Hunterrr

2015 film directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni

  • Gulshan Devaiah
  • Radhika Apte
  • Sai Tamhankar
  • Veera Saxena
CinematographyJohn Jacob PayyapalliEdited byKirti NakhwaMusic bySongs:
Khamosh Shah
Score:
Hitesh Sonik
Production
companies
Tailormade Films
Phantom Films
Distributed byShemaroo Entertainment
Falco International
Release date
  • 20 March 2015 (2015-03-20)
Running time
141 minutes[1]CountryIndiaLanguageHindiBudget3 crore[2]Box office11.2 crore[3]

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 spends his summer holidays along with Dilip aka Yusuf, visiting their other cousin Kshitij, who lives in a village in Maharashtra. Kshitij is older and more adventurous, and he introduces Mandar and Yusuf to his views on sex, relationships and women. This changes both their lives, and after the holidays, Mandar starts taking keen interest in women.

Six years later, the three cousins live separately in the city of Pune. Kshitij has become a military officer as well as a serial dater. Women come easy to him, and he brings home a steady stream of beautiful girls much to Mandar's astonishment. Mandar himself starts a casual relationship with a college student named Parul. After a few months, he starts taking interest in another woman, Jyotsna, who lives in his apartment complex. Tired of her stale married life, Jyotsna begins an extramarital affair with Mandar, who ends up completely sidelining Parul. Parul finds someone else who is serious in marrying her and moves on. When Mandar's fling inevitably ends due to Jyotsna's husband finding out, Parul refuses to take him back. Kshitij, meanwhile, marries a girl named Anju, who is a friend of one of his ex-girlfriends. He manages to rescue Anju from her sexually-abusive father, and the two move in together. Because Anju is much less pretty compared to Kshitij's other girlfriends, Mandar and Yusuf remark how "love is (truly) blind."

Over the next decade, Mandar becomes a playboy, having mastered the art of picking up women for casual relationships. He even has a booty call arrangement with an older married woman named Savita Bhabhi (bhabhi means sister-in-law, or brother's wife). After failing miserably to ask out a younger woman at the bar one night, Mandar is left to ponder his life's choices. He confesses to Yusuf that he feels the need to settle down, and in turn, Yusuf directs him to matrimonial websites and arranged marriage. During his meetings with potential matches, Mandar is routinely outed as a cad when the topic switches to past relationships. This drives away potential mates, and Mandar decides to adopt an alternate approach with future partners.

On his next attempt, Mandar projects a holier-than-thou aura with the woman named Tripti. Tripti has had numerous past relationships, and finds Mandar incompatible. She turns him down, but Mandar continues to persist, knowing that he is living a lie. When news of Kshitij's untimely death during military service reaches him, he is left devastated. Tripti consoles and comforts Mandar, and the two form an emotional bond. This makes Tripti reconsider, and she accepts Mandar's earlier marriage proposal. Still, neither is sure of their decision due to their respective pasts.

One night, Mandar tries to pick up a woman from the airport, but finds out later that she is his distant relative, visiting the city to live with his family. Mandar is embarrassed and wants to confess about his life to Tripti. At her house, he discovers Tripti hosting an ex-boyfriend, Chax, but he is unfazed. Tripti clarifies that she is only helping Chax deal emotionally with news of her marriage, and that their relationship ended some time back. Mandar confesses to lying, in order to attract a potential partner for marriage. He expects Tripti to call off the wedding, but she takes comfort in his honesty. She believes they can together let go of their past and start afresh. The two kiss and Mandar feels that he has finally laid his demons to rest.

Later in the day, Mandar and Yusuf fret over whether Mandar's relative will inform his parents of last night's incident. Yusuf is worried about his parents' reaction, but Mandar knows he has earned Tripti's trust, and that he will settle down regardless after an active life chasing 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
Released11 February 2015 (2015-February-11)[9]
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length32:04
LanguageHindi
LabelZee Music Company
External audio
audio icon Audio Jukebox on YouTube

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]

Tracklist
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Hunterrr 303"Vijay MauryaBappi Lahiri3:59
2."Chori Chori"Khamosh ShahArijit Singh, Sona Mohapatra4:03
3."Thaali Hai Khaali"Azazul HaqueNakash Aziz3:51
4."Naina"Azazul HaqueKhamosh Shah5:39
5."Bachpan"Swanand KirkireAmit Trivedi5:11
6."Ye Naa Gade"Vijay MauryaAnand Shinde, Vaishali Made5:16
7."Dil Lagaana"Khamosh ShahAltaf Raja4:05
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

  1. ^ "Hunterrr Cast & Crew". Bollywood Hungama. 20 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Box Office: Understanding the economics of Hunterrr". Bollywood Hungama. 31 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Hunterrr Box Office Collection". Bollywood Hungama. 20 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Gulshan Devaiah to make a special appearance in Junooniyat". The Indian Express. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  5. ^ "'Hunterrr' – disarmingly frank sex comedy". Dainik Jagran. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Hunterrr trailer: Gulshan Devaiah, the sex addict has all the fun in this adult film!". India.com. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  7. ^ "'Hunterrr' – Movie review". Mid-Day. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  8. ^ Daughter of Indian Bollywood actor Sharat Saxena
  9. ^ "Hunterrr (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes.
  10. ^ "Hunterrr – 2015 – Zee Music Company". Gaana.
  11. ^ "Hunterrr – 2015". Rotten Tomatoes.
  12. ^ "Lewd Conduct". Rajeev Masand.
  13. ^ "'Hunterrr' movie review: The film is about a guy who can't keep it in his pants". The Indian Express. 23 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Hunterrr Movie Review – Meena Iyer". The Times of India.
  15. ^ Khan, Faiza S. (April 2015). "Hunterrr review – half-hearted look at India's evolving sexual mores". The Guardian.
  16. ^ "Review: Hunterrr is a waste of terrific actors". Rediff.
  17. ^ Kamath, Sudhish (20 March 2015). "Hunterr: This gun is loaded… with blanks". The Hindu.
  18. ^ "Hunterrr movie review: Adult drama, but only for the callow". Financial Express. 21 March 2015.
  19. ^ "'Hunterrr' – Movie review". Mid-Day. 20 March 2015.
  20. ^ "Hunterrr review: No milestone, but a step towards mature sex comedy". Hindustan Times. 20 March 2015.
  • Hunterrr at IMDb
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