<p>Director: Vishal Pandya<br />Cast: Sharman Joshi, Zarine Khan, Karan Singh Grover, Daisy Shah<br /><br /></p>.<p>Even by the rather low standards of Bollywood exploitation flicks, Hate Story 3 falls way short of the mark. Neither convincingly erotic nor consistently thrilling, the film stretches itself too thin in trying to cobble together a drama that can sustain itself over a runtime of two hours and bit.<br /><br />Apart from a grotesque storyline featuring two twisted men out to eliminate each other for no apparent reason, the film is marred by abysmal acting and scenes that border on the absurd.<br /><br />It is not until a couple of hours into the film that it becomes clear what the two guys are really up to. What follows is a stodgy climax marked by bloodshed.<br /><br />The film gets to this point only after hauling the audience through an allusion to an air crash, the closure of a cold drinks factory, a telecommunications bill in Parliament, and a bribery scandal involving a minister.<br /><br />Although the principal intention of the film is to employ its two heroines – Zarine Khan and Daisy Shah – as mere decorative props aimed at titillating its target audience, the screenplay gives them the short shrift.<br /><br />The two ladies merely stand around and get treated like sex objects. In contrast, the two lead actors – Sharman Joshi and Karan Singh Grover – are given the plum scenes.<br /><br />The erotic scenes in Hate Story 3 are good for a few wolf whistles, but beyond that they serve no real purpose in terms of furthering the story.<br /><br />Hate Story 3 goes back and forth through a maze of details as two men – a successful entrepreneur (Sharman) who has inherited his family business after the death of his elder brother and another wealthy but mysterious tycoon (Karan) who is bent upon spending a night with the former's wife (Zarine) – play dangerous games with each other.<br /><br />Thrown into the mix is an ambitious young corporate executive (Daisy) who works for one of the two men but gets drawn into double-crossing both in her struggle for survival.<br /><br />While all this may sound intriguing on paper, the way the saga pans out on the screen is riddled with holes.<br /><br />Director Vishal Pandya (who also directed the second installment of the franchise) resorts to the usual tropes to whip up some steam but in the absence of a storyline that is sturdy enough, the film feels hopelessly limp.<br /><br />No amount of skin show can conceal the lack substance that plagues Hate Story 3.<br />Matters are aggravated by the quality of the acting. Even Sharman, usually a competent screen performer, is unable to rise above the bizarre contrivances that lie at the heart of the film.</p>
<p>Director: Vishal Pandya<br />Cast: Sharman Joshi, Zarine Khan, Karan Singh Grover, Daisy Shah<br /><br /></p>.<p>Even by the rather low standards of Bollywood exploitation flicks, Hate Story 3 falls way short of the mark. Neither convincingly erotic nor consistently thrilling, the film stretches itself too thin in trying to cobble together a drama that can sustain itself over a runtime of two hours and bit.<br /><br />Apart from a grotesque storyline featuring two twisted men out to eliminate each other for no apparent reason, the film is marred by abysmal acting and scenes that border on the absurd.<br /><br />It is not until a couple of hours into the film that it becomes clear what the two guys are really up to. What follows is a stodgy climax marked by bloodshed.<br /><br />The film gets to this point only after hauling the audience through an allusion to an air crash, the closure of a cold drinks factory, a telecommunications bill in Parliament, and a bribery scandal involving a minister.<br /><br />Although the principal intention of the film is to employ its two heroines – Zarine Khan and Daisy Shah – as mere decorative props aimed at titillating its target audience, the screenplay gives them the short shrift.<br /><br />The two ladies merely stand around and get treated like sex objects. In contrast, the two lead actors – Sharman Joshi and Karan Singh Grover – are given the plum scenes.<br /><br />The erotic scenes in Hate Story 3 are good for a few wolf whistles, but beyond that they serve no real purpose in terms of furthering the story.<br /><br />Hate Story 3 goes back and forth through a maze of details as two men – a successful entrepreneur (Sharman) who has inherited his family business after the death of his elder brother and another wealthy but mysterious tycoon (Karan) who is bent upon spending a night with the former's wife (Zarine) – play dangerous games with each other.<br /><br />Thrown into the mix is an ambitious young corporate executive (Daisy) who works for one of the two men but gets drawn into double-crossing both in her struggle for survival.<br /><br />While all this may sound intriguing on paper, the way the saga pans out on the screen is riddled with holes.<br /><br />Director Vishal Pandya (who also directed the second installment of the franchise) resorts to the usual tropes to whip up some steam but in the absence of a storyline that is sturdy enough, the film feels hopelessly limp.<br /><br />No amount of skin show can conceal the lack substance that plagues Hate Story 3.<br />Matters are aggravated by the quality of the acting. Even Sharman, usually a competent screen performer, is unable to rise above the bizarre contrivances that lie at the heart of the film.</p>