Fashion features prominent actresses Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut, along with model Mughda Godse. The movie highlights the other side of glamor, and exposes the sheer cunning and politics of what happens behind the scenes. A Madhur Bandarkar venture, Fashion attempts to bring to the fore the pretention and short shelf life of relationships in the glamor industry.
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Censor Board objected to six scenes
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FASHION focuses on the lives of three models: one a supermodel Kangana Ranaut (Shonali), another who is established on the circuit Mugdha Godse (Janet), and a third, who comes from a small town, Chandigarh, to make it big, Priyanka Chopra (Meghna Mathur). So you begin with parties, networking, fashion shows, and model coordinators. A typical 'kua ma doob jaao' situation!
So what's wrong with FASHION? Plenty. The script, I get a feeling, was at a discussion level when shooting began. That's because long before Bhandarkar announced his film and completed his casting, events kept happening in the fashion world which he 'reportedly' kept incorporating. Like for instance, the famous case of model Gitanjali Nagpal who was found begging on the streets of Delhi.
Secondly, most of his characters are not well defined. The character of Arbaaz Khan (Abhijit Sarin), the owner of Panache, is too clinical. There's no emotion and no menace in his madness. His wife's refusal to question him is appalling, neither is this 'comatose' situation of hers established. Moreover, when Meghna tells her that she has aborted her husband's child, she has a hand in terminating her modeling contract. I mean this here is a 'woman woman' thing.
Kangana Ranaut is a brilliant actress but somehow, Bhandarkar has not used her to her potential. Her character 'supposedly' has shades of Gitanjali and Shivani Kapur, which surprisingly, has never been spoken about in the media. All we heard of were Carol Gracias and Gitanjali
Janet's friendship with Meghna is never established and the next you know is Janet giving tips to Meghna at a party. Either it was never shot, or was cut at the editing table. That reminds me, the length is excessively long. This film could have done away with trimming of 25 minutes. The first half drags and there are only two scenes that really stand out, one when Meghna is insulted by a designer in the green room and another when she and Arjan Bajwa (Maanav) have a tiff. In the second half, the scene where Meghna finds herself in bed with a black man in well thought out.
Priyanka Chopra's look in filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar's much-awaited "Fashion" goes through five subtle but distinct phases, tracing her journey from Chandigarh to a top model in Mumbai.
"We followed the journey of Priyanka's character Meghna Mathur from the time she comes to Mumbai from Chandigarh to become a supermodel in five phases. It's a very natural, subtle progression," said Rita Dhody, who has done the styling for the movie, which is a take on India's fashion fraternity.
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"Initially, she is shown as a very hep character with loud colours - everything is matching in her attire from the lipstick to nail polish to even her shoes. It's a very look-at-me look," Rita said, explaining Priyanka's character in "Fashion".
"But when the first change occurs, the colour palette begins to change - her make-up becomes light. Then, when she becomes a model and a supermodel, the contrasting change is very visible. When she starts losing it all, she becomes very edgy - everything from the colour palette to the make-up becomes softer to show she doesn't care any more about her looks before her resurrection takes place," the stylist told IANS over telephone from Mumbai.
Releasing on October 29, "Fashion" also stars Kangana Ranaut, debutante Mugdha Godse, Arbaaz Khan, Arjan Bajwa and many of the who's who of the fashion industry.
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Rita, who runs a company, Ananda, which works on the embroidery silhouettes of international brands like Armani and Chanel, said the actors' look in the film is based on a classic approach on contemporary fashion and not any existing trend.
"It is very contemporary and a very much today's look, but my idea was to streamline and take it to the classic side than making it trend-based," she said.
Rita revealed that the styling for Kangana's character in "Fashion" would make "audiences feel sorry for her".
"The movie begins with Kangana's look as a supermodel. She is very thin so we gave her short dresses with low necklines that wouldn't look vulgar as we wanted the image to stick to people's minds that she is a supermodel who is very comfortable with her body," she explained.
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"We also used Kangana's hair in an exotic manner. We cut it short but kept her mop of curls to make her look more vulnerable when she loses it all. During that phase, she is also shown sporting long t-shirts that would make audiences feel sorry for her," Rita said.
