T-Series Films’ Hate Story IV (A) is the fourth in the Hate Story series and is a revenge drama.
Two brothers, Aryan Khurana (Vivan Bhathena) and Rajveer Khurana (Karan Wahi) run an advertising agency in England. Their father (Gulshan Grover) is due to contest mayoral elections in England.
Aryan and Rajveer sign Taasha (Urvashi Rautela) as a model for their client’s advertising campaign. Younger brother Rajveer, who is a Casanova, falls head over heels for Taasha and wants to sleep with her but elder brother Aryan tells him to win her heart instead. Aryan himself is in a relationship with Rishma (Ihana Dhillon) who works for their company. But he has a glad eye for Taasha too.
Aryan is shocked when one day, Rajveer proposes to Taasha right in front of him, Rishma and many others. Unable to bear the prospect of losing Taasha to his younger brother, he sends Rajveer and Rishma out of the city for an ‘urgent meeting’ so that he can sleep with Taasha. He spikes Taasha’s drink and gets intimate with her. Taasha is devastated the next morning but Aryan tells her to keep their intimacy a closely-guarded secret so as to not break Rajveer’s heart. However, things go awry when Aryan and Taasha realise that somebody has clicked pictures of the two of them in bed together. Soon, Rishma confronts Aryan for cheating her. In a scuffle between Aryan and Rishma, the latter is killed accidentally – right in front of Taasha’s eyes.
Aryan decides to dispose of Rishma’s body. He makes it appear as if Rishma has gone to a resort on a holiday. As per plan, in a few days, he would make it appear that Rishma has gone missing from the resort. Meanwhile, Taasha starts staying aloof from Rajveer who suspects, something is amiss.
Soon, it becomes clear that things are not as straight as they appear. Taasha is actually out to seek revenge from the Khurana family.
What revenge is Taasha seeking? Who had wronged her and how? Does she avenge the wrong? Or do Aryan, Rajveer and their father prove too smart for her? Does Taasha have the support of anyone else?
Sammeer Arora’s story is quite predictable but the good part is that it has several twists and turns and although some are confusing, they do keep the audience’s interest alive. The screenplay, penned by Sammeer Arora and Vishal Pandya, could have been more simplified and less confusing. Frequent flashbacks test the audience’s patience. A few scenes also appear rather convenient. On the plus side, the screenplay also moves at a fast pace and hence doesn’t let the viewers’ thoughts wander. There are a lot of scenes of skin show, kissing and intimate scenes, which will be lapped up by the youth and masses. Milap Milan Zaveri’s dialogues are below the mark; some of them are even ridiculous!
Urvashi Rautela is better in the second half when the film changes tracks. In the pre-interval portion, she tends to go overboard in some scenes. Her costumes are too loud and gaudy. Vivan Bhathena does well. Karan Wahi performs ably but his voice is a setback. Ihana Dhillon does a reasonably good job as Rishma. Gulshan Grover is nice in a brief role. Tia Bajpai (as Bhavna) lends decent support in a special appearance. Shaad Randhawa makes his mark in a special appearance. Mohit Chhabra makes his presence amply felt as Ron. Rita Siddiqui has her moments as Monica. Thalyta De Prins provides fair support as Alia. Others are okay.
Vishal Pandya’s direction is alright. Had he adopted a simpler narrative style, the impact would’ve been better. Music (Mithoon, Arko, Tanishk Bagchi, Baman Chand and Tony Kakkar) is alright but there’s not a single song which is hit. The ‘Aashiq banaya aap ne’ remix, therefore, remains the best number. Lyrics (Manoj Muntashir, Rashmi Virag, Kumaar, Shabbir Ahmed and Sanjay Gupta) are decent. Song picturisations (by Tushar Kalia and Bosco-Caesar) are quite nice. Sunny Bawra and Inder Bawra’s background music is okay but could’ve been more impactful. Sunita Radia’s camerawork is stylised. Adam Richards and Abbas Ali Moghul’s action and stunts afford some excitement. Joshua Noon’s production designing is good. Manish More’s editing needed to be better.
On the whole, Hate Story IV is an average entertainer but it will manage to cross the average mark because it has recovered a good part of the investment from non-theatrical sources.