Hate Story

This film begins with an investigative journalist by the name of "Kaavya Krishna" (Paoli Dam) and her good friend "Vicky" (Nikhil Dwivedi) capturing incrimating evidence on camera of a high-ranking executive who works for a major corporation there in India. The next morning her article makes the headlines of the news cycle and the person responsible for the running of that company "Siddharth Dhanrajgir" (Gulshan Devaiah) is told by his domineering father, "Kumar Dhanrajgir" (Saurabh Dubey), who owns the business, to clean up the public relations disaster immediately. The problem is, Siddharth is totally incapable of simply correcting the issue at hand and as a result becomes determined to get even with Kaavya at all costs. So, not long afterward, he sets up an appointment with her and offers her a staggering amount of money to entice her to work for him. Thinking that he is on the level she accepts. Eventually, one thing leads to another and she falls in love with him. However, the day after she sleeps with him he abruptly fires her and revels in her humiliation as she is forced out of his office. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there because a couple of weeks later she discovers that she is pregnant. But when she informs Siddharth of this he not only has her kidnapped and the baby aborted but also has her sterilized as well. And from that point on Kaavya vows to get her revenge upon him. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought that this was a pretty good film for the most part as it had an interesting plot and some good acting from all concerned. Admittedly, there were certain scenes which were completely unrealistic, but even so I enjoyed this movie overall and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

When we see the first trailer of Hate Story, we think of an exciting, bold, electrifying story. Of Course, the erotica depicted in the trailer is anything but subtle. So when I saw this movie, I actually expected a decent movie. (I really did not have a reason to because Vivek Agnihotri isn't even a decent story-teller) Still, the trailer made me have slight hope. However, that hope was gone within the first 20 minutes. More on that in a bit, first the synopsis.

Kaavya is a young, modern journalist out to find the truth and the truth only. She pulls a sting operation on a corrupt businessman Sidhart Dhanrajgir. "Impressed" with her work, Dhanrajgir offers her a job. Kaavya instantly falls for Sidhart and sleeps with him. A delighted Kaavya is shattered when Sidhart fires her and kicks her out. Kaavya, pregnant with Sidhart's child has a forced abortion done by Sidhart's goons and is left ruined. Kaavya's only objective now is to get revenge and destroy Sidhart.

The story seems done to death but even an old story told in a new way can do wonders. (Agneepath being a recent example of such brilliance) Where Hate Story lost me was in the first few reels. Why does Kaavya work for Siddhart if the post has nothing to do with her last job? Money? If so, then why is she shown as this moral and ethical journalist passionate about her job? Why is she throwing all that away for extra cash? Second, how does she fall for Siddhart so fast? I mean, come on! She goes on a holiday with him and ends up sleeping with him right then? Isn't this the same moral journalist? Plus, why is she even interacting with Siddarth after proving that he's a corrupt money-hungry man? All those questions were thrown at me just in the initial reels. Not a good sign. The writing is poor, and takes the audience for granted. We're not idiots.

More flaws? Of Course. Why is there so much forced sex? Also, I don't know why Kaavya went to learn "Prostitution" of she really wasn't going to be one. Plus, she slept with the corrupt businessman a week into getting the job - She's got the traits of prostitute in her.

The climax is surprising but seems like something we've seen numerous times.

The film really doesn't score much on anything besides two things. The slick style of filmmaking and the decent performances.

Vikram Bhatt's story is old fashioned and completely flawed. Too many loopholes. Some dialogue is decent, however.

The music doesn't offer much.

Vivek Agnihotri's direction is okay. Actually one of the better things in this flick. It's stylish.

Paoli Dam makes a confident debut. She's actually really good here. She looks good, of course, but there's also a dominant actress in her. Only if her character and script was better. Despite that, she carries this bad film on her shoulders. Gulshan Deviaha is also impressive. He looks awkward in the starting but pulls on his own.

Resst of the cast is good too.

Overall - A flawed film not worth watching even once.

Let us discuss the first part which released on 20th April 2012. It casts Nikhil Dwivedi, Gulshan Devaiah & Paoli Dam. This film as the name suggests has to hate at the center and in this part, one can explore the intensity of hate between Paoli Dam and Gulshan Devaiah. What I like about this film is the reality because if you see today's films most of them seem to be fictional but this film could be drawn into reality also. The story was simple but the presentation was very good. The music was average while the direction, screenplay, cinematography are good. I give this film an average rating.

