Everything about Fashion is glitzy. Or is it? Madhur Bhandarkar tries it all. The failings of the fashion industry in India; supermodel-turned-drug addict-turned-streetwalker Gitanjali Nagpal, the malfunctioning wardrobes a-la Carol Gracias and pansy fashion designers, are all there for good measure. And there’s more. The swift rise of a small-town, beauty contest winner, Meghna Mathur, from ignominy to the face of Vogue and…hold your breath…the leading fashion house in India—Panache; the fall of the reigning queen of the ramp, falling prey to the lures of the glamour world—drugs, boyfriends, raves, romps, etc, etc; the rapid highs and lows of one of the fastest growing industries in India; Bhandarkar thought he got it all right! Well, almost! But not quite, I guess! He begins to tell us all, a tale of a super-successful supermodel. Girl lands in Mumbai with stars in her eyes, meets a aspiring fashion designer, gets to know the ‘real’ world of fashion, falls for another struggling male model, lives in with him, shows off her portfolio to every show choreographer in town, even does a lingerie add with much trepidation for some quick bucks. Somewhere, around the middle of the film, it gets murky. The girl is ambitious, she wants the upper crust; role model? Supermodel, showstopper—Shonali Gujral. Enter the owner of the fashion house, Abhijeet Sareen. He likes Meghna, promotes her, sacks Shonali, and lo and behold! Meghna is the face of Panache…she is all over; hoardings, TV ads, the ramp, the works. The fall too is mercurial. Late night parties, whirlwind shows, designers eating out of her hands, Sareen as a lover, an abortion, coke, a one-night stand with a male hooker…and the girl gets into the depths of depression, goes back to her immediate family and the psychiatrist. The pain is too much for her to bear. She is a wreck…again, almost. The stars in her eyes have not faded. Her father, who initially stopped her from getting into life in the fast lane, eggs her on to go back to the city of dreams. She does. Old friends help. She chances upon old rival Shonali Gujral on the streets…gets her home and treated, takes care. This is her final redemption. Meanwhile she succeeds in making her way back into the groove, gets work, also an offer from and old designer friend to be the showstopper for his next big show; low on confidence, she says no…this time Shonali eggs her on. The climax is disturbing. Just when the now-bundle-of-nerves, former supermodel is about to step out onto the ramp, the local policeman calls her to inform about Shonali’s death from drug overdose. The girl is shattered. But she must walk, walk for the dead former showstopper, walk to get over that one horrible night that she spent with the hooker…she does…and how! The graph zooms up again. End of story.
Priyanka Chopra is efficient. Kangna Ranaut is brilliant…in places. The ramp sequences shot with her in the lead shine through as some of the best in the film, she is pure energy on the ramp. Revelation of the film—ramp model Mugdha Godse. As a B-grade model who helps Meghna find work and then helps her through tough times in her life after marrying a gay fashion designer, she is quite magical for a first-timer. The men in the film, for once, are peripheral. Arbaaz Khan as the high flying fixer Sareen is understated and effective; Arjan Bajwa as Meghna’s former boyfriend remains just that, Meghna’s former boyfriend. The male designers, so typically, are all gay. Bhandarkar does not budge from the beaten track. But that’s what he’s known for. The film isn’t bad though. However, why is there so much depression and gloom? Can ambition not be clean?
