Hunterr: A true Sex comedy of Bollywood which is not cheap or crass

Bollywood has been shying away from the genre of “Sex Comedy” for quite some time. Literally the first being “Grand Masti” in 2013, but it was crass and extremely irritating in the name of comedy.

But “Hunterr” tries to break the shackles of an arch typical Bollywood format of this genre and makes it more realistic and yet funny. Harsvardhan Kulkarni explores this genre through his Hunterr Mandar Pongshe (Gulshan Devaiah) who is a compulsive “Vasu” or in other words a person who has this compulsive urge to make love to any woman. The story explores Mandar’s journey right from his childhood when he first learnt of birds & bees to early thirties when he going to get married to Tripti (Radhika Apte). The story explores his escapades with women in his life and how his conscience awakes forms the rest of the story…..

Writer & Director Harshvardhan Kulkarni tries to make his debut as a director through a story and script which if not handled with care may derail and become crassly. But Harshvardhan successfully makes it realistic and refrains from being crassly with double meaning dialogues. The main issue is with the narration when the story switches from his childhood to his present day to a few months earlier which majorly disrupts the overall narration. Other issue of the movie is its climax which happens almost abruptly. The characters are very well written and all the female characters are shown as strong individuals who do not have any inhibitions to do what they want like the two main characters Tripti & Jyotsna.

The sequences are very realistic and a lot of people will actually identify with their adolescent days, especially men. The dialogues act as a beautiful wrapper on the script and does not sound crassly and double meaning. Rather the dialogues are very blunt and on your face.

Gulshan Devaiah as Mandar is so convincing that you may think that he is “Vaasu” in real life as well. Gulshan depicts the various ages of Mandar with élan, in short he is brilliant and the real spark of the movie. Radhika Apte as Tripti gives another power packed performance of a woman of today who knows and is aware for her needs. Sai Tamhankar portrays Jyotsna, Mandar’s neighbor with such brilliance that you sympathize with her at the end even after her having an extra marital affair with Mandar. Veera Saxena as Parul is the only weak portrayal in the movie but she somehow manages. In a brief role Rachel D’Souza as Shobha creates an impact. Other cast like Neena Kulkarni, Sagar Deshmukh, Suraj Jagan also give a stellar performances.

Music by Khamosh Shah is worth mentioning. The soundtrack has a lot of variety in genres, so you have “Hunter 303” in 80’s style disco mode sung by Bappi Lahiri which has become an instant hit, the romantic “Naina” & “Chori Chori” is equally hummable and the cherry on the cake is Altaf Raja rendered “Dil Lagana” which transports you to the 90’s. Overall the songs do not pose as hindrance but blends well with the narration.

Harshvardhan creates an impact with his debut, it is the narration which makes it less than brilliant. But I must say an impressive debut by Harshvardhan Kulkarni. I will go with 3 stars….

Movie Rating: (3 / 5)