Yeh Jalwa!!

I was very skeptical to watch Fashion.

I like movies that are light, brings a smile on your face. I also likes the serious ones, those which end on a positive note, but those kind of movies are so few. Madhur’s films have always been inspired by true events. Chandni bar was a stark movie, but the end of the movie was not a good feeling I left with. Obviously, you have to see the film the director wants to show you. It is up to you to accept it or reject it. The more people accept it, the movie is a success. If they reject it, it is termed as flop. Many brilliant films have flopped and many trash movies have set the cash register ringing. The psychology of the Indian audience is hard to predict, or is it easy? Maybe there is a simple underlying thread that binds the audience in general.

India is a difficult country to live in. Everyday a man wakes up, he is prepared to go to war, mostly with himself, and it reflects in the world outside him. The conflicts that lie within and outside is quite stressful. And when someone goes to a movie hall, they just want to see something that will take them out of their briefly dull and intense life and transport them into a world of imagination. If it is a movie that is based on real life, it might not work. Because there is a very thin line where the film can seem like a documentary and entertainment. If you try to show the people what their life is, they would not want to see it. If they do make a realistic film, what might work is a real person living in the real world becoming an extraordinary person, and coming trumps in the dire situations he is thrown into. Madhur’s earlier films lacked this, but it dramatically or sometimes over-dramatically displayed the cockroaches beneath the carpet. But Fashion, there is a slight difference. The film potrays the fashion world as a very competitive world with immoral people around and some unique moral souls that are sprinkled in the otherwise fake world. But what I saw was not just the fashion world but how each individual rooted in their persona identify, survive, succumb and live in the profession. Its message doesnot just confine itself to the world of fashion, it probably can reach out to other worlds as well.

The potrayal of Meghna Mathur, Janet and Shonali depict three different strata of the society. Meghna, a wannabe, Janet, a regular model who has been in the industry long enough and Shonali who is a supermodel. Meghna aspires to be Shonali, Janet is contended where she is, while Shonali cannot handle success. If you cut this to a base psychological level, Meghna, represents the audience who wants to be an achiever, Shonali represents the people where success goes into the head and makes them think they are invincible and Janet, those people who are quite content with life the way it is and struts ahead in life no matter where she is, irrespective of success.

Also, the glamorous world of Fashion is something everyone wants to see, but only a few can aspire to be there. This unique combination of intrigue and base emotive connect to the audience makes the film work. Thankfully the film ends in hope. Where conviction and dedication brings out the best in the protagonist while one of them succumbs to the distaste of success.

Fashion is a well-made movie, the cinematographer Mahesh Limaye needs special mention. A short sequence where Meghna indulges in drugs and the psychedelic colors that is seen is brilliant in execution. The editing is top class. The acting is good, but I do think, the representation of gays is a bit over the top. This is what most of the directors do with representation of gays. They try to be gay-friendly but overtly make a mockery of them. Though one of them has shown as a straight-faced gay, who is just like a normal person, the rest turn out to sway too often as they talk. I wouldnt know if that was supposed to be the comic element in the film or just mere depiction.

But overall, it’s a good film to watch. The performances are credible and so is the music, the colors and the emotions.