Mar 23, 2015 09:23 AM
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Every person on this planet has a story to tell, even the most ordinary common man. After all, everyone has had ups and downs and even some extraordinary moments that can make for a great film story. Harshavardhan Kulkarni experiments with this idea in Hunterrr that tells the story of an ordinary guy and the extraordinary episodes in his life. And the effort pays off for sure!
The story of the movie: Mandar Ponkshe(Gulshan Devaiah) is a ‘vaasu’. The film chronicles his journey, starting from 1989 when he is about to step into his teenage years. As he grows up, his appetite for sex increases as well. He comes some interesting women in his life – Parul Kotak(Veera Saxena), Jyotsna(Saie Tamhankar) and Trupti(Radhika Apte). He has his share of his buddies as well who always stand by him through thick and thin.
While watching the Hunterrr trailer, I expected that it might get clichéd after some point and give a déjà vu of similar films in the past. But Hunterrr is totally different, original and quite fresh. There are no reference points and it has some unpredictable moments as well. Also, the character of Mandar is quite relatable, especially for men. The manner in which he sets his eyes on his ‘target’, stares at her and then takes the next step is straight out of life. Of course, Mandar is a bit braver than the rest. Fortunately, the film doesn’t cheapen the whole thing and get derogatory at any point(although the market scene of Mandar’s childhood does raise eyebrows). The biggest strength of the film undoubtedly is its writing. Some sequences are absolutely hilarious. In fact, some of the moments are maddening and so sudden that one can’t help but break into a guffaw! Moreover, there is an element of mystery as well in the airport scene that makes for an interesting watch.
Hunterrr is embellished with some outstanding performances. Gulshan Devaiah gets an opportunity of a lifetime and he puts his heart and soul into this performance. This is going to be a landmark film of his career and hopefully it will help him bag meaningful and memorable roles from now on. Radhika Apte who impressed us just last month with Badlapur comes up with yet another riveting performance. There’s this innocence in her voice and smile which makes her very adorable! Saie Tamhankar is outstanding. She plays a very dynamic character and leaves a tremendous mark in her supporting role. A performance to watch out for! Veera Saxena always does very well. Sagar Deshmukh(Dilip) does very well as the hero’s sidekick. Vedant Muchandi and Shalva Kinjawadekar(young Mandar and Kshitij) are brilliant. Suraj Jagan(Chax) is there in an important scene in the second half and gives a fine performance. Hansaa Singh(Savita Bhabhi) raises laughs. Nitsh Pandey(Jyotsna’s husband) is strictly okay. Neena Kulkarni and the actors playing Shobha, adult Kshitij and Mandar’s father do a good job.
Songs don’t make much of an impact. The best songs are Hunterrr 303 and Chori Chori. Hitesh Sonik’s background score is effective. John Jacob Payampalli’s cinematography is quite nice. The locales of Mumbai and Pune are nicely shot. Sandeep Shelar’s sets are very real and it gives a nice touch to the film. Harshavardhan Kulkarni and Vijay Maurya’s dialogues are extremely funny and a big reason why the film works. Harshavardhan Kulkarni’s story is nice and same goes for his screenplay. His direction works because it goes in a flow despite too much of flashback and back-and-forth style of narrative. Also, at two places, he comes up with two different versions of a scene and it adds to the novelty and fun quotient. But the film never gets confusing at any point. However, at the same time, one wishes if the film is not too long(duration: 145 minutes). Also, few scenes fail to make the desired impact. These two are big minuses as the impact reduces to a great extent because of these reasons. But nevertheless, a great job by Harshavardhan and hope he continues with such great writing in future as well.
Some of the best scenes:
The airport scene
Mandar goes to watch an adult film
Mandar gets into Parul’s autorickshaw
Mandar gets Parul into his room
All scenes of Jyotsna
The intermission point
Tripti persuades Mandar to talk to a girl in the market
Mandar-Trupti in the supermarket(hilarious)
The last 20-25 minutes
On the whole, Hunterrr is a fun film that surely deserves a watch for its performances and especially for its superb writing. Nothing in the film is clichéd or sourced from any other film. Hence, it’s fresh, original and also boasts of an unpredictable, back-and-forth narrative that works well. Gulshan Devaiah, Radhika Apte and Saie Tamhankar deliver terrific performances. With no other significant Bollywood film for the next 12-13 days, it surely won’t be a bad idea to catch this flick. Go for it and enjoy the adventures of Mandar ‘Vaasu’ Ponkshe!
My rating - 3.5/5!