To get over with the basic plot of the film first, it is a simple revenge drama where an ambitious girl after being used by a rich entrepreneur strikes back to set the score equal. Now since the plot had nothing new to offer to either the distributors or the viewers so the makers think of the same tried and tested sex formula which recently was accepted well in the huge hit THE DIRTY PICTURE. In fact, it seems that the present HATE STORY is a kind of after-effect of TDP in which the makers solely use the sex angle and few erotic scenes to bring in a particular section of audience, mainly in the single screen theaters and the smaller centers.

Luckily the film makes a good impression in its first half and the story progression keeps the viewer hooked as he keeps on expecting something shocking to come any moment (as shown in its promos). But all the expectations raised by its initial hour get shattered by a very vaguely directed second half which has everything over the top accompanied by some bad acting and illogical plots. Actually post intermission the director seems to have kept the craft apart and becomes only interested in adding all the steamy scenes and fiery dialogues for the viewers who have especially visited the theater for the very purpose. And that's where the film gets ruined completely. With a weird kind of writing wherein a famous prostitute gets easily appointed as the board of director of a reputed bank with the interference of an influential Minister, HATE STORY wastes the entire fine build-up made by its first half.

Leading the vengeance saga, Paoli coming from Bengali films, makes the most controversial and unconventional debut ever in Hindi films. She is confident to take off every bit of cloth from her body to catch the attention of both the viewers as well as the industry. But other than the skin show she doesn't expose any exceptional talent of hers on the screen. So the present debut can only get her some similar roles and she will have to show the other part of her art in the next film. However she reasonably does well in the first half as the other actors in the cast. But post intermission mediocre acting takes over the film completely and no one is able to make any kind of impact till its strange climax. Interestingly the culmination also reminded me of a similar one, earlier seen in JOHNY GADDAR.

Gulshan as the main villain, does well in the first hour but again gives away to a loud act later on. Nikhil the only hopeful and honest character in the film is decent but gets very less mileage in comparison to the rest. Mohan Kapoor is perfect, Bhairavi is hardly there and Iravati is a talent wasted badly. So, Suresh Dubey as the strict industrialist cum father is the one actor who makes his presence felt with his acting.

Musically, it has a below average soundtrack with one good (sad) song, which sounds fine while watching the film. Background score keeps moving between decent and loud, whereas its Cinematographer cans all the erotic scenes brightly in an attempt to show it all. In addition the dialogue writer tries everything to make it look (or sound) like a soft-porn with lines such as "Take It, Shake It & Fake It".

But here I would like to share, what in my opinion must have been the 'Base Thought' behind making HATE STORY.

After knowing about the title, subject & favourable reports of THE DIRTY PICTURE in production in the late 2011, the producer or director must have imagined the great potential it had as a project. So taking a clue from it he must have thought of just one line to visualise this film.

And that one line has to be, "Get me a good looking sexy girl who is ready to take off all her clothes on the screen and can sign that clear clause written in the contract about nudity or skin-show".

"But what about the story or screenplay?", someone must have questioned. To this the reply must have been "That we can easily write later on as the film will solely run on its seducing erotic scenes and revealing promos."

That is how the idea of HATE STORY must have born in the minds of its producer/director as it hugely relies just on the hype created by all its objectionable promos which even have more sexual content than the movie itself. Obviously the censor used their scissors on certain scenes (like the one with the minister). But even before the promos were banned for the TV, they had already gone viral on the net and had given enough publicity to the film reaching its target audience.

Another point which proves this fact lies in its questionable script in which a girl who is a trained investigative journalist gets trapped and then sexually traumatised by a rich industrialist. Now this talented educated girl with a good family background, strikes back to take her revenge. But in a hugely absurd manner instead of ruining the guy by working against his whole empire as a hungry detective cum journalist (the job she could have easily gone back to), the silly girl decides to become the most sought after prostitute of the city selling her body to every big shot of the town.

Hence is not exactly Cinema but 'A Perfect Product Marketing Plan' executed well in the business of selling movies. And since films are more or less made for earning money, so we have to accept it as a part and parcel of the trade. A part, which sadly remains the most talked about and the shady one.

Agree or not, because of this film's success, Hate Story went on to have 4 sequels in just 6 years. This was a more of revenge inside a blue film. Female revenge stories are always amazing to witness and Hate Story 1 was one of them.

Hence, in bollywood, Hate Story holds a cult status amongst female revenge stories.

PS - imo till date the best and gruesome female revenge Story I have seen is "I spit on your grave " (1970)