Love Games : Dangerous, just too dangerous, for your mind
Love Games
Cast: Patralekha,
Gaurav Arora, Tara Alisha Berry, Hiten Tejwani
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Rating: 1.5/5
Roses are red, violets are blue.
Sex can be dangerous, but love can be,
too.
When a film opens with a background
voice chanting sex eight times in 20 seconds, you know what you have gotten
yourself into. Then life just gets more interesting when a sultry seductress
arrives announcing, “I like only three things: winning, cocaine and love
games.”
Titled Love Games – Love Dangerously,
this film is about an adventurous woman Ramona Raichand (Patralekha) who lives
on the edge. Thrill is all she wants in life, and Sam (Gaurav Arora) is her toy
boy. Sam is a depressed guy who likes SH (self hurt), this is the term they use
in the film. The closet couple decides to take their escapades one notch higher
by playing love games. As per the rules of this game, Ramona and Sam need to
find the happiest couple in a page 3 party and then seduce one of them to bed.
Then they meet a successful criminal lawyer Gaurav Asthana (Hiten Tejwani)
and his surgeon wife Alisha (Tara Alisha Berry). The wife’s vulnerability
against her abusive husband only helps Ramona and Sam’s cause. The proceedings
take a turn when Gaurav falls for Alisha. Ramona isn’t willing to let go Sam,
and their relationship becomes sour. But, is this just the beginning of another
twisted love game?
Director Vikram Bhatt’s film features
the interiors of Mumbai penthouses where middle class morals are unheard of.
They abuse spouses in public, pour drink over each other in parties and go in
with their lives, without feeling any remorse. It’s a sure shot box office
formula the Bhatt camp is exploring since 15 years. What started with Kasoor in
2001 found a milestone in Murder (2004), and has now become a staple in 2016.
Only they are getting more scandalous and ‘bold’ in their approach. And what do
they mean by bold: Cut out the sexual innuendos and state them in as many
words.
Love Games introduces us to cocaine snorting and friends with benefits
within minute before providing a peep into the lonely lives of its
protagonists, but then it becomes murkier. Ramona’s obsession takes the
center-stage and Sam gets pushed to play a victim, but the film loses the shock
value in the process. It’s not something we haven’t witnessed before. Once the
surprise factor dies down, we’re left with only fast paced action, but
disappointment greets us right there because Love Games is a lift-up from many
similar films. Words hold no meaning after a while. Come on, we have been
there, heard that.
Newcomer Gaurav Arora looks confident
and has shown some potential, but it’s very difficult for anybody to stand out
in a film meant to explore the uncontrollable sexual urge of its heroine.
Patralekha is a find of Love Games. She
did a good job in Hansal Mehta’s Citylights, but this role demanded a certain
kind of language and body movement from her. She tries her best to hold
everything together, but she is all alone in her pursuit.
Vikram Bhatt is just juggling with the
idea of cheap thrills without actually putting anything substantial on offer.
So, it won’t make any difference if you call Love Games, Hate Story 4.
To cut the chase short:
Roses are red, violets are blue.
Hey Vikram Bhatt, what did you do?
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