way for their juxtaposition with the real circumstances that ultimately wreaks havoc on lives is what this web-series is all about. It is about the choices one makes, it is a tale that transcends ideas of right and wrong. It is a tale of grit, nerve and revolution!

And finally, it is the story of a woman who is beautiful, in every way a woman can be!