By Martin D'Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network
Is FASHION a sequel to PAGE 3? While director Madhur Bhandarkar will disagree, one cannot but connect the two. And it does look like an extension of Bhandarkar's hit film, which was based on the lives of the people who love to party, media bosses, struggling actors and journalists who cover the party beat. FASHION focuses on the lives of three models: one a supermodel Kangana Ranaut (Shonali), another who is established on the circuit Mugdha Godse (Janet), and a third, who comes from a small town, Chandigarh, to make it big, Priyanka Chopra (Meghna Mathur). So you begin with parties, networking, fashion shows, and model coordinators. A typical 'kua ma doob jaao' situation! So what's wrong with FASHION? Plenty. The script, I get a feeling, was at a discussion level when shooting began. That's because long before Bhandarkar announced his film and completed his casting, events kept happening in the fashion world which he 'reportedly' kept incorporating. Like for instance, the famous case of model Gitanjali Nagpal who was found begging on the streets of Delhi. Secondly, most of his characters are not well defined. The character of Arbaaz Khan (Abhijit Sarin), the owner of Panache, is too clinical. There's no emotion and no menace in his madness. His wife's refusal to question him is appalling, neither is this 'comatose' situation of hers established. Moreover, when Meghna tells her that she has aborted her husband's child, she has a hand in terminating her modeling contract. I mean this here is a 'woman woman' thing. Kangana Ranaut is a brilliant actress but somehow, Bhandarkar has not used her to her potential. Her character 'supposedly' has shades of Gitanjali and Shivani Kapur, which surprisingly, has never been spoken about in the media. All we heard of were Carol Gracias and Gitanjali Janet's friendship with Meghna is never established and the next you know is Janet giving tips to Meghna at a party. Either it was never shot, or was cut at the editing table. That reminds me, the length is excessively long. This film could have done away with trimming of 25 minutes. The first half drags and there are only two scenes that really stand out, one when Meghna is insulted by a designer in the green room and another when she and Arjan Bajwa (Maanav) have a tiff. In the second half, the scene where Meghna finds herself in bed with a black man in well thought out. And when Meghna goes back to Chandigarh, her parents are too happy. I mean were they not aware what their daughter went through? Drugs, sexual abuse, mental trauma? I'm sure they do because they take her to a psychiatrist. But her father tells her it's ok to fail, but to fail and not rise again is not ok. So she packs her bag once again for Mumbai. So what goes in favour? Bhandarkar has taken pains to shoot the ramp shows and green room scenes realistically. His modeling of the designers on the gay fraternity, too, is realistic. But this won't be enough to sustain the film at the Box Office even for audiences in the Metros. If he had put as much energies into the script as he put into its promotion, the film would have been quite different. But here, the 'Madhur Magic' is missing. You expect much more from a (National) award-winning director because you know he is capable of bigger things. Mugdha Godse makes an agressive, confident start. However, she has to work on many rough edges to smoothen her act on screen. Arjan Bajwa has a striking screen presence. Sameer Soni as designer Rahul Arora finally gets his due. A convincing performance. As for Priyanka Chopra, she does not look as smashing as she looked in DRONA (make-up by Mickey Contractor) but she does pack in a punch with her performance. After her debut film ANDAAZ and AITRAAZ, this is one film where her performance will be the talking point.
