Saturday, November 01, 2008

Fashion


Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 160 Minutes
Release Date : 29th Oct 2008
Director & Co-Writer : Madhur Bhandarkar; Writers : Ajay Monga, Anuradha Tiwari; Music : Salim-Sulaiman
Starring : Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Raj Babbar, Arbaaz Khan, Kitu Gidwani, Sameer Soni and Arjan Bajwa


The film is a nice peek into the highly insular and very artificial world of fashion in India (and probably the world). The world of air kisses, tight deadlines, anorexic models, show stoppers and diva designers. All this compounded of course by extreme bitchiness, back-biting and jealousies. While it does a good job of communicating the high adrenalin rush you get from watching a good fashion show (just like in any other live performing art), it unfortunately shows too much of the negatives to make the film a truly pleasurable watch.


It shows, through rose-tinted glasses, the struggle of Priyanka Chopra to become a model (it cant be that bad though when you’re spending your struggling days in CafĂ© Coffee Day) and then shows how her rise to supermodel status is accompanied by a similar rise in her super-bitchiness and arrogance, and a parallel fall from grace of another model (Kangana Raut).

You watch the film with a degree of morbid satisfaction – just wondering how bad its going to get, hoping Priyanka’s character will finally see sense or someone will be able to spank some into her. There are some good performances – Priyanka’s, who looks good as always, Kangana, in yet another portrayal of a manic depressive alcoholic (can somebody please give her another role ?) and some lovely cameo’s by Kitu Gidwani, Arbaaz, Mugdha Godse, Sameer Soni and Arjan Bajwa. I really liked the dresses shown as well – quite beautiful and very vibrant colours and different materials and even the shows themselves were well choreographed with stunning backdrops. And the music / songs were nice, not interfering with the movie but enhancing it.


I really wish Madhur Bhandarkar had injected some more moments of humour (for example, in one scene, the models discover ‘made in Bangkok’ tags on the dresses of a major designer about to do a show), dwelt more on the positives (maybe more of Priyanka’s joy at the accessibility of the finer things in life) or even found a better ending / some twist as its too predictable right now. The film is actually uncomfortable to watch and depressing vs being interesting / uplifting and surely that cant be right ?

In the spirit of the festive season, the movie provides a visual depiction of not one but two age-old morals, the types we grew up being told by parents, teachers and all others around us. The first is ‘All that glitters is not gold’ and the other is ‘Pride hath a fall’. Wish someone had drilled that into Priyanka’s or Kangana’s characters as well.

5 comments:

Vikas said...

priyanka is just sooo hot !

just for her man !

PURNESH BHATTACHARYA said...

Dear Apurv,

Here's an honest confession. I've started following her blog of movie reviews very religiously. Unlike other critics, you try to present the nuances in a different light without giving out much of the plot. And that's highly appreciable. Whenever I get time, I love reading all the reviews by you. Even though I might have watched them but I still like to ready whether you think the same way like how I thought about it. Well considering your passion and love for cinema I would like to recommend and request you to review three of them. One is a Hindi movie and the other two are in Marathi. The first is 'Seher', which marked the directorial debut of Kabeer Kaushik who upset us with his latest dud 'Chamku'. It has an impressive star cast with a theatre background. Arshad Warsi is brilliant in his power packed cop performance. Sushant Singh is the silent and brilliant villain who shuns all the theatricals of a typecasted villain in hindi movies. Pankaj Kapur is the surprise element as the decoder of mobile communication. The second one is a Marathi movie called 'Kadachit' which means 'If only'. It's psychological thriller starring Ashwini Bhave as a neuro surgeon, Sachin Khedekar as her surgeon husband & colleague and Sadashiv Amrapurkar in a mind blowing character role tailor made for him. The third one is 'Vazir' a political drama which stars the powerful Vikram Gokhale in the role of a political advisor, Ashwini Bhave in the role of a rape victim, Ashok Saraf as a highly corrupt minister and Ashutosh Gowarikar (yes the genious who gave us masterpieces like LAGAAN, SWADES & JODHA AKBAR) in a negative role. I am sure, you will love all the three and present a review which reflects the visions of many. Till then good bi and do take care as 'QUANTUM OF SOLACE' is to be reviewed brilliantly by you. Its releasing on November 7 and I'm planning to catch up with the same on November 9. Before I review it, I would like to know what you thought of the movie.

Regards,
VOCIFEROUS
www.bengalsurprise.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Hey, I loved the costumes.. Vibrant colorful. Movie seemed dragged. 6 rating seems decent. Cheers, Bee

Bindu said...

Hey, I loved the costumes.. Vibrant colorful. Movie seemed dragged. 6 rating seems decent. Cheers, Bee

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