Cast & Crew:

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Producer: Ronnie Screwwala
Writer: Ajay Monga, Madhur Bhandarkar
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse and Arjan Bajwa
Music Director: Salim-Sulaiman
Rating: 3 / 5

With egos clashing really badly right now, like two heavyweight boxers; between producers and multiplex owners, the pandora’s box of the Hindi film industry (fashionably called “bollywood”) is closed right now. But of the some of the last films that I saw, Fashion has been one of the ok ones.

Fast forwarding a bit, Fashion’s truth about the glamour industry can be quite a nightmare for wannabe entrants who trying their first pair of stilettos.

Priyanka Chopra is the foremost character highlighted in this movie, but with pillow cheeks she ain’t maketh a good ramp model and Madhur Bhandarkar should have realized that before casting her…his casting sensibility was at its peak while making excellent films like ‘Page 3′, ‘Corporate’, and ‘Chandni Bar’. Even now I adore Madhur Bhandarkar for his directional capabilities and choice of subjects.

Tuning in to the review, Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) who was previously a poor girl assumes a devilish role stamping each and everyone who comes in her way of becoming a successful ramp model. That includes Kangana Ranaut (a screaming & screeching, cocaine puffing supermodel; Shonali) and Janet; wannabe model. But then she meets Arbaaz Khan (dead pan expressions) who teaches Meghna a lesson or two in manipulativeness and cunningness. With puffy eyes she returns back to her home town. What was going good till now, has been tossed with an extra spoon of B’wood masala, with Meghna coming back, befriending everyone and then back to kissing the ramp; successfully. At the end, Meghna is pouting at the Paris Fashion Week, Shonali dies of cocaine overdose, Arbaaz Khan is busy giving blank expressions in Armani suits and Janet has married a gay designer and thinking of adopting a baby (wow!).

Mute the volume and Kangana is an amazing actress, Priyanka Chopra tries her best, but she cannot be categorized as a ramp model, Arjan Bajwa was good in parts.

If the film was only about ‘truth’ of the fashion industry; if that was so intended; the goody-goody factors included to make the film appear less stark; should have been left behind. The film’s intensity which had achieved such great graphs at such deep emotional moments (e.g. Shonali’s waldrobe malfunction and her cocaine abuse scenes) drops like a meteorite, when it tries to comply with the needs of both the masses and classes. You are left with an expression on your face which says “Hey what happened”! In totatility, a heady movie, but not with everlasting effects.