Review: Dirty Hari

M.S. Raju who has produced iconic movies like Okkadu, Manasantha Nuvve, Varsham, etc. turned director with Vaana, but couldn’t succeed as a director to date. In a surprising move, the veteran directed an erotic thriller Dirty Hari with debutant Shravan Reddy playing the lead role.

What is it about?

Hari (Shravan) is a charismatic young man who is good at chess. Vaidehi (Ruhani), a rich girl instantly falls in love and they get married in no time. Hari gets attracted to Jasmine (Simrat), an aspiring actress and soon they are into an illicit affair. Hari wants to save his marriage as he is the sole heir to so much wealth. But Jasmine insists Hari to divorce Vaidehi so that they could live together.

Performances:

Shravan Reddy has an impressive demeanour that suits the Hari character and his performance also is impressive. Ruhani Sharma plays a one note character that is madly in love with her husband and her only goal is to become a mother. Simrat Kaur plays the seductress and she didn’t have qualms over skin show and doing bold scenes. Her performance is very ordinary, but she provided the necessary oomph factor to satisfy the target audience. Ajay appears only in a single scene but makes an impression.

Technicalities:

It is very bold of M.S. Raju to attempt such a film that is high on erotic stuff. The veteran has shot the intimate scenes effectively without crossing the line. However, he didn’t have an engaging script that can keep you invested in the story besides the titillating stuff and Simrat’s skin show. He should have focused on the thrill factor that is pushed to the last twenty minutes rather than wasting time on the repetitive lustful scenes. Music is okay. Cinematography is neat and the editing is adequate.

Analysis:

Dirty Hari is loosely based on Richard Gere starrer Unfaithful. Basic plot of Dirty Hari is inspired from it but it is not as engaging and as thrilling as that popular erotic thriller. Dirty Hari could have been an engaging film if the second half focused on the murder mystery. Instead, M.S. Raju stretched the lust/love angle too far and almost made a mess of it. There’s a bit of redemption towards the end with a final twist, though.

Initial portions of Dirty Hari are far too convenient as Hari reaches his goal of becoming rich without putting much effort. However, his attraction towards another female puts him in a tangle. A lot of time is wasted on how Hari and Jasmine get attracted to each other and start an illicit affair. The director doesn’t bother to create any tension or give the story another dimension by involving Ruhani Sharma’s character in this triangle.

Ruhani’s character has been deliberately side lined for the sake of final twist, which is why Dirty Hari lost a great opportunity to be a captivating thriller. Also, Jasmine’s character that is shown as a woman with dreams is reduced into a mere pleasure mate behaves too stereotypical after she gets pregnant. Things get interesting when Ajay’s character is introduced, but it is restricted to one scene and the story soon reaches the endpoint in a hurry. Everything is concluded in a convenient way without proper justification to Hari’s deeds and Jasmine’s misfortunes.

Dirty Hari is a film where the director knows his audience and he serves a film that has well shot erotic scenes. It is much much better than the erotic short videos that were made by RGV for ATT platforms. However, as a film, Dirty Hari couldn’t offer anything beyond the erotic stuff besides a climactic twist and classy filmmaking.

Bottom Line: Not So Dirty!