Though, Bhandarkar has prepared a very entertaining potpourri - that is watchable, in this movie, he definitely does not reach the pinnacle of his career as he has claimed after its screening at Pune Film Festival. Here is why :
This is a story of a budding journo (konkana Sen), who comes to big bad city of Bombay from Bangalore. No prizes for guessing what her assignment is - Page Three. She has an understanding boss (Boman Irani) who is an industry veteran. She has a ’’phataka’’ flatmate called Pearl - an Air hostess. These two are joined by a budding actress from Delhi. And she gets a boyfriend who is trying to make his mark in modelling.
From here onwards movie is a series of entertaining episodes which are not necessarily connected with one another. Page Three is a world full of partying industrialists, star/actors, models, partying policemen, fashion folks, aspiring professionals, hi-society wives doubling up as social workers, and gate crashers :-) Movie moves from one party to another with an item number thrown in. This is interspersed with hilarious comments by a ’’knowledgeable’’ driver and sometimes cameramen. The attempt is to show the hollow lives of literati. The director not only make meek observations but subjective comments also. The only once to come unscathed are social workers who are running orphanages.
The scenes keep switching back and forth from new paper office to the parties it is covering. Then there are highs and lows of journalistic professional lives. All the protagonist can do is cry (a womanly trait???) when things don’t go her way. The battle rages on between good and evil, while trying to do justice to its profession that demands ’’public trust’’. Ultimately the goodie-goodie girl journo opts out of page three and is given the crime beat. This is where she pairs up with a seasoned journo (Atul Kulkarni). Here she faces a bomb blast and also happens to cover PAge three same evening only to face a partying policeman who gets lectured about his duties.
Page three has everything except rape. Here is the list homosexuality, pining for younger partners, drugs, paedophilia.........you name it and you have it. This movies does have bright spots like a great song by inimitable Asha Bhosle and the dance sequence tailored to beats of rave followed by a bust conducted by ’’ghati’’ inspector (must-watch). The director tries to sensationalize the audience topic of paedophilia. To achieve this if he has to show back sides of poor children on screen, so be it!!!
As I do wish that people who want to be entertained will watch the movie, so I am not giving away anything more from then plot. All said and done, Bhandarkar is a director who knows how to make a fast paced movie that will keep his audiences riveted. He has not been pretentious and tried to give his audiences a message.
As far as the star cast goes it is a motley crew of failed actors like Vikram Saluja (better known as Model Mr India), ex-TV personalities like Dolly Thakore and a lot of Marathi TV personalities. Kudos to a couple of marathi theatre/serial actors who play driver and inspector. Watch out for them. They are likely to be fixtures in bollywood for times to come.
Verdict : More Style than substance, albeit entertaining.