Film: "Heroine"; Starring: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Shahana Goswami, Ranveer Shorey, Govind Namdeo; Directed by: Madhur Bhandarkar; Rating: ****
Somewhere deep within the corroding flamboyance of filmdom, there is a tale of heartbreaking compromises and immorality tucked away from the naked, tearless eye. Madhur Bhandarkar nearly gets to the nerve centre of that world, and then pulls back just before he's really gotten there.
"Heroine" is an intriguingly unfinished film - partly in the rapidfire mood of a game show and partly like an elegiac melody played gently on an antique piano with immaculate fingers. It lacks a centre, sometimes even a focus as it tries to cram in too many incidents, episodes, scandals, controversies and plain absurdities that are an integral part of Bollywood, so much so that the first hour or so gets suffocatingly airtight.
And then you realize towards the end, that the world of the superstar Mahi Khanna traps the star, makes her a puppet of success, traps her in a web of deceit and finally throws her into a whirlwind of vaporous deceptions.
The closing moments have that gut-wrenching element which made Bhandarkar's "Chandni Bar", "Page 3" and "Fashion" among the more sensitive dramas in recent times.
We see Mahi, shattered forlorn and bereft, trapped in a car surrounded by merciless television journalists. As the haunting background score by Salim-Sulaiman builds up to a shattering crescendo, Mahi's hands fold together in a plea of mercy. In moments our hearts bleed for Mahi.
God help those who are cursed with stardom. They first have to struggle to get there. And then they must continue to fight to cling to their place. And then, as Govind Namdeo playing Mahi's quietly faithful secretary tells her: "An actress' life-span is by its very nature limited". More
Somewhere deep within the corroding flamboyance of filmdom, there is a tale of heartbreaking compromises and immorality tucked away from the naked, tearless eye. Madhur Bhandarkar nearly gets to the nerve centre of that world, and then pulls back just before he's really gotten there.
"Heroine" is an intriguingly unfinished film - partly in the rapidfire mood of a game show and partly like an elegiac melody played gently on an antique piano with immaculate fingers. It lacks a centre, sometimes even a focus as it tries to cram in too many incidents, episodes, scandals, controversies and plain absurdities that are an integral part of Bollywood, so much so that the first hour or so gets suffocatingly airtight.
And then you realize towards the end, that the world of the superstar Mahi Khanna traps the star, makes her a puppet of success, traps her in a web of deceit and finally throws her into a whirlwind of vaporous deceptions.
The closing moments have that gut-wrenching element which made Bhandarkar's "Chandni Bar", "Page 3" and "Fashion" among the more sensitive dramas in recent times.
We see Mahi, shattered forlorn and bereft, trapped in a car surrounded by merciless television journalists. As the haunting background score by Salim-Sulaiman builds up to a shattering crescendo, Mahi's hands fold together in a plea of mercy. In moments our hearts bleed for Mahi.
God help those who are cursed with stardom. They first have to struggle to get there. And then they must continue to fight to cling to their place. And then, as Govind Namdeo playing Mahi's quietly faithful secretary tells her: "An actress' life-span is by its very nature limited". More
0 comments:
Post a Comment