Movie Review- Fashion

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This is Madhur Bhandarkar’s reality check on the razzmatazz and cheesecake world of fashion. The story is ordinary enough. Starry eyed winner of a beauty contest from small town Chandigarh (welllllllll??) goes to big bad Bombay to pursue her dreams of becoming a super model. Struggle, the big break, the high leap, the pitfalls of delusional fame, descent into the abyss of excess, the realization of truth, rising of the phoenix and everybody lives happily ever after. Well almost.
The characters are a bit of a cliché. Bhandarkar has liberally based his players on real life guys. So you have a blonde haired Rohit Bal rip off. Surely a more handsome guy could have been chosen to ape Rohit. Kangna Ranaut’s character has been based on the unfortunate Geetanjali Nagpal no matter how much Bhandarkar denies. Every designer is a gay and all models seem to be on a trip to high life. Nevertheless the pot pourri created is interesting. Priyanka was a bit of a disappointment in the way she looks. Her looks came across as harsh. On the other hand the second lead Kangana Ranaut actually steals the thunder right under the nose of the main lead. She looks devastating, especially in the ramp walk scenes, and has acted with a lot of zest as the drug crazed super model convinced of her infallibility. Mugdha Ghose is the surprise package. Tall, statuesque and carefree, she could be one of the actors to watch out for. Chitrashi Rawat (Komal Chauthala of Chak de India) has a small and a cutely pesky role of a deal fixer. She is quite a natural. The movie is about women models so there is no hero so to speak but the male characters are pretty strongly played too. Arbaaz Khan as the owner of a company which is peddling some top brand is good. And Harsh Chhaya’s portrayal of a gay designer is absolutely devastating.
Did I say it’s a reality check? Well, yes and a no. The ramp walks and the tribulations of the struggling models seemed real enough. But is every model exploited and must sleep with the boss? I am not so sure. Besides smart businessmen do not lay off people on whims. And how come the fashion world seems to be revolving around just one company? Loose ends but not serious enough to harm the overall content which is good. I felt real life characters could have been used too but the only guy who gets to do it is the superb designer and my friend Wendell Rodricks. Good show man, rock on.
The opening shots of the movie show prominent places of Chandigarh which thrilled me but the reference to it as a small town (true as it may be) got my goat. In the age of Internet no place is now really big or small. But if it gives somebody a kick then so be it. The movie is nothing to be taken very seriously and is a good time pass. Chalega !