Story – ‘Fashion’ is supposedly all about the world of models, fashion designers and modeling agencies along with a few gays and drug dealers thrown in for good measure. As you know by now, it’s the eventful journey of a small-town middle class girl, Meghna Mathur, who dreams making it big on the ramps and thus moves to Mumbai. (Mr Bhandarkar, I am not sure if Chandigarh is a small town.) Meghna’s rise, fall and rise are what this movie portrays.
Priyanka Chopra aka Meghna Mathur – The story starts in Chandigarh. Priyanka’s portrayal as a middle-class girl from Sector 17 in Chandigarh is not really effective - possibly because she dresses and behaves like a diva rather than a mousy, shy Punju girl outfitted in a jhatak salwar.
She is perfect as a fashion clotheshorse that has oodles of oomph. She transforms from a seedhi-saadhi ladki to a smoking, drinking and sex-indulging model who trades in ethics and attitude for arrogance and money. She moves from a nobody to a somebody – somebody who loses sense of who they are, and possibly their sanity, in the world of arc lights and magazine covers.
Kangna Ranaut aka Shonali – Kanga plays the battered druggie supermodel to a T. This is perhaps because she has had enough experience playing this type of character in two of her previous movies. I seriously believe she needs to now on to ‘meaningful roles’ as they call it. Shonali brought to mind two models in real life – model Gauhar Khan who turned into a drug addict and moved out of the modeling circuit to come back after 2 years and rise to the top again. Model Gitanjali Nagpal who moved from being model to druggie and finally, beggar! She was found on the streets rejected by her own family and is now hopefully rehabilitated.
Mugdha Godse aka Janet Sequeira – A B grade model who never makes it big but marries a gay designer and lives a happy life. For a first-time actress, she has acted well.
Direction – Madhur, as always, has ensured that everything is authentic about his subject – from the models, to the choreographers, to the clothes to the designers. He has even ensured that the Vogue cover shoot is the original Priyanka cover as is the Sunsilk ad.
The journey of Meghna Mathur seems authentic enough but I think Priyanka’s status as a star overshadowed the character she played. Maybe a newcomer would have made more of an impact.
What you are left with at the end of this movie is that the fashion business is just that - a business. There’s hardly room for relationships and as long you have your looks and retain your sanity, you will be ‘fashion’able.
My rating – 3/5 – 1.5 for Madhur, 1.5 for Priyanka. You can see this movie once.
I felt like ...
A Sensational Achievement.