Jism 2 opens with Rs210m

Pooja Bhatt’s erotic thriller Jism 2 is doing well at the box office, taking Rs210 million (Dh13.92 million) in India on its opening weekend, “a fact that justifies that brand Jism is here to stay”, according to the director.

“Jism 2 has done a business of Rs210 million in India over the weekend (despite releasing during Ramzan [Ramadan]). Brand JISM, my dears, is here to STAY,” tweeted Bhatt.

The film, said to be made on a budget of Rs70 million, features Indo-Canadian porn actress Sunny Leone, Arunoday Singh and Randeep Hooda.

Many expected it to be a sex-laden, skinshow affair. But according to film critics, it wasn’t anything close to that, and almost everyone has been raving about Hooda’s performance.

Jism 2 is the sequel to 2003’s Jism, which catapulted model-turned-actress Bipasha Basu’s career to new heights.

“BRAND Jism is not merely a film. It is a cultural war. It is an EVENT. One that divides crowds passionately and turns its actors into STARS,” wrote Bhatt, who added that she has plans to take the franchise ahead with third and fourth instilments.

Nathalia Kaur is linked to Jism 3. Ram Gopal Varma launched the Brazilian model-turnedactress in Bollywood with the item number Dan Dan in his film Department.

“For Jism 3, we are considering Nathalia, as my father [Mahesh Bhatt] suggested me to do so. He has a knack of choosing the right kind of new talent. We are thinking of her, but nothing is finalised yet,” Bhatt said. “The third part will have four main players — it could be two heroes, two heroines or three heroes and one heroine. We haven’t thought of the exact number of actors and actresses yet. We might repeat one of the male actors from Jism 2.”

The third part will start filming in April and is likely to be released in winter 2013.

“Then we would go ahead with Jism 4 in 2014. It is just a coincidence that the year, ending with 3 [2013] will have Jism 3 and 4 [2014] will have Jism 4, Bhatt said.

“I don’t know how far we will take the Jism franchise. I have not planned it yet.

— IANS, with inputs from PTI