The amazing thing about Bollywood ‘adult’ movies is that they sell sex without showing any of it. There is the prolonged foreplay that almost always is followed by, preceded by or lies smack in the middle of a song – the background music intends to create the ‘unreal’ aura, not because of how the chemistry on display is dreamlike, but more owing to just how none of what the actors are doing happens in actual life, even at its best.
But once the elaborate foreplay is over, there are edits, sheets, or at best angles that ensure that none of the actual sex is being showed. Most of that is left to the audience’s imagination – much like pretty much everything else associated with filmmaking.
Even so, it is when these ‘adult’ Bollywood movies are actually released in Pakistan that they double up the packaging on the product that the film is supposed to showcase, without even giving a glimpse of it to the audience.
Urvashi Rautela
While none of the previous three Hate Story movies has been high on acting, there have been moments - and actors - who are known to get their basics right. None of that is remotely present in the fourth installment
And so, such a movie after the filters of the Pakistani censor boards – which somehow escaped our local productions pre ‘revival’ era for decades – an Indian adult movie, even when screened with a ‘for adults only’ disclaimer in cinemas, has less to offer than the film’s trailer on YouTube would.
Such indeed is the case with Hate Story IV, which like its predecessors uses murder, revenge, lust and its rather aboriginal rendition of love as excuses for lots of skin show. But, fair enough, that’s the brand that the Hate Story franchise is, and there might be a sufficient number of people watching these movies for the filmmakers to churn out a fourth installment in little over five years.
The latest revenge non-story has Rajveer (Karan Wahi) and Aryan (Vivan Bhatena) as brothers who want the same girl – yes, the same formula that ostensibly has worked for the franchise over the years. The girl in question is Taasha (Urvashi Rautela), who has come to London eying success, which has remained elusive.
That success follows via both Rajveer and Aryan: the former is a womanising (who isn’t in this franchise?) photographer, the latter manages their cosmetic brand. While Taasha fulfills her dreams of becoming a model, there are too many around her that are dreaming about her at the same time.
The film features a remake of 2005 hit song 'Aashiq Banaya Aapne'
While none of the previous three Hate Story movies has been high on acting, there have been moments – and actors – who are known to get their basics right. None of that is remotely present in the fourth installment. Even Karan Wahi, who has done fairly level in television, does not manage to do his bare minimum in this production that focuses on baring as much as possible.
For a movie founded upon sex, and yet being limited to the foreplay, the dialogues were always going to be the erotica fodder. But here too, even more so than the previous four films, Hate Story IV is an absolute shambles when it comes to writing, with lines so cringe-worthy that reproducing them here would be a waste of space.
Surely, the music would be something worth mentioning? Not really, unless you have been a fan of Himesh Rishammiya and would be interested in a remake of ‘Naam Hai Tera Tera’ – a female version no less.
As with the other Hate Story movies, and any others that wrap themselves up in the same genre, it’s the female lead’s seductiveness that is the biggest selling point for the film.
Whether Urvashi Rautela manages to pull it off or not can be gauged through the trailers and songs that are already floating around the web. That should also be the extent of anyone’s interest in the movie, regardless of your demographic – unless you’re a diehard fan of the franchise or have accepted a dare to live through every single Hate Story movie that the franchise ever comes up with.
