Dirty Hari

Dirty Hari is a 2020 Indian Telugu-language erotic romantic thriller written and directed by M. S. Raju and produced by Guduru Siva Rama, Guduru Sateesh Babu and Guduru Sai Puneeth under SPJ Creations. It stars Shravan Reddy, Ruhani Sharma and Simrat Kaur. Loosely inspired by the 2005 film Match Point, it premiered on the ATT Friday Movies app on 18 December 2020.

Story

Hari, a young man from Nizamabad, comes to Hyderabad and works part-time as a coach at a chess club. There he befriends Akash and his wealthy family, and begins dating Akash’s cousin Vasudha. He also becomes secretly involved with Jasmine, an aspiring actress and Akash’s girlfriend. He carries on the affair even after marrying Vasudha.

Cast

• Shravan Reddy as Hari
• Ruhani Sharma as Vasudha
• Simrat Kaur as Jasmine
• Roshan Basheer as Akash
• Ajay as ACP Ajay, and Surekha Vani as Vasudha’s mother

Development

The film was M. S. Raju’s first as director since Tuneega Tuneega (2012). He said its bold scenes would be shown poetically, inspired by filmmakers such as Bharathan and Puttanna Kanagal, and that it was aimed at audiences aged 15 to 35. Shravan Reddy was initially hesitant to take on a bold film. He described Hari as an ambitious chess player who will go to any lengths to get what he wants. Simrat Kaur compared her confident character to Deepika Padukone’s role in Cocktail.

Filming and music

Shooting was delayed while the producers looked for an established female lead, and it was completed in Hyderabad by the end of November 2019. Some scenes were shot for 23 hours at a stretch. Mark K. Robin composed the music, and the first single, “Let’s Make Love”, came out on 24 July 2020.

Reception

The Times of India called it largely old wine in a new bottle with some redeeming parts, worth a try for fans of erotic thrillers.

Sources: Wikipedia and Wikidata.