Heroine

I watched Heroine in cinema hall today and I was looking into my watch more than looking into the screen because I desperately wanted the movie to come to an end. This is one of the biggest disappointment of the year after such a hype for this movie. There was no story at all and I was confused what was going on in the movie. There was nothing in it and Kareena was crying all from starting to end. Arjun Rampal was not at all matching to kareena and Randeep Hooda was totally wasted in this movie. The director plotted many emotional scenes in the movie which according to him was supposed to make the audience also emotional, but I was more emotional of wasting my money and time for this movie. My rating is 1/10.

As the title indicates, this is the story of a Bollywood heroine (in fact a collection of some episodes from her life and career). People keep on coming in and going out of her life and she finally ends up running away from the arc-lights and the sounds like Light, Camera, Action, Cut etc., i.e., instead of being a crowd-puller, feels better being a part of the crowd. She is indecisive or confused as to what she actually wants from her life - a successful career or a love-filled life with the man of her choice. And as a Hindi maxim tells - Duvidha Mein Dono Gaye, Maaya Milee Na Raam (in the condition of being in a fix, the person may get neither God nor wealth), she finally gets none of them.

The way every coin has two sides, the same way every world or field has two altogether different sides – one bright one and one dark one. And the so-called realistic filmmaker – Madhur Bhandarkar has typed himself as a filmmaker concentrating on the dark side only of the field he is dealing with in his movie. The problem is that he always takes his audience for granted and wants it to believe whatever he shows as true.

Madhur Bhandarkar has not shown any strugglers or acting lessons or a sincerity towards the profession. Instead he has chosen to show only the successful heroes and heroines and their activities involving mud-slinging, leg-pulling, scores-settling and dirty politics. And just like Fashion, he has shown smoking, drinking, drug-consumption, unsocial behaviour in the parties and casual sex (both heterosexual and homosexual). Is this all the film industry contains ? Is this the only scenario of a heroine's life ? After spending more than a decade in the film industry, do Madhur Bhandarkar and Kareena Kapoor want to tell the world that this is what they experience in this line ? Madhur Bhandarkar has shown that hype is everything and bad publicity is also considered as commercially beneficial. Well, this applies to this over-hyped film itself.

In the beginning sequence of Subhash Ghai's Pardes (1997), Amrish Puri says to a Westerner, 'In your country, love means Len-Den, i.e., give and take whereas in India love means Dena Dena Dena, i.e., give give give. However Madhur Bhandarkar has shown that in this industry (which he himself is a part of), there is only give and take. Every talk, every gesture, every emotion, every relationship is artificial and motivated by self-interest. Well, he and Kareena Kapoor know better.

Chums and dress-designers hovering around heroines are shown as speaking and behaving quite theatrically. Every female smokes. Every heroine is addressed by the talking person as 'babes' or 'baby'. Partisan media persons believe in settling their scores with the stars. Awards are negotiated. Heroes' possessive wives decide the heroines of their movies. Heroes do editing themselves, cutting the roles of those who do not come to their terms. Heroines devote more time to backbiting (or bitching) their contemporaries. Well, at least this is one fact which is confirmed through Kareena Kapoor's own life because she used to do it with her rival heroines till a few years back. For the rest, I am not sure to be fully true. All the same, how can I challenge the perception of Madhur and Kareena of their own line of work ?

The hard-hitting dialogs serve Madhur's purpose best. In one dialog, the ruthless PRO (Divya Dutta) of the heroine says that in the film-line, if you utter a lie with confidence, people consider it as truth. And in another scene, one party-woman says to her talking companion that who is not a fraud in this film industry. Well Madhur, do you say the same about yourself too ? The movie leaves such an impression only.

Technically, the movie is good. Music is in line with the mood of the movie. Though engrossing, the movie appears to be too long and the director seems to have attempted to cover as many facets of the cine-world, as possible which has, after a point, made the movie as burdensome. It has got reduced to a collection of some good and some bad sentences instead of being developed into a well-written impressive article.

Performances are all good. Even those who have been forced by the director to go over the top, have not disappointed. Kareena Kapoor has taken her heart out to invest in this movie and this movie seems to be a take on the real life and career of this aging actress (completed 32 years). All others have done well. Special praise is deserved by Divya Dutta as the PRO and Helen as the heroine of the yesteryears. In addition to the entertainment value, it's the performances and the track of Helen which can be considered as the pluses of this movie. Madhur Bhandarkar's realism seems to be a different name for tried and tested entertainment only.

The biggest thing that the movie subtly conveys is the dictum which I learnt quite late in my life – 'When you chase things, they run away'. When the 'heroine' in the movie chases love, love runs away from her and when she chases success in career, success runs away from her and all of her efforts prove to be counter-productive only in the end. Hence the great lesson rendered by default is never to run after anything. Let it go after a point.

Finally, I conclude my review with a dialog of the PRO to the heroine in a scene – 'Either you manipulate others to your benefit or get ready to be manipulated yourself'. Madhur Bhandarkar seems to have grasped the essence of this dialog and this time he has manipulated.

Kareena Kapoor has always been involved in the largest blockbusters in Bollywood, and starring with the 3 Khans in films like 3 Idiots with Aamir, RA.One with Shah Rukh, and Bodyguard with Salman has made her one of the few who have collaborated with all of them in their respective hit films (OK, so RA.One kinda disappointed). Heroines have never had it easy in Bollywood when compared to the heroes, and Kareena is currently at the top of her game, but can she, like Vidya Balan, and Priyanka Chopra, marquee her own movie? The answer is probably yes, but if the self referential Heroine is anything like the title goes, she's going to need a better story and tighter script in order to make an impact.