Debutante Mugdha Godse, who plays a failed model, sports a "bindass" look.
"Mughda's look in the film is a fusion of rock and a grunge to give her the survivor look as a B-grade model who would do anything before we clean it up, making her more chic and glamorous. We gave her a little bikini top and a t-shirt slashed up like a choli (blouse). She also sports a pair of chains and ankle boots," she said.
"She's got a very tiny waist so we tried showing it. We gave her really low-waist trousers and a beautiful tattoo on the side of her hipbone. Her hair was cut short and infused with a strong essence of red in it," she added.
This is the first time Rita has done the styling for a film and she admits it wasn't an easy job.
"A lot of detailing went into the film from jewellery, clothes, colour, accessories to nail polish. We had to make sure that everything was in sync with the frame and complemented each other and for that we even worked on the junior artists. We wanted to make it look very authentic and real.
"We didn't try to sensationalise it by making it more bling or costume-based. I had to restrain myself from going overboard as Madhur can't take over the styling and there were huge time and budget constraints," said Rita, who has helped in positioning and building global brands like Dolce & Gabbana (D&G), Chloe, Stella McCartney and Fendi in India.
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"We had 11 character-based ramp shows in the film as part of the story line that were very much thought about. There is also a lot of jeans and shirt that have been used in the movie to show the models in real life," she added.
Rita confessed that she is exhausted with her maiden venture and plans to "refresh" herself before signing on another project.
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- Priyanka Chopra as a small town girl who becomes a leading model (Meghna Mathur).
- Kangana Ranaut as a model who suffers a wordrobe mallfunction a la Carol Gracias (Shonali).
- Arjan Bajwa as the leading man (opposite priyanka) with a dashing personality. (Maanav)
- Mugdha Godse as a model (Janet).
- Samir Soni as a gay character.
- Konkona Sen Sharma in a cameo appearance playing herself.
- Ranvir Shorey in a cameo appearance playing himself.
- Wendell Rodricks in a cameo appearance playing himself.
- Manish Malhotra in a cameo appearance playing himself.
- Karan Johar in a cameo appearance playing himself.
- Madhur Bhandarkar in a cameo appearance playing himself.
- Michele Renga Katrina... Katrina (Special Appearance)
- Noleen Singh... Kareena (Special Appearance)
The music is composed by Salim-Sulaiman. The lyrics are by Sandeep Nath and Irfan Siddique.
| Song | Singer(s) | Notes | Duration |
| Fashion Ka Jalwa | Sukhwinder Singh, Satya Hinduja & Robert Bob Omulo | | 4:40 |
| Mar Jawaan | Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant | | 3:59 |
| Kuchh Khaas | Mohit Chauhan & Neha Bhasin | | 4:59 |
| Aashiyana | Salim Merchant | | 5:27 |
| Fashion Ka Jalwa (Remix) | Sukhwinder Singh, Satya Hinduja & Robert Bob Omulo | | 4:10 |
| Mar Jawaan (Remix) | Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant | | 4:25 |
| Kuchh Khaas (Remix) | Mohit Chauhan & Neha Bhasin | | 4:17 |
| Theme Of Fashion (Remix) | Medeival Punditz | | 6:16 |
| Aashiyana (Remix) | Salim Merchant | | 5:50 |
| Theme Of Fashion | Instrumental | | 3:39 |
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Fashion releasing on October 29
Award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar is upset that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has given his next film "Fashion" an "adults-only" certificate."Given the movie's theme, I certainly never expected that the board would give it a 'U' certificate, but I was sure it would receive a U/A certificate," Bhandarkar told IANS on Tuesday.
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Bhandarkar, who has co-produced the film with UTV Motion Pictures, describes "Fashion" as his most glamorous film. He roped in Priyanka Chopra, Kangna Ranaut, Arjan Bajwa and Mugdha Godse to do lead roles.
The board members, who saw the movie on Monday in Mumbai, objected to six scenes including Priyanka and Arjan's lovemaking scenes and Priyanka and Kangana's dragging at drugs scenes. The members asked Bhandarkar and his co-producer, Ronnie Screwvala, to delete them from the movie.
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As the director refused to delete the scenes, the board has given it an 'A' certificate.
