Dirty Hari

Story: Hari (Shravan Reddy) is a man torn between his wife Vasudha (Ruhani Sharma) and Jasmine (Simrat Kaur). In his greed to lust after both, will he end up losing everything?

Review: MS Raju’s Dirty Hari is a strange film, a cautionary tale that both draws you in and drives you away at the same time. At the end of it all, on one hand you can’t help but laud the clever application of Chekhov’s gun, and on the other, you wonder why this film wasn’t made with better actors or treatment. Erotic thriller is a genre that few filmmakers get right; MS Raju too almost goes off track but manages to save the film in the nick of time.

Hari (Shravan Reddy) is a chess player who moves to Hyderabad in the hope of making it big. He annoyingly says ‘chaana’ a lot and lusts after two women whom he disgustingly compares to a full meal and dessert. His wife Vasudha (Ruhani Sharma) is a painter, the quintessential ‘nice’ girl-next-door who wears buttalu and does charity work. She’s desperate to get pregnant and he wants her because she’s rich. Jasmine (Simrat Kaur) is his friend Akash’s girlfriend, who’s an upcoming actress and model looking to catch a break. She’s the quintessential ‘bold girl’ who says f*ck a lot and will wear cleavage bearing outfits. He wants her because…it’s not hard to guess why. When Hari strong-arms Jasmine into having an affair with him, all hell breaks loose.

Dirty Hari spends a lot of time in setting up Hari’s character as someone who’s constantly greedy for more – more money, women and status. And while love-making scenes are a given in any film of this genre, the fact that treated with a male gaze almost makes it a snooze fest. And when lines like, “She loves someone, she got f*cked by someone else,” or “Oka full meal taravata dessert kavali anipistundi, naku ala dorkindi ee sweety,” or “Manaki pillalu puttadaniki em problem ledu, inkonchem concentrate cheyyamanaru,” are delivered with straight faces and no emotion, it makes you wonder why you’re even watching this film.

However, things take a turn once Hari paints himself into a corner and realises the women he’s with are anything but quintessential. And once their claws are out, there’s no going back. By the end of the film, it’s no spoiler to state that he gets what’s coming to him but the journey to that stage is cliché-ridden and predictable. Shravan Reddy and Simrat Kaur’s performances are inconsistent and fall short in some scenes that require them to let it all out. Ruhani Sharma redeems her role and aces it, pulling the carpet from under you. Mark K Robin’s music and Baalreddy’s cinematography add on to the story.

Dirty Hari is old wine in a new bottle for the most part, with some redeeming parts. Give it a try if erotic thrillers are your cup of tea.