Fashion (2008)

A small-town girl finally realizes her dream of becoming a famous supermodel but soon finds out that there's a price for her glamorous new life.

Director:

Madhur Bhandarkar

Writers:

Ajay Monga (story and screenplay), Madhur Bhandarkar (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse

8 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Priyanka Chopra	...	Meghna Mathur
Kangana Ranaut	...	Shonali Gujral
Mugdha Godse	...	Janet Sequeira
Arbaaz Khan	...	Abhijeet Sarin
Arjan Bajwa	...	Manav Bhasin
Raj Babbar	...	Mathur
Kiran Juneja	...	Mrs. Mathur
Samir Soni	...	Rahul Aurora (as Sameer Soni)
Kitu Gidwani	...	Anisha Roy
Suchitra Pillai	...	Avantika A. Sarin (as Suchitra Pillai-Malik)
Harsh Chhaya	...	Vinay Khosla
Ashwin Mushran	...	Rohit Khanna
Pradeep Kharab	...	Mohsin Merchant (as Pradeep Kharb)
Rinku Patel	...	Leena Mehta
Chitrashi Rawat	...	Shomu

Storyline

Set against the glittering backdrop of the glamorous but ruthless world of haute couture fashion, this is the story of a small town girl with big dreams. Meghna always knew she was meant to be famous, but she was about to find out the hard way that success came at a price. Fashion is the tale of what happens when the price of success becomes too much to pay

---

Plot Keywords:

fashion | model | affair | price of fame | female protagonist | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

29 October 2008 (India)

Also Known As:

В плену у моды

Filming Locations:

Abrol Towers, Malad West, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$105,812, 2 November 2008, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$191,442, 16 November 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bhandarkar Entertainment, Grassroots Productions, UTV Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

167 min (British Columbia)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Siddharth Malhotra was offered Arbaaz Khan's role but could not accept it as he was under contract with a modeling agency.

---

Goofs

When Shonali's boyfriend is roughing around with Shonali on the stairs at the restaurant, he pushes her and her bag falls over the railing onto the floor all the way below. In the next shot, she is seen getting up and picking up her bag from one of the steps.

---

Connections

Referenced in Comedy Nights with Kapil: Ram Charan and Priyanka Chopra (2013)

---

Soundtracks

Kuchh Khaas - Remix
Written by Irfan Siddiqui
Composed by Salim Merchant and Salim-Sulaiman
Performed by Amyth, Neha Bhasin and Mohit Chauhan
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Good concept and steady execution, though flawed and one-sided depiction

Madhur Bhandarkar is known for his realistic, dramatic, often shocking and often women-oriented films. He always takes a medium and decides to portray it in a film which will expose the reality behind it. This time he chose to depict the world of fashion in a film called... well, Fashion. And yes, it's an interesting, well-made film that works for the audience. However, it has one main problem: It is stereotypical and overly pessimistic to be called totally realistic, and in that aspect falls flat. I don't say Bhandarkar's previous works were any different or were particularly optimistic as his films generally present the dark side of his subjects, but this one goes one step down. We learn from the film that everything, sorry, EVERYTHING is bad in the world of Fashion - it is a terrible world of sex (not that it's bad, but this movie is all about infidelity and one-night stands), alcohol, drugs, grief and loneliness. There's nothing good about it - and it is clearly a wrong depiction - it's not reality. If you want to make an issue-based film, you should present both sides, and this is not done here. It is also mostly stereotypical in its general portrayal of gay men, which is amusingly exaggerated. Above all, Priyanka's character in the first portions of the film is annoying. She is not presented as a girl who is just innocent, she is presented as a complete idiot which is odd for someone who wants to enter the world of fashion and says she wants to be a "supermodel". I don't think a girl who wants to be a supermodel can be that shy. Some other flaws include the sudden way the director shows the girl smoking and drinking without any prior indication to it (starting to smoke is not just about lighting a cigarette, is it?). This transformation was far too quick to be believable.

Anyway, what I did like about the film is its well-invested execution and good film-making from the technical point of view. Other than the problems mentioned above, the script is decent, the dialogues are well-written, the drama is not overdone, the film is well-directed, and at the end of it all, the ending provides a well-deserved sigh of relief, although it's not completely positive. Not less important, it is visually impressive, the music is outstanding ("Maar Jaawan" and "Kuch Khaas Hai" are two of my favourite Hindi songs in recent times), the cinematography is great, the costumes are well chosen and designed, the actors are well-cast, and the entire concept of following one model's way to the top, her rise and her fall, is interesting. Priyanka Chopra is good and impressive. One of her best, though considering her body of work it does not really mean much as of now. She acted with aplomb and looked very attractive which is very important in that kind of a role. The real winner, the real show-stealer, however, is Kangana Ranaut who delivers a knock-out performance. Her confidence, hysterics, good looks, arrogance and confusion are superbly acted. This is not the first time she plays psychologically disturbed girls, but she is just too brilliant at it, so I salute it. This is an exceptional intense portrayal. 'Fashion' may show only one side throughout and may be a bit disturbing at some points, but towards the end it shows a brighter, more optimistic side, which was missing during the entire show and is reasonably worth the wait. Prepare yourself for an interesting and entertaining flick about a girl who tries to make her dream come true, but don't expect to see a knowledgeable and correct depiction of the fashion world.