Heroine

My review: Heroine

Post "Fashion " it has been downhill for once highly acclaimed writer-director Madhur Bhandarkar. His latest offering "Heroine" does no good to redeem that reputation. Wonder what happened to the writer who gave us movies like "Chandni Bar" , "Page 3", "Traffic Signal" & "Fashion". May be the common thread that underlies these movies is missing in his ventures post "Fashion", that is simplicity. He seems to have got drowned into the complexities of Bollywood masala & star system. As a result the kind of impact he was able to make when he made "Fashion" is totally not there in "Heroine".

Movie resembles "Dirty Picture" is most of the parts with minor changes. Here again the director has counted upon the lead actress' glamour rather than on his script or narration. As a result he has given a stale story of an actress' fall from top in the most cliched manner possible. Here he has tried using a fancy mental problem  "Bipolar personality disorder" for the protagonist & hence conveniently all the blames shifted to the condition.

Any one can guess the screenplay from the title card to the end credits. There is absolutely nothing new on offer. Movie gets so tiring 30 minutes into it that in the second half everyone was waiting for the protagonist to end her life so that they would get delivered of their misery. Sadly the ending is different but it is a tedious journey to reach there.

Inspite of  the insipid writing what keeps one inside the auditorium for two & half hours is the acting of most of the actors concerned. Kareena Kapoor tops the list with a strong performance. She struggles hard to raise above a poorly written character of hers & manages to stay afloat with her hard work and anatomy. Arjun Rampaul is dashing & has done a good job while Randeep Hooda is brilliant as vice-captain of Indian cricket team with a liking for Bollywood heroines. Others in the cast fit the bill though most of their characters are caricatures. Special mention about Ranvir Shorey. He is a delight on screen.

In Salim-Sulaiman's music "Halkat jawani" is already a hit. Rest of the songs are passable as does the background score.

Mahesh Limaye is the cinematographer & movie has a pretty good production values.

On the whole, "Heroine" rather than a story of an actress' fall from grace it is a sad story of how once a thoughtful writer has fallen to the level of titillation & voyeurism with no regards for his writing.

Bottomline: Dirtier picture..!

2/5