| Hisss | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jennifer Lynch |
| Written by | Jennifer Lynch |
| Produced by | Govind Menon Vikram Singh Ratan Jain William Sees Keenan |
| Starring | Mallika Sherawat Divya Dutta Irrfan Khan Jeff Doucette |
| Cinematography | Madhu Ambat |
| Edited by | Tony Ciccone |
| Music by | Anu Malik Julian Lennon Panjabi MC DKFP (David Kushner &Franky Perez) |
Production company | Venus Movies |
Release date |
|
| Countries | United States India |
| Languages | English Hindi |
| Budget | $15 million[1] |
Hisss (also known asNagin: The Snake Woman) is a 2010adventure-horror film,[2] directed byJennifer Lynch.[3]Indian film actressMallika Sherawat plays the lead role.
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The story begins in Natchi, a small town in theIndian state ofKerala. George States (Jeff Doucette) has last stagebrain cancer and has only six months to live. To prevent death and gain immortality, he decides to extract the "Nagmani", immortal blood from a nagin, ashape-shifting cobra that can change into a human. He and hired henchmen capture the nag (the male snake) so that the nagin (the female) comes after the capturer to free her mate, thus allowing him to obtain the nagmani by force. He keeps the nag in a glass box where he electrocutes and tortures him. His plan works and the nagin starts following them.
The nagin transforms into a beautiful woman (Mallika Sherawat), and is later helped by police inspector Vikram Gupta (Irrfan Khan) and his wife, Maya (Divya Dutta), who is infertile, causing a strain in their relationship. The nagin helps a few women: one who is beaten mercilessly by her husband; one being raped by a man, and so on. She even protects herself when two men try to rape her. She turns into a giant cobra and brutally kills those two men, some of George States' henchmen who were involved in the capture of her mate as well as men who torture women. She turns back into a human after her killings. Inspector Gupta tries to help the nagin find her mate, but at the same time, tries to investigate the murders, unaware she is responsible for them. Finally, Nagin reaches George's hideout where she reclaims her mate and they havesex, leading her to becomepregnant. George attempts to capture the nagin duringintercourse since this is when she will be most vulnerable.
Wearing a suit that hides his heat signature, he lures her by using her dying mate as bait for a trap. He captures her and tries taking the nagmani, but at that moment, Inspector Gupta arrives and helps her. Angered by the death of her mate at the hands of George, the nagin turns into a half snake, half human hybrid and throws him in the glass box where her mate was kept and electrocutes him to death. She leaves the hideout, carrying her dead mate. Inspector Gupta is amazed at everything he has just witnessed. He returns to his wife Maya, who later gives birth to their baby, while the nagin, back in the form of a beautiful woman, watches over the nest of eggs she has laid, which hatch into numerous baby cobras.
The film was shot simultaneously in English and Hindi.[8] Famed special effects designerRobert Kurtzman was responsible for developing the look of the Snake Woman.[9]Hisss was shot in the jungles ofKerala, India.[10] It was also shot inMumbai,Chennai,Madh Island, and in the studios ofFilmistan.[11]
The film was edited by American Tony Ciccone, who is also credited with additional sound design. His editing credit is represented on preliminary on-line posters as "Anthony Ciccone."[12]
Mooppan Raghavan, tribal leader of Thalikakal settlement in Kerala, and over a dozen members of his tribe were recruited as extras.[13]
A documentary, titledDespite The Gods, about director Jennifer Lynch's struggle to make the film was released in 2012.[14]
| Hisss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 1 October 2010 (2010-10-01) | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 46:37 | |||
| Label | Venus | |||
| Anu Malik chronology | ||||
| ||||
