And the hate continues...

‘Hate Story’ is Indian cinema’s most underrated sequels franchise. Also a coincidence to ponder on!

Life does throw up some interesting patterns. Today the social media and Indian cinema fans are celebrating the 4th anniversary of ‘The Dirty Picture’. And ‘Hate Story 3’ has hit the screens this Friday and it left me with some emotions, where I just end up chuckling and rubbing my hands with glee. ‘Hate Story’ – the first one – was a sleeper hit.

The purists would think that it was the sleaze and the connect of the ever ridiculed front row audience is the prime reason for it to be a success, to an extent it is true. Yours truly, however, begs to differ. I have often branded myself as a complete back row audience, who somehow by the grace of god can afford to sit in a balcony. But I have all the weaknesses of a front row audience.

I absolutely adore high voltage bombastic dialogues, I like the slow motion shots and last but not the least, a typical voluptuous heroine in chiffon saree is my ultimate description of womanhood. So I of course gave the first ‘Hate Story’ a try. Let me tell you that one is a very well made crisp hard hitting movie. If we have not given the movie its due it is because our film media does not acknowledge the public sentiment. Personal egos always play a role in cinema description.

Coming back to the first ‘Hate Story’ it had everything in it. An enthusiastic girl gets trapped into a game of vengeful seduction by rich daddy’s rich egoistic son. When she demands her rightful due, she suffers the unthinkable torture, where she is not just robbed of her capability to bear children but also a badly done operation leaves her almost dead.

So the lady comes back from the brink and wreaks havoc on the father son duo. ‘Hate Story’ had powerful moments. Great one liners and a sincere performances from at least four of the main characters. Mohan Kapoor delivered his best screen effort as the woman hungry politician in this one. ‘Hate Story’ in front row audience language was paisa vasool. In my book whatever is paisa vasool is also intelligent and good cinema. So was ‘Hate Story’.

Then came the second one ‘Hate Story 2’ and I actually walked in excited to see another interesting entertainer. I was disappointed. ‘Hate Story 2’ had its moments. Particularly the opening sequence where the heroine practically comes out of a grave and then escapes from the hospital because the man, who wants her dead is coming for her on realising she is still alive.

From there that movie nosedived. However, the front benchers in the country disagreed and ‘Hate Story 2’ also got in the moolahs. The biggest disappointment for me was that ‘Hate Story 2’ did not have the hard hitting one liners of its predecessor.

Rest assured and purists be damned I am walking in to watch this one too. Although, I am not happy with the selection of villain in the third installment. Compared to Gulshan Devaiya’s stammering menace in the first and Sushant Singh’s deep voiced ruthlessness in the second. The third installment probably has the weakest bad guy. But you never know it has lowered my expectations so the on screen delivery it could be better.

Here is another interesting fact of ‘Hate Story 3’ its trailer managed more views than ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ within 4 days of its release on YouTube. You don’t believe me? As of now PRDP has less than 2 crore views. ‘Hate Story - 3’ has 2 crore 20 lakh plus and counting. Now that is some unrecognised popularity. Do we agree?

By: Rahul Deo Bharadwaj http://thesocietyasiseeit.blogspot.in