Hathyar: Face to Face with Reality

The biggest misfortune for Hathyar is it is the sequel of Vaastav.

The Indian audience isn't mature enough to see the two films separately. So Hathyar was compared to Vaastav - which is a cult fil of course.

As it is comparisons are anything but objective.

99 per cent of the people who have seen Hathyar found that Vaastav is better.

And that is the problem. Had Hathyar been construed as a standalone film it would have got more appreciation.

For starters, Hathyar has a better story than Vaastav.

Yes, the latter is a well-made film, with some remarkable scenes and dialogues but the basic storyline of a simple man taking to crime after an incident has been done to death in Indian cinema.

Hathyar's story is original. It's about how a father's legacy has a lasting impact on his son's prospects. It is about how the society cannot objectively view a talented individual and judges him by his father's name and profession. Just like the audience judged Hathyar in comparison to Vaastav.

Dutt has so many powerful scenes. The one in which he kills Sachin Khedekar in a fit of rage only to realize his mistake immediately after, the one where he confesses to Shilpa Shetty that he has stopped thinking about marriage and the pre-climax scene where he explains Shilpa that he is actually not the person that he has become over the years are examples of cinematic brilliance.

It's one of Dutt's best performance. Unfortunately for him his effort in Hathyar went completely unnoticed. Just like JP Dutta's Hathyar (1989), another brilliant film that the Indian audience failed to appreciate, and Dutt's performance was ignored. The Khans have been nominated for awards even for pathetic films. However, a handful of promising performances by Dutt have been conveniently and ruthlessly neglected by critics and the award jury alike.

This is without doubt Shilpa's best. Gulshan Grover is very good as is Sharad Kapoor and Khedekar. Vineet Kumar Singh (Mukkabaaz) makes an appearance as Dutt's sidekick.

Yes, there are many loopholes but even the best of films have glaring loopholes that is conveniently ignored.

All said, Hathyar suffered because it was Vaastav's sequel. Had it been a standalone film it would probably have got the attention it deserved.

Besides, before the film released a satellite channel advertise that it will be showing it soon. The Indian audience preferred saving their money so that they could spent it on some commercial potboiler Bollywood regularly churns out.

Watch it without preconceived notions, and you will enjoy Hathyar.