HUNTERRR (A): Not all great foreplays ensure great climaxes! [2/5]

The stage/bed is set. Nicely decorated with all flowery elements, scented in the most arousing aroma and with dimly lit intense mood-making ambient! Charming players [more than you can imagine but essentially and effectively three in this case] have taken their pre-marked place. So far so good! You have all the control over the most before the drum rolls and the game begins; still no one can guarantee an orgasmic climax or even a smooth ride to make it a satisfying s-experience. First timer Harshvardhan Kulkarni’s ‘coming of age’ sex-comedy HUNTERRR is exactly like any love-making situation; you never know which side the camel will sit. Foreplay is just foreplay. It can’t replace the final act, no matter how skillfully it is being performed. Contrary to the myths, the extensive length doesn’t always ensure great pleasure. You may slower the pace, withdraw your force at regular intervals but the rhythm has to be there…and HUNTERRR lacks it. It is one of those failed sex-adventures where you were all set to lose yourself but it never happened the way you imagined.

Mandar Ponkshe [Gulshan Devaiah] has always been a sex-addict all his life. He’s been hunting ladies of all sorts since his young days. A college girl, an unhappy housewife in his building, a passionate sex-lover; the list is countless. But at 40, this is the age when he must get settled. His all ‘grown-up’ uncle-look is killing his charm. Tripti [Radhika Apte] - a modern girl who can unhesitatingly confess all her past affairs is his last bet to start a fresh. Can he put it on risk by telling her about his irrepressible compulsion to hit on any possible bait in saree, skirt or denims? Or will he be able to tame this wild animal in him for everyone’s good?

HUNTERRR promises not to be in the league of regular adult-comedies with lewd double-meaning dialogues and the objectification of women with their body parts shown on screen in the most abusive manner but at the same time, couldn’t hold itself from portraying its women characters as the dumbest class on earth. They can be easily fooled and brought to bed by any average looking-certainly ‘not so smart in his tricks’ guy. Why on earth there was not a single female who could bring him beneath her? Yet, some sequences sure work well with a catchy retro-feel soundtrack [Bappi Lahiri and Altaf Raja’s tracks are perfect to recreate the era] and an authentically designed middle-class settings playing the believable quotient in the final mixture. The young days in the plot are potent and fun. The characters are very much from the neighborhood.

Performances are a relief. They make you stay in the game though the ‘too much’ back and forth narrative style takes all the fun and excitement out of this cheesy looking film of great promises. Sai Tamhankar as the sensuously attractive housewife is perfectly cast. She is expressive, impressive and talented enough to pull it off like no one else could have. Radhika Apte is all about how confident, bold and clear Indian women are today. She brings an effortless and comforting performance yet a very radiant one. And then, the hunter himself! Gulshan’s charming looks and impenitently impish-scheming & teasing body language do it the way it should be. He may not be the typical hero with qualities to die for but sure there’s something in him inexplicable that makes you go with him all the way from start to end. He gives strong shoulders to rest this comparatively weaker film.

HUNTERRR also tries to speak for domestic sexual violence and new finds in modern age of marriages like compatibility and trust but it is all just some words at touch & go. Overall; it is not a sleazy but lazy, long but loose and ‘not so satisfying’ session. There’s always a next time and a more suitable position to try! [2/5]                 

GUNDAY: Drama drives a bumpy ride! Story thrown to back seat!! [2.5/5]

If 70’s hit box-office formula, exploited mercilessly later in 90’s, of macho-giri, hero-panthi & solid dialogue-baazi could still guarantee an out-sized rage in entertainment, YashRaj film’s GUNDAY would have easily been a winner all the way but what it misses out in translation is the unforeseen elements in the plot. So, GUNDAY- the saga of love, friendship & betrayal remains limited and disappoints for the most part.

In a GANGS OF WASSEYPUR-ish docudrama style of narration, Irrfan playing a confident cop takes us back in 1971’s Bangladesh where 2 young guns are forced to flee and find a shelter in Calcutta only to rise as the second most famous [infamous would do the justice] craze after the monumental Howrah Bridge. These so-called ‘local Robinhoods’ & the biggest goons of their times [Ranveer playing Bikram and Arjun being Bala] are into every illegal business in the list. So far so good, but then the next chain of events is not very tricky to track down when both fall in ‘sachche wala pyaar’ with the same girl [Priyanka Chopra sizzles as a cabaret dancer]. Film gets derailed from being a hardcore anti-hero film to bring down the dysfunctional system to a typical romantic triangle with an outdated pinch of betrayal and misunderstandings coming in the way of friendship and love.

Setting a story in 70’s-80’s brings plenty of interesting nuances in the plot to rejoice. Rajesh Khanna is mentioned as a superstar girls fall for, for more than once. Mithun da’s dance moves are hard to ignore in choreography. Bappi Lahiri’s voice is prominently used to catch the bong-connection. The colors and characters also smell rustic & next-door [One specific character can’t stop himself addressing his bloodthirsty rival as ‘dada’]. Obviously the direction is on the right track but obviousness in plot kills the grandness of GUNDAY. Why to borrow [Copy-paste] from storylines that are done-to-death? I don’t have any clue and I guess the thinking tanks behind this would also not have a justification.

Film if manages to hold your attention, despite being tad lengthy by at least 15-20 minutes, the credit goes to its production value which makes it a grandeur explosion of drama on screen, the performances mainly of Irrfan who is regular but delightfully charming with some of the cheesiest lines and an attitude that becomes skin to the character and last but not the least the high-voltage drama. Whatever happens here happens in a slow-motion technique. Everyone appears from a hazy-foggy-smoky background. Punches hit the chiseled body in high-speed. In the rest, Ranveer outshines with a good performance. Arjun impresses but not without showing limitations as an actor. Priyanka does it the way she’s known to.

Overall, Ali Abbas Jafar’s glorification of anti-heroes ends up in a lengthy bumpy ride that is enjoyable in parts, grand in looks but definitely not worthy enough to be a descendant of bygone era’s masala/mass entertainers. Watch it if your idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day is nothing else but to see two shirtless men fighting for one girl. [2.5/5]