Hunterrr
- Gulshan Devaiah
- Radhika Apte
- Sai Tamhankar
- Veera Saxena
Khamosh Shah
Score:
Hitesh Sonik
companies
Phantom Films
Falco International
- 20 March 2015 (2015-03-20)
Hunterrr is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language adult comedy film written and directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni. The film stars Gulshan Devaiah, Radhika Apte and Sai Tamhankar.[4] The film revolves around an unassuming sex addict[5] and his lustful journey in life.[6]
The film was released on 20 March 2015.[7] The film was remade in Telugu as Babu Baga Busy (2017).
Plot
Mandar Ponkshe and Dilip aka Yusuf spend their school holidays visiting their cousin, Kshitij, in a village in Maharashtra. The older Kshitij is in military school, and introduces them to his views on marriage, love and sex. By the end of the vacation, Mandar starts to fantasize about women and woo girls.
Six years later, the three cousins live separately in the same city, Pune. Mandar is expelled from the college dormitory for inviting home a female guest. He is forced to rent an apartment outside in the city, where he begins an affair with a student called Parul. Mandar and Parul start off lovingly, but the relationship sours as soon as Mandar starts receiving attention from a married woman in his apartment complex called Jyotsna. After bedding a steady stream of beautiful women, Kshitij finds love in Anju, a friend of one of his many girlfriends, who was being sexually abused by her father. Kshitij takes Anju in, and later, the two get married. Mandar and Yusuf remark how 'love is blind', as Kshitij settled for Anju after dating women noticeably more attractive than her.
After weeks of flirting, Mandar begins an affair with Jyotsna. He cuts off Parul as Jyotsna takes over his life. The two meet secretly at first, soon becoming more adventurous. Eventually, Jyotsna's husband confronts Mandar and he is forced to end the affair. Mandar moves again, and also tries to rekindle things with Parul but she has moved on. Over the next decade, Mandar becomes a cad, as he perfects the art of picking up women for casual relationships. One of his girlfriends is an older married woman called Savita Bhabhi (bhabhi also means sister-in-law, or brother's wife), who uses Mandar to satisfy her sexual needs.
Entering his 30s now, Mandar tires of his lifestyle and seeks to settle down. His attempts to meet potential matches through matrimonial websites for an arranged marriage fail at first, as women are scared away by his dating experience. Dejected, Mandar is forced to heed Yusuf's advice to try an alternate approach. For his next meeting, he presents himself as holier-than-thou and lacking sexual experience. This backfires too, as his next potential match, Tripti, is modern and outgoing. Tripti's views on sex and relationships mirror those of the real Mandar, so she rejects him for coming across as straightforward. However, Mandar continues to pursue her while still maintaining his charade.
Mandar and Yusuf learn that Kshitij has died in active military service. Devastated at the loss of a mentor, Mandar is heartbroken but comforted by Tripti, who shares in his grief. Seeing in him an emotional, genuine and trustworthy person, Tripti changes her mind and accepts his marriage proposal. The two announce their engagement, and Mandar meets Tripti's ex-boyfriend, Chax, at one of their parties. Meanwhile, struggling with monogamy, Mandar answers a booty call from Savita Bhabhi. Some time later, he picks up and brings a woman from the airport to a hotel room, who turns out to be a distant relative. Ashamed at his promiscuous ways, Mandar decides to confess to Tripti about his past.
At Tripti's apartment, he finds Chax is sleeping on the couch. Tripti assures Mandar that she and Chax are no longer together, and that she is only helping him deal emotionally with her engagement. Mandar reveals his past to Tripti, expecting her to call off the wedding, however, she is relieved after learning the truth from Mandar. She also confesses to having had an abortion during her relationship with Chax, and believes they both can start afresh. Later, Mandar and Yusuf discuss the night's events. Yusuf worries that Mandar's parents will learn of his promiscuity from the distant relative, but Mandar is unfazed. He is content at having made things right with Tripti, and knows that he will soon settle down after an active life pursuing women.
Cast
- Gulshan Devaiah as Mandar Ponkshe, a philanderer
- Radhika Apte as Tripti Gokhale
- Sai Tamhankar as Jyotsna Surve
- Sagar Deshmukh as Dilip "Yusuf" Ponkshe
- Veera Saxena[8] as Parul Kotak
- Rachel D'Souza as Shobha N. T.
- Vaibbhav Tatwawdi as Kshitij
- Suraj Jagan as Chakravarthy "Chaxx"
- Sandeep Dhabale as Mandar's friend
- Neena Kulkarni as Mandar's mother
- Ravindra Mankani as Mandar's father
- Pratibha Date as Tripti's mother
- Dilip Vengurlekar as Tripti's father
- Nitesh Pandey as Deepak Surve, Jyotsna's husband
- Hansa Singh as Savitha Sahay
- Subhadip Raha as the policeman
Production
The entire filming was done in Mumbai, Pune and some rural parts of Maharashtra.
