First things first , I am not too much into Fashion nor have I ever attended a fashion show . Still as an outsider I have a perception about Fashion Industry and that perception has been developed only through what I have seen and read in movies and on television . So this review is a comparison of my personal perception of the fashion world and what Madhur has shown in his film .
There is no doubt that Madhur is amongst the best film makers in our country and he has always made some meaningful cinema , mixing facts with fiction . Now what I don’t like is the fact that he sometimes fictionalizes more rather than showing the actual truth which in a way makes a very wrong impression of a certain profession on the minds of general people . He has been given a Tag of a person who makes Realistic cinema by the “media” which itself mixes fact with fiction everyday and serves it to the general people . The question is just how much is enough ? Here Madhur is somewhat different from media in general which is just overdoing the sensationalising of news . Madhur brings out a blend which is fictitious enough so that general audience pays a little heed to the point he is making .His cinema can be best called as a “Realistic cum Commercial” cinema .
He has picked some four or five incidences out of the fashion industry and made a film out of it by adding some amount of fiction to it . The problem is that the 4-5 incidences based on which he has made the film are just one off incidences and are not a regulation in the fashion world and this is what I believe which may be wrong . The biggest thing to note here is that first of all Fashion industry in India is not big enough and nobody cares who the model is in India unless it is a bollywood celeb . The trend though is catching on fast and may be in future we might see a full fledged Industry with a higher presence . The Fashion that is there presently is just limited to Delhi and Mumbai and rest of the people don’t care that much about the brands . Still , this film can serve as a great Eye Opener for all the girls that aspire to become a Model and would think twice before taking any wrong decision that could ruin their life .
The fashion industry has always been Women’s forte and even this film is very Women centric . Most of the strong characters are female and men are there just playing the supporting characters . But the message that the film sends out applies to all the people , that it is not easy to earn some name and fame in any Industry . You need a lot of Mental Strength rather than the physical to reach the top is what this film shows .
It has been seen in History and also said by many people that when one person rises there is one more that falls along with his/her rise . This is the concept that Madhur has used in his film and it is Priyanka that rises and Kangana that falls . The whole process of falling down is faced by Priyanka also later and she has the mettle to balance herself and regain her position whereas Kangana never makes it again . During the entire story the various steps of any modelling career have been shown by Madhur in an accurate manner but it is the first half of the film that stands out . The first half is very tight and the story moves at a fine pace in the first half . It is in fact so strong that viewer in a way feels that he has almost seen a film in the first half itself . This point is a positive and a negative in itself . The audience expects an another similar second half but here Madhur fails to an extent and gives a little slow and loose second half . He should have instead cut down the length of the film and made an almost perfect product .
There is a part of the film that also talks about Homosexuality in a serious tone but it also makes fun of it largely which is not so responsible on Madhur’s part . But he has shown the truth , in a good or bad way , doesn’t matter . All the things that are behind the glamour is what Madhur has focussed on but he has done so with a microscope and picked out something that may not be true in all situations . The stakes are not that high in present situation in Fashion industry contrary to what Madhur has shown in his film . Fashion Industry has always been restricted to a few set of people in India and it still doesn’t get enough Media coverage . Though the coverage has increased over past few years it is still restricted to Half Hour specials on News Channels which focus more on Bollywood celebs and that too only in fashion weeks .
Talking of performances , Priyanka gives a fine performance as a model and she represents herself as an upcoming model quite efficiently on screen . Priyanka will feel nice considering few of her recent films were quite a dull affair . She did look like a model rather than a film star and also pulled it off quite naturally . The thing that struck me most was the way Kangna did her role , the crazy part would have been easy for her since she has done such roles earlier also but the modelling part was what surprised me . She worked quite a lot on her modelling skills and she did look like a model . Her character though was a stereotype character and didn’t move me that much because everything was very much predictable of her character . In fact the whole film is pretty much predictable and Madhur hasn’t shown some secret thing that might blow your mind . Any aware person would know all the things that are shown in the film and it would appeal only to a lay man more . Mugdha Godse had the third most prominent female character and she also acted very well considering it was her first time . The other characters were also played by some fine actors like Kitu Gidwani , Arbaaz and Sameer Soni who do a great job anyways . Harsh Chhaya is one of my favourite actors and he does a very small but a fabulous role as a designer .
The cinematography is good but nothing extraordinary and the art direction is also good . They have shown some of the finest ramps on screen . The extra models were also prominent ones and they also make the whole modeling scenario look quite professional . The direction and script of Madhur were good but not that good . The screenplay is quite loose of the second half and it spoils the show to an extent . Its good that the Producers UTV invested a good sum of money for this film else it would have turned out pretty bad on smaller scale . Madhur does manage to show a more fictional rather than real fashion world but he doesn’t over do it which makes it watchable even for a niche audience . Some of things in the film did resemble from some of the sequences in films and TV series of west that surrounded the Fashion industry .
Overall , the film is a good enough product to be watched once and a change from the usual films that we see .The second half is little slow yet watchable . Nothing in it makes it a national award wining film but it still might get a critics award in some of the other awards . I don’t know what industry is left for Madhur to explore since he has done all of them except underworld which his Guru , RGV, has done so many times and probably in a much much better way . He still can make a film on Politics which is also a Industry in itself more than national service . But I’ve heard that Prakash Jha is making a film called “Rajniti” so probably Madhur would have to look for some other industry in the economic times . Madhur if you are reading this , I like your Direction very much and I would love to see a Murder Mystery coming out from you ..I think you might pull off a classic in that genre.
Movie Rating : Three and Half out of Five ; for the fantastic first half and great acting performances .
Bollywood Rated 