’Corporate’ is second in the trio that madhur Bhandarkar wishes to make where first being Page 3 and the final product - Signal.
If Page 3 was about the party circuit then corporate is about boardroom battles. if you have seen Page 3 you will immediately realize that there is a strong similarity between the two. You can call it a typical Bhandarkar film. What I mean by this is that it is a film that will show you the real (ugly) side of the corporate world as ruthlessly as possible.
story:
This is a story about the battle between the two consumer goods manufacturing giants - the Sehgals and the Marwahs. The Sehgal camp is led by Rajat Kapoor whereas the Marwah camp by Raj Babbar. Both extremely successful, extremely influencial and extremely unethical! As the film starts we see the Sehgals rising and rising as if nothing is going to stop them. The big turn in their success story happens when they get the Friscon company deal. Friscon is an international softdrink company which comes to India.Also a man from their camp becomes the Financial Minister.
Nishigandha Dasgupta aka Nishi ( Bipasha Basu) is the Vice President of the Sehgal Group of Industries. Navin (Chayya) is the right hand of the Sehgal and has been working with the sehgals for the past 11 yrs. Riteish ( Kay Kay Menon) is the brother in law of the sehgal. He and Nishi have been in love since the time they met first when NIshi came to mumbai after her divorce with her 6 months married husband. On the other hand there is the lusty CEO of the Marwah International Pvt. Ltd. (played by Sandeep Mehta). He is Extremely intelligent but the only thing that comes his way is his lust. There are many other not so important characters in the Marwah camp. The main focus is obviously on the Sehgal group for most of the big stars are working there! Another important character is the corrupt minister (Vinay Apte).
Coming back to the story, the government decides to sell the public sector to the private sector. For the same various companies are to file tendors and the best quoted price would win. The Sehgals want a particular plot for setting up a softdrink factory whereas the Marwahs wish to set up a factory for mineral water. In this quest various companies are given deals to quote less and lots of under the table dealings take place ....( this is one of the must watch parts of the films.) But the Marwahs get the piece of cake because they succeed in offering a better deal to the minister who is the main authority. So the Marwahs get the taste of VICTORY.
But the actual plan of the Marwahs is to set up a mint based colddrink factory on that plot. Nishi through her sources gets to know that. She plays a cheap and unethical game with the lusty CEO of the Marwahs and gets all the details about their project. Now the Sehgals plan to do the same but just in 3 months. In the meanwhile some Corporate Awards are distributed. Vinay Sehgal is suppose to get it , atleast that is what his source in the media ( lillette dubey ) tells him. But unfortunately Dharmesh Marwah gets it. Lillette Dubey has to bare the brunt of it.
Now Vinay Sehgal announces that they will be launching a new mint based drink just in 45 days. Along with it the Public notice will also come out.
Everything was going fine when suddenly their liscence is cancelled because there are high amounts of pesticides in the drink which are carcinogenic. Vinay Sehgal was in no mood to postpone the launch for that would mean a loss of 4000 crores of rupees. So after giving a bribe to the officials he launches the product.
On the other hand Dharmesh marwah finds out how the details about the drink gets leaked. The CEO is fired. Now he gets one of the employees of the Sehgal group into confidence and gets the details out. He approaches the minister and various NGO’s and bring the naked face of the Sehagls in public. The Sehgals get ruined totally. Through some legal discussions they find a way out and trap Nishi into it . And Nishi who is madly in love with Ritiesh willingly goes through it all. But for what .... Sehgals and Marwahs join hands . Ritiesh who tries to protest gets killed. even 2 yrs later nishi , who even has a child from RItiesh is still fighting her case.
THE END
Review:
PLOT: A well researched story with the right twist. during the first half of the film there are a lot of corporate terms coming into picture which gives it a realistic feel. it is a very well written story! the chemistry between Bipasha and Kay Kay is well balanceed between the boardrooms.
PERFORMANCES: SIMPLY BRILLIANT . Bipasha has given her best so far! If you are not attentive you could miss Minisha Lamba and Shamir Dattani. Do we need to mention that Kay Kay was very good. Everybody .. from Rajat Kapoor ansd RAj Babbar to harsh Chayya to Vinay to Sandeep Mehta to Lillette Dubey ...were all Brilliant
SOUNDTRACK: the background score was nice but the songs were BAD.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Nothing extra ordinary ! I dont know if it was bad make up or bad lighting ... but the actors were looking terrible. bipasha was hot but her face....... sorry!( I know many wont agree).
DIrECTION: a typical one ! It was nice but same as Page 3 ... ONe shouldnt become stereotype!
EDITING: this is one of the good things about the film. the parallel flow of the two companies is shown extremely well.