Movie Review: Hate Story 2

Director: Vishal Pandya

Cast: Surveen Chawla, Jay Bhanushali and Sushant Singh

Perhaps it’s the most crowd pleasing genre in all of cinema. Erotic thrillers have are a natural attractive quality. They titillate, they pique your curiosity and of course have the right kind of excitement. The promos of Hate Story 2 made you believe it had the promise of a fulfilling erotic thriller. The movie though fails to live up to the promise. There’s hardly anything in this movie that can stimulate your amorous senses. It plays out in a stereotypical revenge saga manner. The girl is abused and beaten. She hits back with vengeance. Another home brewed thriller trying to be Kill Bill.

The build up of the premise in Hate Story 2 is fresh. Director Vishal Pandya uses slick cuts to create a narrative style that’s edgy and new. You’re introduced to the heroine (or symbolically the hero of this story) Surveen Chawla as she’s dug up from a grave. A few flashbacks introduce you to her tragic tale and her tormentor, Sushant Singh. It’s commendable to see the film drawing from real world sentiments (pertaining to the increasing crime rates against women) as it uses Surveen and Sushant’s relationship as the ultimate reflection on chauvinism. Sushant’s dialogue in particular creates the perfect antagonistic pitch for him. Simply said, he’s perfectly hateable.

But silver linings are usually accompanied by grey clouds. And in case of Hate Story 2, the clouds are full of clichés and pigeonhole writing. The romantic track between Jay Bhanushali and Surveen is dead duck. You know he’s going to be conked off. You can guess hours in advance that she’s going to fight for their love. Blah would be understating it.

After creating the right kind of narrative accession, the director and his writer Madhuri Bannerji, drop the ball in the second half. The revenge saga between Surveen and Sushant plays out like a campy Doordarshan serial. And on random moments you have Jay Bhanushali’s ghost appearing out of nowhere supported by the most ghastly DI (digital intermediate) ever seen. What makes you laugh doesn’t thrill you. There’s no suspense left by the time you reach the climax. The twists are horribly predictable. It’s as if the writer didn’t get enough time to create something new. And you also have to contend with the Baby lips dance number with Sunny Leone which is thrust into the film for no rhyme or reason.

By the end, Hate Story 2 becomes so random you can hardly make sense of it. Yes art can be ambiguous. But when it’s stupid, it’s not art at all.