Madhur Bhandarkar has been known to pick a certain profession, find the unspoken truth, blow it out of proportion and make a dramatically real film about it. With his latest offering, Fashion, he underplays it.
To begin with, the film is full of gaps that leave you with a ‘why’. The characters are interesting but not convincing. In the end, you leave with a heavy feeling, but you still wonder, ‘why’.
The Story:
Predictable as the phases of the moon! Meghana (Priyanka Chopra) has her eyes set on the ramp. She arrives in Mumbai with a mediocre portfolio, a few thousand rupees and a sackful of ‘attitude’. Fashion is the story of Meghana’s rise and fall and her attempt to rise back again.
One does wonder how the Chandigarh kudi agrees to live with a guy or accept being a mistress to a wealthy man with such ease. A lot of the so called turning points are incidents added forcefully to the story to shock the audience, but the attempt falls flat on its face. Meghana’s character though is something that strikes a chord and you want to know more about her. You want to know why she goes on accepting whatever happens to happen to her. Her romantic life, her career, it all just falls into place. There is no sign of hard work or struggle as such. That, Mr. Bhandarkar, seems unreal. Towards the end, you start losing Meghana as she turns unreasonably over senstitive.
Performances:
Priyanka Chopra is amazing as Meghana. As Sneha rightly said, you hate Meghana when she’s arrogant but you also feel for her when she is down in the dumps. Priyanka carries off the role effortlessly.
Kangana Ranaut is pretentious up until she goes mental. She really has the natural talent to play up insanity.
Godse is pretty good considering this is her first film. But both Godse and Ranaut should take some diction classes.
Sameer soni has given a very natural performance without overplaying the ‘gay’ity. It almost broke my heart to see him gay but that’s just my teenage crush talking!
I am not going to say much about Arjan Bajwa because the man barely has the scope to perform.
Harsh Chaya is completely wasted!
Miscellanous frills and thrills:
The movie has a very cool feel to it. The fashion industry is depicted almost to scale. One aspect that Mr. Bhandarkar missed was the few models who make it into international beauty pageants and then become A list move stars.
I love Madhur’s portrayal of Meghna’s desire to be the ‘show-stopper’ while she’s in the sidelines. He creates the perfect grandeur of the ramp, with lights flashing, musing thumping and models strutting. Of course, I wonder why he featured in the film for a nano second and had to add the line ‘Now Madhur wants to make a film on the fashion industry also,’. The characters are fiery but many lose their spark by the time you reach the interval. Some incidents in the plot are too mechanical and could have been avoided. The last half hour of the movie drags on you with over-sensitivity, melodrama and obviously a winning moment.
Verdict: Look, it’s not a festive film. It has the Bhandarkar effect on you. It bombards you with depressing facts and hopelessness of the glamour world. It is not a masterpiece like Madhur’s ‘Chandni Bar’ or ‘Page 3’, but it’s a good film. Well researched, decently executed and well performed.
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