Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda
Over the years, Madhur Bhandarkar has made a brand out of his filmmaking, exposing the murkier side of a supposed glamourous industry. Heroine, set on the backdrop of the movie industry, follows the same defined pattern though it is unable to redefine the Bhandarkar brand beyond an extent.
Heroine largely plays as the biographical account of a film actress Mahie Arora (Kareena Kapoor) and sees her uneven journey in the industry. She is in love with superstar Aryan Khanna (Arjun Rampal), who is on a verge of divorce, but her eccentricity and insecurity kills their relationship. Then she comes close to cricketer Angad Paul (Randeep Hooda) but ambitions ruin this bonding as well. From being a good-looking star, she makes efforts to be a good actress by trying her hands at art cinema as well. When nothing goes her way, she even resorts to forging a controversy to give her career the much-needed boost. Until she is disillusioned by the flashlights of the make-believe film industry!
A major shortcoming of the narrative is that it never highlights Mahie Arora’s induction in the industry or upsurge in career to making it to the top slot of heroines. Right from the title song, one is informed that she is a ruling heroine. Initially one assumes the story has a lot more to offer and hence cuts short her past but even that isn’t the case. Since we never see Mahie’s struggle to success, we don’t see any contrast in her character when we see her failure. Through the film, we predominantly see only Mahie’s downfall through different instances and episodes. So, unlike films in similar vein like Fashion or Page 3 that had a well-defined graph, here the narrative seems rather flat.
In addition, Mahie’s frequent failure underlines her invariable vulnerability and thereby there isn’t even a short-lived heroism to the heroine’s character. Beyond a couple of
instances (esp. the pre-interval and pre-climax moments) where she shows shrewdness in manipulating things to her advantage, Mahie, more or less, seems weak. The idea certainly might be to show how she is susceptible to stress, frustration, insecurity, loneliness and such similar emotions. But rather than relating or rooting for Mahie’s
emotional turmoil, you despise her after a point for being a continual crybaby. This along with Kareena Kapoor’s steady red-nose and sulky-eyes expressions makes the character rather one-dimensional. What adds to your indifference towards her character is the fact that, more often than not, she lands in a mess for her inability to handle situations over innate circumstances.
Talking about Bhandarkar’s exposé brand cinema, there isn’t sufficient eyebrow-raising stuff over here like in his earlier films Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate or Fashion.
That’s also because the movie world is amongst the most monitored industries in the media and we have seen that and read that all. So when we see anecdotes straight out of gossip columns, they seem predictable over being relatable. Also the stereotype of (garishly portrayed) gay designers and journalists and perpetually-smoking stressed-out characters don’t pass muster anymore.
Beyond these clichés, the writing tries to explore as many facets of the film world as possible, while trying to tread ahead at breakneck pace. Before you can absorb or brood over one aspect, another is put forth. The climax, particularly, is well-etched leading to a trademark Madhur Bhandarkar culmination. But in summing up the entire chronicle, his direction seems quite mechanical, touching you only peripherally. Then there are undefined subplots like the one touching on the protagonist’s one-off lesbian stint with a costar (Shahana Goswami). Also the dialogues lack the dramatic punch that could have strongly propped-up the genre.
Needless to say, Kareena Kapoor gets the meatiest role and while she doesn’t disappoint her one-dimensional character doesn’t offer her enough scope. But within the range, she emotes efficiently bringing forth the angst, anxiety, aggravation and lack of confidence in Mahie Arora. Arjun Rampal has a decent and dignified scene presence. Randeep Hooda is getting repetitive with his anxious expressions and his character is rather short-lived. Divya Dutta as Mahie’s PR person seems somewhat overconfident but is good in her part. Ranvir Shorey as the idiosyncratic art-house filmmaker is good. Shahani Goswami, as the actress playing a prostitute with her loud lipstick and plunging neckline on permanent display, has good screen presence in her short role. Others including Sanjay Suri, Mugdha Godse, Govind Namdeo and Lilette Dubey are adequate in their petite parts.
Perhaps Madhur Bhandarkar could show more heroism in pushing ahead the boundaries he himself defined with his past repertoire or work. Till then make do with Heroine!
Author: Gaurav Malani
