Hate Story 3 is supposed to be an Indian Erotic Thriller. These three words themselves spell doom. It tries very hard to live up to each word in its own twisted way and so, for 130 minutes we are at the mercy of director Vishal Pandya, who expects nothing but unquestioning surrender to his whims and fancies.
The “thriller” is an Abbas Mastan-ish handling of an Indecent Proposal with Vikram Bhatt credited for the screen play. Sharman Joshi and Zarine Khan play husband and wife who get engulfed in a whirlpool of problems thanks to a mysterious Audi gifting friend Karan Grover. There is also Daisy Shah loitering around for assistance. The motives, the whys and hows are answered through a laboured climax, with one contrived turn after another. Do we even care…? Nah!
The ‘erotic’ element under the watchful eyes of our censor board chief has lots of skin show, bosom-heaving and seductive glances. Now the ‘Indian’ aspect is crucial. The ‘sanskari’ scissors you see have interchanged ‘bastard’ for rascal and bhagwan for uparwala. It also makes the bad guy ask for the patidev’s permission before he wants to do hanky-panky with the wife.
And just to teach hum aam janta some bharatiya sanskriti, the makers have thrown in a “deadly kiss”. Yes, in one scene, one of the two participants of a smooching ritual dies. Right there, on the spot! These videshi kisses I tell you!
The most memorable thing about the film? Undoubtedly the songs. They hide behind some flimsily written tense scenes and boom, are on us when you least expect them. Take Daisy Shah’s character Kavya for instance. She goes missing and everyone is supposed to be worried. Kahan gayi Kavya? And just like that we see her gyrating to some random number in the very next scene. Sublime isn’t it ?
Both Daisy Shah and Zarine Khan have worked very hard for their respective roles…in the gym, clearly. The men, Sharman and Karan look desperate and rightly so, considering the former is trying to get his foot back into Bollywood and the other elbowing for space.
All in all, films like Hate Story 3 are harmless. They don’t pretend, deliver what they promise which, in this case, is unabashed titillation and short-lived cheap thrills. If you walk in expecting anything else, the joke frankly is on you! I’ll give it 1.5 QUINTs OUT OF 5.
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