kkkIn a world that's obsessed with love stories', in the year 2012, Vivek Agnihotri dared…  

kkkIn a world that's obsessed with love stories', in the year 2012, Vivek Agnihotri dared to break the stereotype mould when he made the skin-show infused with revenge drama in a film titled HATE STORY. Then, in the year 2014, Vishal Pandya carried the 'legacy' with HATE STORY 2. Circa 2015, we have Vishal Pandya again at the helm of things with HATE STORY 3, whose promos have already generated a lot of steam. Will the film woo the box-office or will it lose its steam, let's analyse. <BR><BR> The film starts off with the inauguration of 'Vikram Dewan Memorial Hospital' at the hands of Aditya Singh Dewan (Sharman Joshi) & Siya Singh Dewan (Zareen Khan). This is followed by a 'one-on-one' interview of Siya Singh Dewan by a TV channel wherein she touches upon her past and relates that to her present day situation. The success chart of the Dewans keeps on increasing every passing day. One fine day, a die-hard admirer of Aditya and his business acumen gifts him a swanky new car which catches him by surprise. On 'investigation', they find out that the swanky and costly car has been gifted by a certain Saurabh Singhania (Karan Singh Grover), who invites Aditya and Siya for a business lunch. Amidst the lunch, Saurabh offers unlimited and seamless help to Aditya because he likes people who are self made. Just as when Aditya starts thinking about the offer, Saurabh lays a condition that he will help Aditya provided he sends his wife Siya to spend a night with him. Needless to say that, this infuriates Aditya, who walks away in a huff. This then leads to Saurabh destroying Aditya's empire slowly, gradually… but successfully. Saurabh makes his first move towards Aditya's destruction by contaminating the soft drink company owned by Aditya. And when Saurabh becomes successful in doing so, a smart Aditya, very conveniently pushes the blame to his extremely loyal company secretary Kaaya (Daisy Shah) to shoulder the blame. After this, in order to know Saurabh's game plan, the ever-scheming Aditya then sends Kaaya as a honey trap to Saurabh. A couple of events later, Kaaya gets killed with her body found amidst the bushes. Why was Kaaya killed and who are her killers, why is Saurabh out to destroy Aditya's empire, does Siya accept Saurabh's indecent proposal and is Siya and Saurabh's relationship only pertaining to business or is it more than what meets the eye is what forms the rest of the film. <BR><BR> The veteran film maker Vikram Bhatt is responsible for HATE STORY 3's story and screenplay. And he does a neat job at that (a few plots and sub plots notwithstanding). The story though amateurish has enough twists and turns to keep the viewer hooked. The high point of the film is that the narrative that holds your attention right from the word when Karan Singh Grover's character reveals his true intentions. <BR><BR> There are a handful of places wherein the skin show and sleaze looks a bit out of place (read 'thrusted'), but, considering the premise of the story plot and the 'demand of the script', these scenes merges itself with the narrative. As far as the direction is concerned, Vishal Pandya is no newcomer to the premise of HATE STORY 3. He does what was expected of him to do. Like its predecessor (HATE STORY 2), Vishal has kept the storyline of HATE STORY 3 as an erotic thriller that navigates the same route. Like the first and second part, the sexually explicit content is cleverly interwoven within the said premise. But what sets apart HATE STORY 3 from its predecessors is that unlike the earlier versions, here, the male protagonist decides to get even with the oppressor. And it is Vishal who needs to be applauded for skilfully handling the movie that has an assortment of sexually explicit scenes which may appeal to those who relish steamy thrillers. The film has an extremely engaging first half, whereas, the film's second half helps in maintaining the grip, but, the loose ends do show up intermittently. <BR><BR> As far as the performances are concerned, one cannot single out a particular actor in this film as all the lead actors have performed as per the requirements of their respective characters. Sharman Joshi is decent in his role of a scheming businessman. Karan Singh Grover, on the other hand, delivers a clean performance. He does complete justice to his role that had multiple shades of love, lust, emotions, friendship and revenge. As for the heroines, it's Zarine Khan, who announces her (re) arrival in Bollywood with this film. Despite being out of action for some time now, she is bound to shock the viewers with her performance. The premise of the film demanded that the female protagonist deliver a commanding performance. Additionally, it's imperative (courtesy, the script) that she shed her inhibitions and don a bold avatar. Zarine Khan catches you completely unaware with a no-holds-barred performance, interpreting her character with utmost confidence and oozing sexuality at the same time. Daisy Shah, on the other hand, struggles initially, but, later on, goes with the flow of the film. She really has to work hard on the emotional scenes. The rest of the actors help in taking the film forward. <BR><BR> The film's music (Meet Bros, Amaal Mallik, Baman) definitely complements the flow of the film and vice versa. Since the film is backed by a music company (T-Series), one expects the soundtrack to be of high order and the songs live up to those towering expectations. '<i>Tumhe Apna Bana</i>' (melodious) and '<i>Tu Issaq Mera</i>' and '<i>Wajah</i>' (soulful) are wonderful compositions that have been integrated in the narrative appropriately. The film's background music (Sunny Bawra and Inder Bawra) is superlative and adds glitter to the story plot and the film's narrative. While the film's cinematography (Prakash Kutty) is commendable, the film's editing (Manish More) just could have been a bit crisper (esp. during the film's second half). <BR><BR> On the whole, HATE STORY has a combo of skin show as well as melodious music which adds tremendous value to the project. This film has the potential to woo the masses and the youth, thus springing a big surprise at the ticket window. The film will turn out to be a profitable venture for its makers.