More than a decade back, the Bhatt camp had a reputation of making strong emotional films with memorable songs, lyrics and intense performances. But with the changing times they cleverly shifted to music & sex instead (along with horror), in all cost-effective projects made within a few months featuring some fresh faces, released with a minimal promotional campaign having some inviting promos. In fact they have actually revamped the whole format of B-C grade erotica films of the 80s and now offering the same in a glossy, upgraded version in the multiplexes targeting the young viewers. (Would soon try to write a detailed write-up on the same at BTC)
However, the strategy is not really working since the last few projects as the quality has gone down severely and their recent films are nothing more than some quick economical products purposefully made to fool the young audiences in the opening week (or just the weekend). So despite having ample dosages of sex, a few good songs and a couple of pretty faces too, these films are not able to make any kind of decent impact at the box office due to their poor execution that even goes down to the level of ‘cheap’ in some particular sequences that was never ever a feature of Bhatt camp in the past.
Working on this specific set pattern, LOVE GAMES also falls in the same category of a sex based thriller that begins with a crime introducing the lead actors, features some intense sexual sequences with 3-4 romantic songs in the first hour and then goes back to the thriller element of the script making some ‘supposed to be’ shocking twists in its final 40 minutes summing up everything in 2 hours as per the given requirement.
Surprisingly this time Vikram Bhatt comes up with some exceptional firsts too, that were rarely seen before in a Hindi film as mentioned below.
A. Taking a progressive step, in his latest film, the director goes from two to threesome in the sex act within the first 20 minutes of the film, shocking even the hero on screen.
B. We also have a dedicated English song in the first half featured prominently.
C. Probably the only film that simply starts off with a song post intermission just like that.
Adding to these firsts, LOVE GAMES does have a novel plot that revolves around the sex-games played by two key characters, who choose the most loving couple in their rave parties and then try to seduce them individually within the night itself. So the boy hits on the wife and the girl takes on the husband, with the winning proof to be sent to the other as a video clip shot from the bed itself.
Admittedly the plot had got a lot of potential in it for a sex-based thriller along with the shocking element. But since LOVE GAMES (as usual) remains more interested in the romance like an essential part of a Hindi film, it fails to exploit the interesting plot and keeps focusing on sex, songs and a ‘newly found eternal love’ bringing in the predictability factor. Yes the film’s final 30 minutes do get you engaged for some time with the secrets being revealed (keeping the logic aside). But it’s the overall amateurish feel of a casually written script, mediocre execution and shallow performances that never allow it to make any kind of lasting impression on the viewers throughout the two hours.
Coming to the cast, it gives you nothing to praise apart from the marginally decent act from Tara Alisha Berry as the glamorous doctor, who strangely doesn’t even have the guts to save herself from her abusing husband. Patrakekha keeps trying too hard playing the bold character, but her dialogue delivery clearly reveals the ‘uncomfortable’, forced act right from the first scene itself. Walking on the similar lines, Hiten Tejwani too plays his few scenes in a hamming manner, whereas debutant Gaurav Arora, tries his best to look like a smart badass falling in love and going for a deadly plan.
Cinematography and background score remain unable to lift up a vaguely made film beginning on an unimpressive note. And it’s just a couple of above average songs that turn out to be the only worth mentioning feature of LOVE GAMES apart from ‘the firsts’ mentioned earlier. Besides it was really confusing to see no beeps and censor silence imposed upon the words like ‘f**k’ or ‘sex’ as earlier seen in even the bold films.
In all, its high time Vikram Bhatt realizes that his newly developed formula of making cheap ‘erotic thrillers’ has now become outdated and a fresh one needs to be invented for his quickie ventures. As a matter of fact, even their music is fast becoming monotonous falling in the category of ‘chosen from stock tracks’ that isn’t what we expect from the ‘once’ talented Bhatts.
Rating : 1 + 1 / 5 (With the additional one just for its novel potential plot that remained unexploited.)
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