Anu Malik composed the on-camera songs for the film.[15] Alexander von Bubenheim composed the original score.[16][17] The soundtrack consists of six original recordings, composed by Anu Malik, David Kushner,Panjabi MC, Alexander Von Bubenheim,Salim–Sulaiman and Julian Lennon, and lyrics penned bySameer, Shruti Haasan, Mallika Sherawat,Shweta Pandit, Shraddha Pandit and Sayeed Quadri. The soundtrack also featured hit songs from the filmsRobot andDe Dana Dan.Mallika Sherawat makes her musical debut on the soundtrack alongsideJulian Lennon.[18]Shruti Haasan sings and appears in a promotional video with music byDave Kushner.[19] The music supervisor for the film, Marcus Barone,[citation needed] co-produced the soundtrack album for Split Image Soundtracks with Venus Records and Tapes with co-producer of the film William Keenan. Official Bollywood Soundtrack Charts[citation needed] charted "I Got That Poison" performed byPanjabi MC[20] and Shweta Pandit at No. 8 from 24 October 2010 to 5 November 2010.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lagi Lagi Milan Dhun Lagi" (Version 1) | Sameer | Anu Malik | Shreya Ghoshal | 6:05 |
| 2. | "Beyond The Snake" | Shruti Haasan | David Kushner,Franky Perez | Shruti Haasan | 3:11 |
| 3. | "Sway" (Mann Dole) | Mallika Sherawat | Julian Lennon, Mark Sipro,Peter-John Vettese | Mallika Sherawat | 3:32 |
| 4. | "I Got The Poison" (Hisss Remix) | Shweta Pandit | Shraddha Pandit,Panjabi MC | Shweta Pandit | 3:42 |
| 5. | "Lagi Lagi Milan Dhun Lagi" (Version 2) | Sameer | Anu Malik | Sunidhi Chauhan | 6:05 |
| 6. | "Hisss" | Shweta Pandit, Shraddha Pandit | Shraddha Pandit | Shweta Pandit | 2:59 |
| 7. | "Lafanaa" | Sayeed Quadri | Anu Malik | Sunidhi Chauhan | 5:52 |
| 8. | "Naina Miley" (FromRobot) | Swanand Kirkire | A. R. Rahman | A. R. Rahman,Suzanne D'Mello,Lady Kash and Krissy | 5:16 |
| 9. | "Rishte Naate" (FromDe Dana Dan) | Sayeed Quadri | Pritam Chakraborty | Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Suzanne D'Mello | 4:25 |
| 10. | "Kilimanjaro" (FromRobot) | Swanand Kirkire | A. R. Rahman | Javed Ali,Chinmayi | 5:30 |
| Total length: | 46:37 | ||||
At theCannes Film Festival,Mallika Sherawat promotedHisss by posing with a 22-foot-long (6.7 m)Burmese python on the red carpet.[21] The film was released in India on 22 October[22] inHindi,Tamil andTelugu. TheMalayalam version was released on 12 November.
The film was set to premiere at theMontrealFestival du Nouveau Cinéma on 14 October[23] and at theGotham Screen Film Festival & Screenplay Contest in New York on 15 October[24] but was pulled from both festivals shortly before they opened.[25][26]
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Hisss received highly negative reviews from critics upon release from both domestic and international critics.
Nikhat Kazmi ofTimes of India gave it 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "A film likeHisss should have scored with its special effects. But once again, the carnage that the serpent unleashes is grotesque and her transformation from seductress to venomous reptile is more funny than eyeball-grabbing."[27]Taran Adarsh fromBollywood Hungama gave it 1/2 star out of five and stated that "If there wereRazzies in Bollywood,Hisss would win hands down. Films likeHisss make you realize what's going wrong in Bollywood today. On one hand, we celebrate the new stories being told in our films, and on the other, we churn out aHisss, which is badly scripted, poorly enacted, and carelessly directed. Believe me, it's easy to solve the crossword puzzle in newspapers than it is to understand what exactly is going on in this film. As for director Jennifer Lynch, she needs a crash course in film-making pronto. The visual effects seem straight out of a B-grade Bollywood film. On the whole,Hisss is best avoided."
Rajeev Masand fromCNN-IBN gave it 1 star out of five and stated that "InHisss, directed by Jennifer Lynch, Mallika stars as a shape-shifting snake that has been separated from her reptile lover by a crazy foreigner who's seeking anaagmani that will cure his cancer. The outrageous plot involves thisichchadhari Nagin emerging as something of a feminist superhero who comes to the rescue of various tormented women, even as she's seeking out her kidnapped partner. Irrfan Khan plays the cop investigating a series of mysterious killings, and Divya Dutta plays his wife. At 90 minutes, it's mercifully short, but watch it only if you're not easily disgusted."
Anupama Chopra fromNDTV gave it 1.5 stars out of five and stated that "Hisss has marginally better special effects and much more nudity but the script is so deliriously inept that, in comparison, the average Ramsay horror film looks like a class act."Mayank Shekhar fromHindustan Times gave it 1 star out of five and stated that "This is pornography for the hormonally demented teen. Or maybe this is erotica."