MAKING A STATEMENT

Movie Review: Fashion

4/5

The world of glitzy fashion, sexy ramp walks, endless flash bulbs, late-night parties , brand endorsements, Page 3 celebrity status, Bollywood dreams ; producer-director Madhur Bhandarkar is fully aware of what draws the Chandigarh-born, hugely determined, middle-class local beauty-contest winner Meghana Mathur ( Priyanka Chopra) to the big bad rat-infested world of greedy Mumbai chasing cash bundles in a cosmetic avatar. Chopra is an intrinsically simple girl , but certainly not stupidly naïve, and makes up for her relative inexperience of air-kissing with oodles of country-made gumption and charming chutzpah. She has , as her casting agent says, the right mix of attitude and confidence to make it big. She does. But at what cost? That is precisely what Bhandarkar unravels over 2 hrs 40 minutes of compelling watching.

There are some real-life vignettes punctuating the behind-the-scenes madness. Kangana Ranaut ( inspired by the tragic Geetanjali Nagpal case) the reigning princess, inhales coke and cigarette fumes moments before swaying confidently down the red catwalk as the show-stopper. Fashion designers hawk Bangkok street apparel as their own creative contributions, even as the starry-eyed young things swallow humiliation from insufferable gay fashion icons. There is free casual sex , implicitly understood and quietly recognized, before they are dumped like disposable diapers. No chains attached. It is a quid pro quo universe, for a thin as thread survival. Chopra walks in to a ready-made steely world of warped ambitions, quite oblivious that big-time modeling calls for some rather queer compromises.

Ranaut , the numero uno model is sexually exploited and her vulnerabilities misused by watchful eyes and a dangerous lover. Chopra master-minds her smart moves astutely and overnight becomes the sensational new-find, and walks straight into a swank sea-facing apartment and the arms of the much-married industry hot-shot Arbaaz Khan, who promptly gets her pregnant. From then on her brief flirtations at the citadel end, and a fast downhill slide begins. She expects emotional resonance from her secret lover, he conveniently replaces her with his latest passion. Ranaut hits the mental asylum, while Chopra sniffs some white powder, and ends up in a seedy hotel with a strange unknown foreigner in dark skin. It is Fashion’s most deadly moment, as a drug-blown Chopra desperately uses tissue paper to wipe out her dark circles.

Kangana Ranaut is brilliantly cast and has potent screen presence as a sad basket case headed for certain self-destruction. Mughda Godse as a little-known model but Chopra’s enduring confidante in a self-centric space is endearing. Bhandarkar gets terrific performances from all minor role-players such as Harsh Chayya ( as the lisping gay bespectacled designer), Kitu Gidwani ( model coordinator), Samir Soni, Arjan Bawa ( as Priyanka’s first cosmopolitan crush) and Arbaaz Khan , as the Machiavellian “player”. The fashion shows are imaginatively captured, the back-room operations seething with chaotic frenzy amidst the lipstick, accessories , bruised egos, wild ambitions, and rising smoke. Bhandarkar directs the film, without over-doing skin-show or excessive emotional melodrama, revealing quite expertly the grime behind the gloss, in a well-crafted women’s film.

Bhandarkar ends the movie, despite it’s constant oppressive gloominess, on a Parisian high. As Priyanka Chopra sashays down the international ramp looking a stunning diva, she manifests hope, resilience and survival. It is a performance of a lifetime, and Chopra after this is no longer just Don’s candy-floss or Drona’s arm-candy. It is her moment in the sun. And also the flash-bulbs. Just like Meghana Mathur in Fashion.

A star is born.