This review is a bit late I know, but I only just got to see Page 3.
The movie has distinctive characters; it is an exciting, surprising movie; it comments on society; and it has good acting.
Overall the movie was not as dark as I had feared, and did have sympathetic characters. Even when the characters did wrong, their motives were not always malicious or shallow. I can sympathize with flaws, even if I don’t support the actions taken because of them.
I liked the movie’s focus on female characters. The three roommates’ interactions were spectacular -- perhaps the foundation of how a female-centered ’’Dil Chahta Hai’’ (as a fellow poster on an Internet message-board I frequent would like to see) would be like. But, unless I misheard, director Madhur Bhandarkar said in a Q&A after the film festival screening I attended, that the focus on women was in large part just because he couldn’t afford male stars. It was a budget issue. How disappointing
I also liked the character of the policeman who works with the journalists to nab criminals -- very sincere; it was a shock when he committed what could kind of be described as an encounter killing.
Great twists came aplenty. I was most shocked by the behavior of the struggling actress character, Gayatri, at the end. How sad.
Also, Page 3 had more substance than I thought. I thought the movie would just be about the seedy underside of high society only. But the movie also talked about broader society. For example, we listen in on the characters’ drivers. There is the sincere policeman I mentioned earlier. And when the female journalist character moves from Page 3 to the crime beat, the movie gets spectacular. My ex-roommate liked, for instance, how the movie raises the issue of a child sex abuse ring.
I also like the fairly unstereotyped, positive portrayal of a gay character, Abhijeet.
Many have already praised Konkona Sensharma and Boman Irani (who are very good), so I won’t dwell on them here.
Instead I will mention the contributions of Atul Kulkarni as the ’’journalist working within the system to change the system’’, who along with Konkona Sensharma’s character is someone to root for, and plays his role well with a bit of mystery; and Bikram Saluja, who provides a solid, assured presence as superstar Rohit Kumar, and should really do more movies. (The only other movie I’ve seen of Saluja’s is Fiza, where he plays Fiza’s boyfriend memorably. This is one actor who can still make an impact in women-centered movies ... Take note, Arjun Rampal!) There are other great actors and actresses too, whose names I do not know.
Bobby Ddarling is misused in a stereotypical role, but thank goodness there is the aforementioned guy playing Abhijeet too. I loved the ’’too loud’’ dialogue about the makeup.
My one major problem with the movie is the sleazy item song. The characters make comments like ’’a song for the masses’’ and ’’a truck driver’s song’’ while it is performed. Is Bhandarkar making fun of elitists who put on sleazy stuff they don’t like because they think the masses will like it -- or does he actually have this attitude about the masses himself?
After watching this movie, now every time I read an article online about Bollywood, I wonder what else went on behind the scenes before it was put into words.
I also wonder whether my favorites all engage in the behavior shown in the movie.
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later edit to add: I forgot to mention, I was pleasantly surprised by Suniel Shetty appearing as himself. It shows how much the movie did not have star actors that it took my breath away to see a ’’star’’.
Also, I found out the name of the actress playing Gayatri -- Tara Sharma. I thought she was very good at portraying the depths of despair and innocence of her character, and the transformation of her character.