Music
Hunterrr | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by Khamosh Shah | |||||
Released | 11 February 2015 (2015-February-11)[9] | ||||
Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
Length | 32:04 | ||||
Language | Hindi | ||||
Label | Zee Music Company | ||||
|
The soundtrack of Hunterrr consists of seven songs composed by Khamosh Shah while the lyrics have been written by Vijay Maurya, Azazul Haque and Swanand Kirkire.[10]
No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Hunterrr 303" | Vijay Maurya | Bappi Lahiri | 3:59 |
2. | "Chori Chori" | Khamosh Shah | Arijit Singh, Sona Mohapatra | 4:03 |
3. | "Thaali Hai Khaali" | Azazul Haque | Nakash Aziz | 3:51 |
4. | "Naina" | Azazul Haque | Khamosh Shah | 5:39 |
5. | "Bachpan" | Swanand Kirkire | Amit Trivedi | 5:11 |
6. | "Ye Naa Gade" | Vijay Maurya | Anand Shinde, Vaishali Made | 5:16 |
7. | "Dil Lagaana" | Khamosh Shah | Altaf Raja | 4:05 |
Total length: | 32:04 |
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the movie has an approval score of 67% on the basis of 6 reviews with an average rating of 5.7 out of 10.[11] Rajeev Masand didn't like the portrayal of women in the film saying that the movie shows them as "desperate-for-marriage becharis, or unhappy frustrated housewives. The sexist stereotyping is one thing; more offensive is the fact that the women in the film are uniformly dumb." Rajeev gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Too bad the film itself is promising but ultimately disappointing. A film, that in the end, delivers little else but cheap laughs."[12] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 saying that, "‘Hunterr’ could have been a genuinely ‘adult’ comedy of manners, but it stays right where it begins, the phrase ‘coming-of-age’ functioning more as eliciting an embarrassed titter than reaching the goal-post."[13] Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Investing a bit more on real emotions of the lead characters, instead of fast-forwarding to their baser instincts constantly, would have made the film more relatable."[14] Faiza S Khan of The Guardian gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "This sex comedy's lead is creepy and cringeworthy, but at least the film manages to take a small step away from the genre's usual crass misogyny".[15]
Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Hunterrr is a deeply problematic film, and fails rather miserably".[16] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu found the writing of the film to be weak and said that, "In its current form, this Hunterrr is more horny than trigger-happy. He just walks around with a gun and rarely fires – except once in the whole film."[17] Saibal Chatterjee of Financial Express said that, "The film tends to ramble aimlessly after it has made its pivotal point: the path of juvenile carnality has more thorns than roses. It goes round in concentric circles as the hero creates a web of problems for himself".[18] Shubha Sherry Saha of Mid-Day gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "There is a subtle difference between a pure, unbridled take on the 'taboo' topic of sex and a tacky one that tries too hard. Unfortunately, though Harshavardhan Kulkarni's 'Hunterrr' shows a lot of promise, it veers more towards the latter."[19] Sweta Kausal of Hindustan Times gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Hunterrr is not great, but director Harshvardhan Kulkarni, who has also written the script, has managed to churn out an interesting film that might become a stepping stone in this genre for Hindi cinema."[20]
See also
References
- ^ "Hunterrr Cast & Crew". Bollywood Hungama. 20 March 2015.
- ^ "Box Office: Understanding the economics of Hunterrr". Bollywood Hungama. 31 March 2015.
- ^ "Hunterrr Box Office Collection". Bollywood Hungama. 20 March 2015.
- ^ "Gulshan Devaiah to make a special appearance in Junooniyat". The Indian Express. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ "'Hunterrr' – disarmingly frank sex comedy". Dainik Jagran. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ^ "Hunterrr trailer: Gulshan Devaiah, the sex addict has all the fun in this adult film!". India.com. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ "'Hunterrr' – Movie review". Mid-Day. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ^ Daughter of Indian Bollywood actor Sharat Saxena
- ^ "Hunterrr (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes.
- ^ "Hunterrr – 2015 – Zee Music Company". Gaana.
- ^ "Hunterrr – 2015". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ "Lewd Conduct". Rajeev Masand.
- ^ "'Hunterrr' movie review: The film is about a guy who can't keep it in his pants". The Indian Express. 23 March 2015.
- ^ "Hunterrr Movie Review – Meena Iyer". The Times of India.
- ^ Khan, Faiza S. (April 2015). "Hunterrr review – half-hearted look at India's evolving sexual mores". The Guardian.
- ^ "Review: Hunterrr is a waste of terrific actors". Rediff.
- ^ Kamath, Sudhish (20 March 2015). "Hunterr: This gun is loaded… with blanks". The Hindu.
- ^ "Hunterrr movie review: Adult drama, but only for the callow". Financial Express. 21 March 2015.
- ^ "'Hunterrr' – Movie review". Mid-Day. 20 March 2015.
- ^ "Hunterrr review: No milestone, but a step towards mature sex comedy". Hindustan Times. 20 March 2015.
External links
- Hunterrr at IMDb
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