Must watch for an insider’s take on Bollywood and Glamour industry!!!

Must watch for an insider’s take on Bollywood and Glamour industry!!!

 

Film: Heroine – Review

Producer: UTV Motion Pictures & Bhandarkar Entertainment.

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar

Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Ramphal, Randeep Hooda, Divya Dutta,

          Sanjay Suri, Ranvir Shorey, Shahana Goswami & Mugdha Godse

          Govind Namdev, Lilette Dubey, Achint Kaur.

 

Rating:

 

Kareena Kapoor as a Heroine, as a Star, A performer, An Actor are all on a roll in a film which is out and out woman centric. Kareena in recent times has proved her mettle time and again in the kind of films and author backed roles she has been essaying. Heroine it seems is quite a few notches ahead and provides her ample scope to deliver yet another involved and evolved act par excellence. In this case Madhur Bhandarkar has left no stone unturned to make his muse look one of the living Divas who not only exudes that magnetic spell but leaves everyone breathless with her exotic beauty. Her drop dead gorgeous looks are mesmerizing and adds that glow to the frames composed on the screen for the initial half an hour and gives it an International look and makes it sensuously sexciting.

Now getting back to the making of Heroine, the whole story seems to have been developed to give Philip to the character of Mahi Arora played by Kareena Kapoor, and take it to her ultimate climax. But one thing that strikes most strongly in the face is when you are pitting a Superstar falling for a Superstar in the film, they should at least look that! Imagine Sanjay Suri as a Superstar and even for that matter Randeep Hooda. It’s not taking away the credit from them. They have performed very convincingly, but somehow don’t fit the bill with their existing image in the mind of the cinegoers. For the same reason even Arjun Ramphal, but at least he has managed to carry the role to some extent as a caricature of a Superstar. This is not to undermine their talent and potential mind well. But here it is a sheer case of miscasting. What were needed were rank newcomers with no set image to complement the Ultra Beauty of Kareena Kapoor as Superstar Mahi Arora. Shahana Goswami has done her bit because her casting is perfect. But in her case she is underutilized. But the same can’t be said of Ranvir Shorey who appears to overdo the whole act of a so called Award winning artistic filmmaker. Divya Dutta as her PRO and image builder is very well and fiercely performed, and so is the case with her secretary played by Veteran Govind Namdev.

Madhur was sure what he wanted to do. He wanted to make a film about a Superstar and an out of this world heroine. So he has tried his level best to showcase the trappings of a persona who is a victim of her own doings. Let’s analyze her character of Mahi Arora. A person prone to intense mood swings and sometimes going to the extent of getting out of control. Undergoing some sort of Psychiatric treatment and being diagnosed a bipolar. With such traits she feels lonely, unsafe, and insecure and in a state of confusion most of the time and not being able to take charge. Seeking solace in love with an already married Star and not getting reciprocated for the same, makes her even more fragile and weak in being able to tackle the day to day happenings in a Star’s life.

The bitching, game planners, manipulators and the vicious circle which is ingrained in the show business is shown  in ample doses to carry further the narrative or rather to help the character of Mahi shine in different hues and shades. As a person not in control of her emotions, very impulsive, getting judgmental just like that and despite being successful could not contain it, and when fading and losing out to her contemporaries, risking her position as the mainstream star, to take a break and experiment with an arty film is very nicely executed and you just can’t miss an element of sincerity with which Kareena Kapoor hogs the whole show!

Camerawork by Mahesh Limaye is indeed spectacular and enhances the production value of the film. Editing by Devendra Murdeshwar is up to the mark and quite crisp. Whatever there is of story and script infact acts as feelers to help boost the main star of the film and that is the heroine. Even the characters are there as feelers who come and go and we are left following the Heroine! Dialogues by Niranjan Iyengar are befitting and especially the outburst of Mahi at the press conference is an eye opener and in the face kind of stuff!

The Item number Halkat Jawani is totally misplaced and has no impact whatsoever except for the hype created around it. Here it’s a waste, being performed in awards function setting, where the audiences are mere mute spectators, for such a high voltage and high decibel blaster. Infact Item songs to be an item number need those kinds of settings to make it shine and become a potboiler. Salim Sulaiman’s background score is catchy and popular tracks Halkat, Saiyyan, and title track of Heroine do have some spark.

All in All it’s a Kareena Kapoor Vehicle beautifully and sensuously dressed by Manish Malhotra, Niharika Khan & Shefalina and very well worked out and smartly executed by the director Madhur Bhandarkar. One must watch Heroine for an insider take on Bollywood and the glamour industry, and how some Celebrities are insanely Brand Driven and crazy to the extent of getting Obsessive and Destructive!!!