Fashion

Bollywood movie industry has started making realistic films. This movie explores the world of fashion and all those who wish to be model won't get inspired after watching this film. "In the world of fashion you have to compromise more than just your morals." Models here are alcoholics and drug addicts.

Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) is a small town middle class girl who wants to be a model, especially after winning a beauty contest. After many procedures she becomes one and many problems starts to occur.

Movie is directed well with lots of effort from the cast and the crew. Costumes are all nice showing the present day fashion. Priyanka Chopra surprisingly delivered a good performance. She has taken a lot of effort for role. Kangna Ranaut's role was more challenging and she pulled it off easily. The newcomer Mugda Godse also did her part well.

The songs are good and the background score is excellent. The title music of fashion is stupendous. Overall it is a good movie especially towards the end. The last one hour is the best in this film.

7/10

Fashion was a really nice movie, and mostly it was it was showing the life of models. It even shows the models dark side, not only smoking, drinking etc. Priyanka Chopra did a very good acting as Meghna Mathur. But I felt that if she could have given a bit more expressions it would have been a better film. Kangana Raunat did a satisfying role as Shonali Gujral. She was into her character. Specially then when she had to act drunken etc. I guess she was the one who acted the best in this movie. But I still think the movie could be made shorter. She really showed how ambitious she was. Priyanka really showed how nicely she could act and do cat walk. I think Madhur Bhandarkar has made a really successful and real life based movie. His movie has a depth and shows the real life of models. You all should go and see this incredible movie.

Madhur Bhandarkar is known for revealing the stark truths of various facets of the Indian society. And this definitely doesn't change with Fashion as well. A well told story of a small town girl with big aspirations, who loses herself to the devouring fashion industry only to re discover herself at the end of it all. Your routine run of the mill story? Not quite. Madhur has picked up important events in India's fashion industry (wardrobe malfunction, the demented model found in the markets etc.) and shown what all models go through. The identities of various designers, how the industry REALLY works and how a fashion career is to be perceived are very well told. The music is awesome, and the ramp scenes are truly genius.

The downside? the movie is too long, could be cut short by half an hour at least. Priyanka Chopra doesn't always look as glamorous as she should, but Kangana Ranaut justifies her role completely and pulls of a good show. All in all, definitely not to miss, what with the lean bollywood season going on, fashion is definitely a'show stopper'

Ramp walks, arrogant supermodels, conniving modeling agency heads, wardrobe malfunctions, and delusional ex models on the street - expectedly it's all there in Madhur Bhandarkar's take on the fashion industry, 'Fashion'. It is a hard hitting look alright, but being a first of its kind perspective as far as Bollywood is concerned, it does get away with a few inconsistencies. In trying to bridge the chasm between perception and reality about the glam world of modeling through the story of the rise and fall of aspiring model Meghna Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) the film does stand out thanks to its well crafted fashion show sequences, intense performances and a nice dose of self deprecating gags (Bhandarkar even plays himself in a cameo!). But where it lacks is that after not taking itself too seriously early on, the second half is a little too intense a tad too long. Priyanka Chopra deserves special mention for easing into the metamorphic role from aspirant to the supermodel who then goes on to lose her modeling mojo. The other two models, Shonali (Kangana Ranaut is pretty tolerable in a slightly uni-dimensional role) and Janet (Mugdha Godse seems comfortable) hold their own as well. Even the support roles (Ashwin Mushran as the very gay Rohit Khanna looks suspiciously familiar to Stanley Tucci's character from 'The Devil Wears Prada' while Kitu Gidwani puts in a quietly confident role as Anisha Roy) are well executed though they are a bit on the caricaturish side. Bhandarkar packs every news-bite possible about the fashion industry into the script which tends to lose focus in the latter half. But as is his wont he does manage to touch a few chords and at least agitate the viewer's mind. In short, as far as the invite to this 'Fashion' show goes, come for Madhur Bhandarkar and stay for Priyanka Chopra!

With 'Fashion' Bhandarkar, quite obviously, takes us to the world of fashion. The storytelling falls on the same line as his previous films like 'Corporate', 'Page 3' and 'Chandni Bar'. In a way this is a strength and weakness. The good thing about it is that it shows a darker side of the fashion industry, though Bhandarkar does not go as extreme like he did in 'Page 3'.

The problem with his portrayal is that there is no good side. The fashion industry is portrayed as hell. Clearly it couldn't be that bad for every model. I'm not saying that Bhandarkar needs to balance both the good and the bad in his film (as his focus is on the negative) but a glimpse of the positive would have been interesting. Bhandarkar's own 'Satta' is an example (and I believe it is his best film to date).

What is it that attracts people about becoming a part of the fashion industry? Is it just the glitter and glamour? What is it that attracts Meghna to become a supermodel? These are things I would have liked to see in the film but Bhandarkar pretty much follows the 'small-town girl enters hell' routine. This was also the same problem with 'Page 3' (where all the rich and wealthy are portrayed as bad), 'Corporate' (ditto) and 'Chandni Bar' (society is bad). What Bhandarkar does is simply throw the negative in the audience's face and let the 'heroine' suffer.

Moreover, Bhandarkar infuses some deja-vu and clichéd plots such as Meghna getting pregnant (a la Tara Sharma in 'Page 3'). The homosexual characters are stereotypically portrayed (with the exception of Samir Soni's character). Perhaps a more satirical approach could have made this a better film. Where editing is concerned, there are too many walk-on-the ramp scenes. Alright so it's a movie about fashion so that is expected but overdoing commercial isn't necessary (though it is not as bad as 'The Devil Wears Prada') Yet, 'Fashion' isn't all that bad. It does make one aware of the kind of darkness that taints the industry. The storytelling is compelling in parts as I liked the idea of showing the rise of one model leading to another's fall from grace.

The performances are good. It's been a long while since Priyanka Chopra's been in a role of substance and she does a good job of carrying the film. Mughda Godse makes a confident debut and definitely does a fine job. Kangana Ranaut is a little too loud and is clearly getting typecast as the damsel in distress. Samir Soni too does a fine job and Ashwin Mushran performs adequate as Meghna's supporter. Kitu Gidwani and Arjan Bajwa make their presence felt and Arbaaz Khan is sufficient.

Overall, 'Fashion' is certainly no bad watch. I like that Bhandarkar attempts different kinds of films and the risky subject matters that scare away other filmmakers. There may be a little pretension and one-sidedness but in the end it's the story of an individual trying to make it and then losing herself in an albeit exaggerated biased ruthless bad world.