The Review of Bollywood Movie : Fashion

When you see a Madhur Bhandarkar-directed flick, you know it’s not going to be a typical Bollywood fare. Actually, it pretty much disregards every Bollywood stererotype with gritty realism, openly talking about sex, kissing, no one breaking out into song, strong female lead characters, gay roles, etc. Past critically-acclaimed hits include a look into prostitution with Chandni Bar, the tabloids in Page 3, and females in power in Corporate.

Now, we have Fashion which takes a look behind the lens into the glitzy world of fashion in India through the rise and fall of a supermodel. We get taboos of Indian cinema such as drugs, gay lifestyles, suicides, and blurred-out nudity. And unlike his other films, the director has definitely put some big money into the production with the multiple visually-appealing fashion shows. Plus, we get mainstream A-lister and gorgeous beauty queen Priyanka Chopra trying something totally different with this role. Bhandarkar must be lauded for avoiding conventions in this movie, but it still definitely has some flaws....

The story follows Meghna Mathur, a sweet suburban girl, who leaves her convenient family to move to Mumbai and walk the ramps and pose for magazines. We watch her struggle in the beginning with a shady agent, shady men promising her contacts, her aspirations to be like the top model Shonali, and how she can’t catch a break with her amateur photos. Slowly, she starts networking, meets a great photographer, meets a boy, gets a big agent, and her stunning beauty gets recognized by big businesess. Meanwhile, we have the current top supermodel Shonali, whose ego and cocaine problem allow Meghna to take over her spot at the top quickly. Meghna’s naiveté and confidence get thrown out the window and gets replaced with arrogance and liquor and sex.

Soon-to-be druggie Meghna
We see her tragically deteriorate and it’s quite an entertaining film to see her rise and fall. The film is done pretty well up into this point, it never loses its momentum. The story is narrated rather carefully as we get to experience Meghna’s journey. Also, the runway choreography and fashion designs add another layer of appeal.

The main problem is that after we see Meghna crumble, there is at least another 45 minutes of resolution that needs to be edited heavily. It’s seems unnecessary to see everything come together and for the protagonist to rise again, especially if it is going to take so long. Another problem is cliché dialogue about trying to get famous and what you must do and the price you must pay. We get it. No good side of the fashion industry was shown, and it would have been a nice counterpoint to show how some models aren’t all “hot messes.”

As Meghna, Priyanka finally gets to show some acting chops. It has been awhile since she has done this --- since Aitraaz in 2004 and maybe Don in 2006. Just this past year, she has experienced quite a bit of movie flops: Chamku, Drona, and Love Story 2050. But with Fashion, she plays the part easily. She shows a gradual growth from a sweet nobody to bitchy diva to an alcoholic, and her “hitting rock bottom” scene is powerfully enacted.
As Shonali, Kangna Ranaut, makes for a decent antagonist. She does quite a good job as a cokehead and alcoholic, and on the runway, she is pretty fierce. However, she has played similar psychotic roles in the past with Gangster and Woh Lamhe, so she wasn’t really a revelation. A lot of her freakouts were a little over-the-top and pretty much every scene with her in it was the same – she snorted coke, started yelling, then started crying.

Newcomer, Mughda Godse played Janet, a model Meghna met as soon as she arrived in Mumbai, who helped to show her the ropes. She was perfect casting with her look and natural ease, and not once would you think she was inexperienced. The rest of the supporting cast was quite adequate, except for a couple of gay characters who had no substance and went into caricatures with their roles. And on a side note, there were some weird unnecessary special appearances by Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranvir Shorey that adds absolutely nothing to the story line. After seeing that scene, it felt surreal that it was actually in the movie.

The music serves more as a backdrop to the movie, and is used mostly during the fashion shows. Saying this, the soundtrack is sublime. When “Jalwa” plays at the first fashion show, it sets the perfect mood with its sexy-but-haunting rhythm. The rest of the tracks added similar quality and nothing seemed out of place.

All in all, the movie is worth a see because it is so different from your typical Indian movie. It has all the shock value showing a female experiencing all these tragic elements, but the story lacks just a little more depth.

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