HISSS is an old wine in a new bottle. Director Jennifer Lynch seems to be taken in by the age-old story of an ichchadhari naagin and the naagmani that no one has seen for ages and yet everyone wants to possess it.
The story begins with the narration of how the naag and the naagin (Mallika Sherawat) who inhabit the mysterious temples in the spice forests of Malabar Coast. The inhabitants of the Indus Valley keep hunting for the sacred naagmani but usually get killed in the process. Sculpted images of snakes that change into human-appearing figures are shown inhabiting the mysterious temples. Here, people have also found a strange and mystifying snake goddess living with her mate. The hunt for naagmani moves from one generation to another.
One George States (Jeff Doucette), an American explorer, hears this strange story and decides to get hold of the naagmani. He is dying of cancer and believes that naagmani can cure him. With his hi-tech gear he travels all the way to the deep forests of India where the naagin and the naag lives. During his search he manages to find a pair of cobras mating. He manages to capture the male cobra easily while the naagin escapes. He then waits for the naagin to come in search of the naag.
Next we find the naagin slithering in the mud with two tails and transforming into a beautiful woman. Mallika then sets out to find her partner with a vengeance. She finds herself in a small town where Holi is being played. She then goes into a trance by hearing the music and starts dancing unaware of the crowd around her. She is dragged by two men who try to rape her but in the process she turns into a snake and kills both. There is a spate of mysterious deaths in the town as the naagin is constantly looking for the killers of the naag. There is a parallel track. Inspector Vikram Gupta (Irrfan Khan) and his wife Maya (Divya Dutta) are a lovey-dovey couple living with Maya’s mother Ammaji (Laxmi Bai). Vikram starts investigating the various murders that are taking place. His assistant Vijay (Raman Trikha) assists him in solving the case.
What happens to the naagin? Does she succeed in taking revenge and finding the naag is what forms the crux of the story.
Mallika Sherawat has done justice to her role. But all she has done is to hiss in the movie without uttering a single dialogue. There are also many scenes where Mallika does a full Monty while turning into a snake woman.
Unlike other bollywood movies where naagins come over-dressed and start singing and dancing to the tune of the snake charmers, Jennifer Lynch has justified by showing Hisss’ naagin nude. Special effects by Robert Kurtzman are excellent specially while showing the step by step transformation of the naagin into a woman and vice versa. Some scenes where the nude naagin is sliding on a lamppost, swallowing a whole egg or the love-making scene of Mallika with the snake where it slides all over her and between her legs have been shot aesthetically. But somewhere in the end Hisss’ plot too slithers. The film mentions a naag and naagin (as the cobra) but the snake transforms into a huge python which looks unbelievable especially in the climax.
Unfortunately, Jennifer forgot to tap the talents of an excellent actor like Irrfan Khan who did not have much to do in the film. One wonders why he chose to sign the film in the first place. Divya Dutta is okay and goes about enacting her role sincerely. She, too, is wasted in the movie. Laxmi Bai’s character could have been strictly avoided. Raman Trikha has nothing much to do except look good.
If you are looking for titillation on a weekend simply avoid the movie.