Movie Title: Hate Story
Film Critic: Goher Iqbal Punn
Cast:
Paoli Dam as Kavya Krishna
Gulshan Devaiya as Siddharth Dhanrajgir
Nikhil Dwivedi as Vicky
Bhairavi Goswami
Joy Sengupta
Mohan Kapur
Gopal K Singh
Music: Harshit Saxena
Lyrics: Kumaar
Director: Vivek Agnihotri
Producer: Vikram Bhatt
Rating: 
Vikram Bhatt’s Hate Story, an erotic thriller, has been well in news from the outset. Since the day, its first poster was out in the media for the masses, the movie started churning out bigger buzz and then at last the makers got the benefit they want from it – heavy promotion. It was a sure-shot publicity gimmick played by the makers of the movie and it worked out vastly because the poster carried the steamy stuff which always allures the souls and grabs the attention. A curvaceously-sexy girl’s naked back with tattoo on it was enough to raise the mammoth publicity and it happened in higher dose more than the expectations of the film’s producer and director.
Rest of the marketing work was done by the controversies the movie generated before the release. Paoli Dam’s sexuality used widely in promos and the explicit language thrown in the movie brought higher controversial package for the flick. And ultimately this all added the benefit to the movie.
Hate Story is not novel at all – let me clear it in the very beginning. The film carries the age-old formula of vengeance, we have grown up watching it on screen. A number of times the films like this we have viewed on celluloid in past where the leading lady takes advantage of her sexuality to settles scores with the evil-doers. In 80s era, in particular, this concept was much in use and it worked big time since it was appealing at that point of time. Although the revenge movies still go well with today’s audiences provided that they are well-made and Vikram Bhatt’s Hate Story too appeals the audiences but lacks some oomph in scripting and novelty. Much use of the leading gal’s sexuality does appear juicy for the audiences. A good tool it is to make the viewer’s attention alive with the film. After all sexuality is what masses get attracted a lot to.
Vikram Bhatt has written the story and the screenplay of the film. Plotting is not novel but interesting as far as the viewer’s attention is concerned. Screenplay carries weight but as mentioned earlier lacks liveliness at various points of the film.
Hate Story talks about Kaavya (Paoli Dam) who takes routes in life from being a simple middle class journalist to a sex worker for taking revenge from the wrong-doers. She makes well use of her sexuality as a deadly weapon to rupture Siddharth (Gulshan Devaiah) by making using of all and sundry associated with him. Getting laced with utmost hatred and atrocious revenge, Kaavya is on her way to settle scores with her wrong-doers. But her vengeance affects her family and Vicky (Nikhil Dwivedi), her best pal who loves her dearly but secretly.
The movies with bolder subjects always grab the attention of the moviegoers and they certainly land into bigger publicity but what finally makes them run at the box office is the content. The bold theme of Hate Story will surely bring the audiences into the theaters initially but its future business depends on it content. Admit, the content wise, the movie is not bad rather carries good stuff to capture the cinegoers but my point is that Vikram Bhatt must have added some extra flavors of novelty into the narrative to make it more interesting for today’s moviegoer.
Screenplay is gripping but features fewer mistakes like the protagonist very easily makes the arrangements to reach at her targets. Ok, she uses her sexuality to get at the targets – yes, a woman can do this with much ease but the execution of her plotting cannot be swallowed. The use of colossal contaminated language should have been lessened.
Vivek Agnihotri has directed the flick with style and he has put everything to make it today’s stylish erotic thriller. He makes the viewers fixed their eyes on screen till the climax – distinction marks to this man for his brilliant efforts. Dialogues deserve special mention, they are simply heart-warming and breathtaking. Editing is first rate. Cinematography by Attar Singh is eye-candy. Harshit Saxena’s music is average.
Paoli Dam makes a superb debut in Hindi cinema. She has previously showed her class in Bengali movies and now she has flaunted it off in Bollywood with Hate Story. Gulshan Devaiah impresses with his act. Nikhil Dwivedi is impressive. Joy Sengupta is brilliant. Mohan Kapur shows his class. Bhairavi Goswami attracts in her cameo. Rest of the cast is good to watch.
Final Verdict by the Critic:
Hate Story, though is not novel as far as the story is concerned, is interesting for the viewers for its subject of revenge. The sexuality of the leading lady also adds super spices to the liking of the viewers.
Movie Details:
To Be Released On: April 20th, 2012
A film that has created waves all over the nation for its steamy content, Hate Story is India’s first official erotic thriller, claims director Vivek Agnihotri. When you talk about erotica so openly in India, be rest assured that most of the bold scenes are to be scissored and chopped off from it, courtesy the Censor Board! It has created a deafening buzz and grabbed eyeballs off late owing to its unabashedly explicit content.
The trailer that was released on the 18th of March sent the entire country into a tizzy as it provided them something which left them absolutely dumb-founded. It is essentially a vengeance story of a woman who uses her body to inflict pain and misery on those who once maligned her character. Paoli Dam, the sexy siren from the Bengali film industry was always in news for her arrant and brassy outlook to life plays Kavya Krishna in the film, a middle class journalist who is betrayed in love and is a victim of forced abortion; an incident that changes her to turn into a whore and ruin the life of the person who killed her body from within. Then what she envisages is an unknown voyage on her road to revenge. Her vengeance propels her to commit everything which is restricted!
Paoli Dam, the leading lady of this film is known for having no inhibitions on screen, and it was not anything new for the Bengalis to adapt to as Paoli had already done an entire nude sequence for her previous Bengali film ‘Chhatrak’. Initially, the poster forced all and sundry to re think who the dusky beauty is, but it was just a week that official announcements were made and Paoli attained super stardom. The shaitan in the film is played by the shaitan of ‘Shaitan’ yet again: Gulshan Devaiya plays the role of Siddharth Dhanrajgir, Paoli’s boss, the man she falls in love with and the reason for her character being charred. Nikhil Dwivedi, the almost forgotten hero of tinsel town returns as Vicky, the lovelorn friend of Kavya who sticks to her in her good and her bad times, but lacks the guts to convey his innate feelings to her. The film, referred to the Indianised version of ‘Basic Instinct’ has given a different dimension to unchaste dauntlessness, thereby taking everyone by surprise. But what surprised everyone was the decision of High Court of banning the Hate Story posters featuring Paoli in sensual positions calling them ‘revealing and too bold for the Indian audience’. A film which circles around the power of a woman, a woman who is dangerously sexy and revengeful is already in news and is aiming for an earth shattering opening at the box office this weekend.
In a male chauvinist patriarchal society where Men are known to dominate over Women, here comes a definitive yet calculated move from Vikram Bhatt. The women centric roles and feminist films have done wonders to the actresses as well as the producers. Will Paoli also be able to pull out another Dirty Picture with Hate Story? Can she outdo a certain Vidya Balan? Will this confident, commanding and immensely powerful woman who knows the essence of her sexuality oh-so-well be accepted by the Indian audience? That remains to be answered.
But one thing is for sure. As the trailer goes: In a world without Laws, there is nothing more dangerous than a woman who has nothing to lose! True that!
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