The first look at the trailer and various promotional clips may have one thinking this is somewhat like Chopra's Fashion, also written and directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, in terms of charting the come and go, ups and downs, and longevity of the career of a fickle, fame driven industry, replacing the world of fashion with that of the movies, and also taken a leaf out of Balan's The Dirty Picture in centering the story around an actress who is willing to risk all for a shot at fame, and sustaining her position at the top of the cut throat food chain of an industry, but Bhandarkar's film now could have benefited from attempting to craft a more psychologically complex film, or taken a deeper, more provocative look at the industry itself. It missed on a lot of marks set, and the film huffed and puffed throughout before finally collapsing on its own weight near the finishing line.

It's not that Kareena Kapoor didn't try to save the film. Her star power is going to be the box office draw here, and she did her best for a role that had her dig deep into emotions, especially plenty of negative ones as her character of Mahi, an actress on the cusp of decline, gets embroiled pretty much on her lack of solid relationships with the opposite sex, her insecurities both personal and professional, and her conduct with the various spectrum of her industry, from peers, to rivals, and the handling of the media. Not a chance goes by where Mahi passes on being catty to those she dislikes, and in the ways of the world, what you do unto others, others will do unto you. Kapoor showcases her acting chops and while convincing, she's clearly let down by the plot of the movie.

Beginning quite inexplicably with Mahi being thrown out of a car, then barging into a police station wanting to lodge a report, it goes into flashback mode to chart how we got to this stage, showing the world Mahi inhibits, with the glitz, and the glamour, and the movie premieres and after parties where stars will cajole with directors and producers to chart their next project. Transitions seemed to be in a hurry, and scenes were haphazardly strung together, probably in eagerness to show how confused, and broken the state of mind and emotion is for Mahi in the fame game, despite showing nonchalance to the competition from amongst peers.

Heroine also got bogged down by the none too perfect relationships, making Bollywood seem like a cesspool for broken relationships, infidelity and adultery, where actors prey on actresses in their hotel rooms and trailers, and sports personalities become adamant in wanting an equally famous actor/actress hang by their arms. Its look into the behind the scenes in the industry just scratched the superficial surface of casting for a film, where a string of hits will continue to bring on big budgeted projects and plenty of money spinning endorsements, while duds, or not being in the limelight for whatever reasons good or bad, will slowly see one's career starting to fade. These again are something known through the grapevine, and need not be repeated ad nausem in the film just to chalk up screen time.

Subplots were also hap-hazardly added into the film, making it more bewildering, and sprawling a lot more than necessary. An art-house film, and its eccentric director and acting muse, almost threatened to run away with the film from the mid point, providing what would make up to be the better bits in the movie because it was getting tiring witnessing Mahi perpetually drunk, or high, or just plain down, most of which were self inflicted. The self- destruct button was clearly set by Mahi in her burning of bridges and destruction of any semblance of friendship and relationships formed, and the story was stuck in this rut of self- torture, before trying its very best to turn things around in what could have been a wake up call to the transience of life, haphazardly assembled for the last few scenes as Mahi sold her soul for one more hurrah.

In what would be reel life imitating real life, there's an unfortunate tragedy in the production of the film that would likely bring the curious to watch Heroine, just like how a scandal boosted Mahi's hopes of a comeback. Heroine could have been a fascinating look at the industry, and a great showcase for Kareena Kapoor, which unfortunately didn't turn out to be as well as expected, and kind of a disappointment.

"Oh my god" That was my reaction when I came out of theater watching latest Madhur Bhandarkar film "Heroine". I kept wondering, "Is this the same director who has given movies like Satta, Chandani Bar, Page 3, Corporate and Fashion?". So at the outset let me say this, "Please don't watch this movie". And now the reasons.

Story: There is no story at all. The film is like a pendulum which swings from one direction to other, But at least pendulum helps to move the arms of watch. This story does not do any good to the movie. So I must say very badly written. And if the story itself is bad then it is just 2-3 hrs of cloths, foreign shoots and glamorous parties nothing else.

Screenplay: I am no expert but I can definitely tell the difference between good and bad. And it was bad.

Music: At one point I actually closed my ears. I found it too loud. It has just added to the sorrows of film.

Cast: One of the main reasons behind successful Madhur Bhandarkar films is the cast. And not just the central characters but the ensemble of characters gave the required impact to all of his previous films. This is not the case with Heroine. Apart from Kareena, Divya Dutta, Randeep Hooda and Ranveer Shauri no one leaves any impression. Kareena has done a "great job" in her portrayal of impulsive, moody yet emotional Mahi Arora who passes through turmoils of personal and professional hurdles. But how? By drinking, shrieking, smoking and crying in entire film nothing else. Additionally the character itself is so confused that at one point you wonder "Is there no such thing as self respect or learning from one's mistakes? I mean how can someone be so naive?". Somehow one cannot imagine Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Suri as Superstars. Arjun Rampal, in particular, has same expression in entire film. Helenji does reasonably good job apart from 1-2 pronunciations like "Heroin" for "Heroine" (which I might have heard incorrectly as I was half asleep). Ranveer Shauri dazzles and makes his presence felt (probably best portrayal in the movie).

To summarize, A Classic Example of "All Hype No Substance". Don't waste your money for this terrible experience, except if you want to sleep in AC for 2.5 hrs.

The film is a depiction of Kareena's own struggle to sustain her presence in Bollywood. After an interesting start, the film loses its grip and compels the user to find logic in the script. The second half is worse than the worst half where the logic and appeal seems to lose viewer-ship. Post interval era is a big drag while the viewers get more eager to reach to the end.

Overall, the film is flawed. It has virtually no sensible logic and the plot is very weak. The film does have its good moments, but those are highly succeeded by the negative factors of the film. Apart from good costumes and the ooziness displayed by Kareena and her counter-part(s), the film fails in every aspect.