Fashion, err...rather anti-fashion is yet another ’real’ film belonging to the typical ’realism’ brand of its director. Crude in its portrayal
and predictable to the end of its 180th minute, the movie is merely an
amateur expose’ on an industry- the director obviously knows little
about.
But he knows all the salable, juicy tit-bits that
generally float around. Yes, we all know the voes and vices of many a
model and its flashed about a hundred times now. So, throwing open the
doors backstage, we see models with a glass of wine in one hand and a
fuming cigarette in the other, each. A highly judgmental and typical
opening!... Indian girls drinking and smoking?!..Horror!
So, a
naive, struggling model from Chandigarh enters into the big bad world
and is swallowed right in till she has abused herself in every possible
manner and is exploited till the last shred of her recognizable soul
disappears - that’s the basic premise and story of Fashion- a mockery
and so, so typical.
The movie is sure gaining a lot of empathy
over all, perhaps because it echoes what everyone has heard about the
big, bad and ugly world of Fashion and reassures them of their fears-
and ugly it definitely is-Madhur Bhandarkar’s "Fashion". Its made on a
whim when he saw the Geetanjali case and is shot in the same breath as
that of Traffic Signal- utterly downmarket.
I
do understand the movie was aimed at showing the dark side of a
glamorous business, nothing in the movie is false, it is real, very,
very real perhaps-but when one makes a real film, why is only the
negative part so real? What’s with the completely obnoxiously cynical
view? All designers being gay, plagiarizers and all models high on
something or the other. It’s almost saying there is no talent or hard
work-only drinking, smoking, sleeping, drugs-these four are the pillars
of the movie.
While naming a movie ’Fashion’, how about really
understanding fashion and not hiring some B-grade stylist and giving
the entire movie a grotesque look! Is it a license to be real ? Infact,
a just title could’ve been ’Ek Showstopper ki Dastaan’ or something...
The
first part failed to hold my fancy, as the struggler became a
supermodel and we were bombarded by amateur fashion shows and
horrendous styling. Post interval it manages to hook on as the
amotional quotient rises, but then again in the name of sensationalism
and filmy antics, stretches further and refuses to connect.
Priyanka
Chopra is definitely first rate. Kangana Ranaut perhaps is so
convincing that I’d never ever think that she is sane- overtly
neurotic. As many would argue that its showing everything real, I do
not deny any of that. But for me its just another TV soap that lays
down two kind of women- the homely angels or the dark, evil vixens- so
much for realism! Ofcourse, all the male models it seems had abandoned
the industry, while the small town girl beat across the gruesome path...
The
movie overall is too crude to be called Cinema-it just lacks finesse in
every department- direction, lighting, camera work, sets, styling.
Restraint on excitement to share gossip and being happily judgmental
and generalizing as well as refinement in content on the director’s
part could’ve definitely made the simple tale more elegant and poised,
than tacky.