The film was released on 20 March 2015.[7] The film was remade in Telugu as Babu Baga Busy (2017).
Plot
Mandar Ponkshe and his cousin, Dilip (nicknamed "Yusuf" as a tribute to the thespian), are initiated to sex and relationships by their older cousin, Kshitij, while visiting him for their summer holidays. Back at school, Mandar asks out his first girlfriend. He brags to his friends, who look up to him for his success with girls. Six years later, Mandar is expelled from his college dormitory for bringing a girl to his room. He moves into a new apartment complex, where he sees his steady girlfriend, Parul. Despite this, an attractive older woman, Jyotsana, catches his eye, and Mandar initiates an extramarital affair with her. Parul moves on after feeling ignored, and the affair with Jyotsana ends when her husband finds out and confronts Mandar.
Meanwhile, Kshitij has become a dapper military officer, and seems to change girlfriends every week. Despite having his own place, he brings his conquests home to Mandar's apartment. He learns of a woman named Anju, who is a victim of sexual abuse from her father, from one of his girlfriends who is Anju's friend. Kshitij rescues and brings Anju home, leading Mandar and Yusuf to throw in a racist joke to themselves. Eventually, the two marry and have a son. Sometime later, Kshitij leaves for military duty.
Over the next decade, Mandar perfects the art of picking up women. He stumbles occasionally, and confesses to Yusuf one day, that he wishes to settle down. Through matrimonial websites, Mandar meets potential matches for an arranged marriage. His first few meetings end in disaster as his honesty about his past sexual conquests doesn't sit well with the matches he initially meets, all of whom come from a conservative family background. Adopting Yusuf's advice for his next meeting as he realizes his folly, he decides to go ahead by presenting himself as demure and conservative to the next match, Tripti. This backfires, however, as she turns out to be a liberal woman, and rejects Mandar for being incompatible. Mandar continues to persist and Tripti seems to be having a change of heart.
Meanwhile, Kshitij is killed during an encounter with insurgents in Kashmir. Mandar is devastated, and it is during this time that he finds Tripti growing close to her as she comes round to his proposal and comforts him. The two get engaged, and Mandar meets Tripti's last boyfriend, Chax, at a pre-wedding party; feeling insecure over Chax, he learns from Tripti that she has no love lost for Chax since he impregnated her and disappeared in the moments of crisis. Despite the engagement, Mandar and Tripti have not initiated sex. Mandar satisfies his urges responding to a booty call from a former flame for a final time. He hits up a woman at the airport, bringing her to a hotel with intentions to sleep with her. The woman rejects him, however, and turns out to be a distant relative, causing Mandar much embarrassment. He visits Tripti the next morning to tell her the truth.
At her house, Chax is sleeping on the couch. Tripti clarifies he is only visiting her. Mandar confesses to lying about his past in order to attract a partner for marriage. He expects Tripti to call off the wedding, but she feels comforted by his honesty and reveals that Chax was a thing of the past and she intends to build a present and future with Mandar. The two kiss, and Mandar feels that he has finally laid his demons to rest, after an active life pursuing women. He later leaves and meets up with Yusuf in an auto rickshaw, telling him two versions of the story culminating in his confrontation with Chax, before confirming that the second one is true.
The soundtrack of Hunterrr consists of seven songs composed by Khamosh Shah while the lyrics have been written by Vijay Maurya, Azazul Haque and Swanand Kirkire.[10]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the movie has an approval score of 67% on the basis of 6 reviews with an average rating of 5.7 out of 10.[11]Rajeev Masand didn't like the portrayal of women in the film saying that the movie shows them as "desperate-for-marriage becharis, or unhappy frustrated housewives. The sexist stereotyping is one thing; more offensive is the fact that the women in the film are uniformly dumb." Rajeev gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Too bad the film itself is promising but ultimately disappointing. A film, that in the end, delivers little else but cheap laughs."[12] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 saying that, "‘Hunterr’ could have been a genuinely ‘adult’ comedy of manners, but it stays right where it begins, the phrase ‘coming-of-age’ functioning more as eliciting an embarrassed titter than reaching the goal-post."[13] Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "Investing a bit more on real emotions of the lead characters, instead of fast-forwarding to their baser instincts constantly, would have made the film more relatable."[14] Faiza S Khan of The Guardian gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "This sex comedy's lead is creepy and cringeworthy, but at least the film manages to take a small step away from the genre's usual crass misogyny".[15]
Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Hunterrr is a deeply problematic film, and fails rather miserably".[16] Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu found the writing of the film to be weak and said that, "In its current form, this Hunterrr is more horny than trigger-happy. He just walks around with a gun and rarely fires – except once in the whole film."[17] Saibal Chatterjee of Financial Express said that, "The film tends to ramble aimlessly after it has made its pivotal point: the path of juvenile carnality has more thorns than roses. It goes round in concentric circles as the hero creates a web of problems for himself".[18] Shubha Sherry Saha of Mid-Day gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and said that, "There is a subtle difference between a pure, unbridled take on the 'taboo' topic of sex and a tacky one that tries too hard. Unfortunately, though Harshavardhan Kulkarni's 'Hunterrr' shows a lot of promise, it veers more towards the latter."[19] Sweta Kausal of Hindustan Times gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 and said that, "Hunterrr is not great, but director Harshvardhan Kulkarni, who has also written the script, has managed to churn out an interesting film that might become a stepping stone in this genre for Hindi cinema."[20]
