Yasser Usman reviews Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion

Fashion (2008)

Madhur Bhandarkar has his own brand of cinema that is identified with his previous acclaimed films like Chandni bar, Satta, Page 3, Corporate and Traffic Signal ( though there are also the eminently forgettables Trishakti and Aan ). The common point in all the above films are strong women protagonists; focus on one particular aspect of the society; good research and then creating entertaining stories that move the critics, the audiences and the box office together. His films never compromise on the Entertainment quotient despite being preachy sometimes. It’s a formula that has clicked so far for Madhur and Fashion promises that the successful run will continue.

Bhandarkar plays a peeping tom into the big bad world of Fashion through his protagonists- Chandigarh girl Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) who moves to Mumbai with the ambition to become a super model. Shonali Gujral (Kangana Ranaut), the arrogant drug-addict super model and Janet (Mugdha Ghodse in a brilliant debut), a model with a golden heart.

Through the character of Priyanka Chopra, the director takes us to bright and dark alleys of the fashion world. She struggles, achieves her dream of becoming the super model, shattering of her dream and then finally the grand comeback. It’s a long story and it has all the clichéd characters and situations that you can relate with the modeling and designer fraternity. We have gay designers, super-bitchy models, drugs, sex and politics of this business. Madhur has intelligently incorporated events like wardrobe malfunction, abuse of models and even a reference to the Geetanjali Nagpal episode.

The first half of Fashion is a little dragged where the characters of all the protagonists are established. The story moves really slowly. Its just show the clichéd things about the struggle of a new model. The story really picks up in the second half when it actually deals with the internal politics of the fashion world and the emotional outbursts of the main protagonists. Some scenes really hit you hard.

The film belongs to Priyanka Chopra. This is undoubtedly her best performance and a strong contender for all the major awards. She looks terrific, delivers a knock-out performance and portrays the confidence of a super model with great panache as well as her fall from grace with a remarkable vulnerability. Debutant Mugdha Godse is first rate and she definitely is the one to watch out for. Kangna Ranaut has played her part nicely but in her case it’s a similar depressed character she has done earlier in Gangster and Woh Lamhe.   Special mention to Arjan bajwa, the guy who plays Priyanka’s boyfriend has given a very mature and controlled performance. Arbaz Khan, Sameer Soni and Harsh Chaya are good too.

The dialogues are by Niranjan Iyengar and he has kept them simple yet with punches at right places.  Music could have been better but then music has never been a strong point of Bhandarkar’s films.  The only flaw with fashion is that it is too long and becomes really depressing towards the end. A 20 minutes shorter version could have been much better.

Fashion should do well in multiplexes. However an A-certificate by the censor board might stop families from watching this film that is quite bold in its theme and treatment.

Fashion is a good effort. Watch it…You will not regret it.

My Rating:

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Email/Bookmark  Print This Post

Recommended...

Fashion: Models can’t think saala?

Curtain Comes down on the 7th Third Eye Asian Film Festival

Countdown Begins for Asian Film Festival in Mumbai

Shemaroo Releases UTV World Movies Titles on DVD

7th Third Eye Asian Film Festival to Open Tomorrow