After becoming the topic of discussion for the hullabaloo it created with its bordering-on-porn promos Hate Story, glorified as a never-seen-before erotic thriller, fizzles – this, in spite of its titillating (and absolutely unjustified) steamy scenes
When Paoli Dam’s character Kavya Krishnan is disowned by her own family for getting pregnant with an illegitimate child and consequently having an abortion – rather forcefully and nastily – she seeks solace and support in her friend Vicky (Nikhil Dwivedi), who even before providing the much needed shelter and a shoulder to cry on, starts dosing her with Chinese proverbs…literally!
As Kavya gears up to take revenge on those who destroyed her mind, body and soul (holistic killing – great plot for a revenge drama, no?), Nikhil’s character says ‘Chinese main ek kahwat hain ki…‘ ( a proverb in Chinese goes…). If that line doesn’t make you cringe in your seat, Vivek Agnihotri’s Hate Story serves up many ingredients to do the job – laughable dialogues (with serious intentions), average acting, unrealistic characters, a wobbly screenplay and bad direction – which make this film a pain to watch.
If you have seen the outrageous promo of Hate Story, there’s no need to make the effort to take yourself to the theatre as it offers nothing more. In fact, the tantalising promo is a false promise of a captivating plot; unfortunately, the film is a far cry from being engaging. Kavya ( Paoli Dam) is a journalist who unearths a major scam involving a cement giant. The enraged managing director of the cement enterprise, Siddharth Dhanrajgir (played by Gulshan Devaiya) resolves to bite back. He offers Kavya a high paying job in his company along with many other perks (the journo turns corporate communication manager). The couple’s relationship fast escalates to rather more than a boss-employee bond and they make love after a business meeting. Cunning Siddharth abandons Kavya after getting her pregnant (very quickly indeed!). Kavya threatens to sue him; Siddharth in turn orchestrates her kidnapping and has the foetus aborted. Kavya decides to use her sexuality as a weapon to seek revenge and settle scores with Siddharth. What unfolds thereafter is sheer torture that the director of the film subjects his audience to.
The first half of the film is bearable, watchable in parts; the second half is stretched with unnecessary and unjustified steamy scenes. As Paoli jumps into bed with almost every man that comes her way in order to get secrets out of their tightly shut mouths, you wonder, who’s next! In fact, you wonder whether she really needs to be a prostitute to achieve her goals and seek her revenge. Watch a scene in which Paoli takes advice from a call girl to make it big in the business. The seductress with the heavy bosom advises, ‘It is simple. Take it, make it and fake it!‘ And you just have to roll your eyes and chuckle.
The plot has loopholes of the size of lunar craters and the film in totality has very few positives to recommend it. Gulshan Devaiya delivers a sincere performance, though in some scenes he’s been reduced to a caricature. Paoli Dam has done justice to her role and Nikhil Dwivedi wears the same expression throughout the small role he plays in the film.