The members refused to be convinced by Bhandarkar's argument that the scenes being objected to are an integral part of the movie and that yanking those off would mean compromising with the realistic depiction of the movie's subject.
"Although we had the option of appealing to the Revising Committee of the board against the Examining Committee's decision, we chose not to do so as that would have taken a lot of time. Besides, there was no knowing what would be the decision of the Board's higher committee," Bhandarkar said.
"Fashion", which takes a close look at the other side of the fashion world, is due for release on October 29.
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After making films for nearly a decade, Madhur Bhandarkar shows no sign of losing any of the raw intelligence, energy and vitality that have made him a continuing force in the Indian cinema. He has achieved notable success in all his films because he knew what he wanted and showed an adventurous spirit in going out and getting it.
For the majority of his films, he lets the simple, resonant situations play out, eliciting excellent performances from his actors, right from ‘Chandni Bar’ to ‘Satta’ to ‘Page 3’ and ‘Corporate’. Picking a favourite Madhur Bhandarkar film can be a tough challenge. They are all so uniformly excellent, moving, hard hitting and honest. As a director he has the confidence, generosity, and intelligence to allow his actor and the characters they play, the freedom to truly reveal themselves on screen.
With his new film Fashion, he reveals the entire Fashion Industry in front of you, right from what the models go through, their turmoil, their morals, their aspirations and their sacrifices. And of course, with Madhur behind the camera, you can expect much more. In this exclusive interview, the director talks to our London correspondent Devansh Patel and gets Fashion-conscious.
First things first! Will Fashion be your fourth National Award winning film?
What a way to start this interview (laughs). I am really keeping my fingers crossed because some of the people who've seen the movie have told me that Fashion is my best work till now. I believe in making the film and leaving it to the audiences and the critics to decide whether it'll work or not. I have done a good job and am waiting for 29th October, the Diwali day which is an auspicious day to release any film. Hope it works.
It means that it'll be a very fashionable Diwali, isn't it?
(laughs) Absolutely fashionable. I am really happy that the movie is releasing on this day because every time I've made a film, I wanted to release it during Diwali and that day has come. I am so happy and excited to see the kind of buzz and enthusiasm the movie is generating in India and abroad among the audiences, exhibitors, etc. The songs have also really picked up quite well too, especially, 'Jalwa' and 'Mar Jawa'.
Mr. Ram Gopal Varma said that the only film he is looking forward to after string of flops is Fashion. He also went on to say that the content of Fashion will be pretty interesting. Any comments?
It's really great, in fact, I just spoke to him this afternoon and he was really looking forward to Fashion. He can't wait to see the film. He sent me an SMS saying that the promos are also looking stunning. For me personally, it's really nice because I've worked with Mr Varma for couple of years and I've learnt a lot from him as far as filmmaking is concerned. He has this gut feeling about movies and when he says that the film will work, it does work.
Your films are based on reality, events and stories happening in the real life. Will Fashion follow the same path too or is it only going to be fictional?
My movies are always slice of life. They've always been a mixed blend of realism and fiction together. So there will be some element of fiction in Fashion. Before I make any film, I do a lot of research, meet and interact with people. The audiences will relate to Fashion in a way.
Did you meet any of the fashion worlds top models and designers for their advice?
Absolutely yes. I've interacted with almost everybody from the fashion world. From the top of the designers to the top super models, the sponsors, the choreographers, etc. It was six to seven months of research which took me to make such kind of a movie and a lot of people from the fashion industry are connected to the film also. Like there are real models and designers you'll see in Fashion.
There are other fashion icons like Aishwarya Rai, Dia Mirza, Sushmita Sen, etc. What made you cast Priyanka Chopra?
Priyanka Chopra and I always wanted to work together. I remember that she was a great fan of my movies and once we met at one of the film festivals. At that time she had loved my film Corporate. That's when she was really interested in working with me. So I told her that if something comes along, I'll definitely let her know. Once I told her that I'm making this film on the fashion world, she said to come and narrate the film to her. She liked the narration and the character of Meghna Mathur who comes from Chandigarh to Mumbai to make it as a super model.
And why Mugdha Godse?
That's interesting too. When I was researching for Fashion and went to the Delhi Fashion Week, where I saw this girl walking on the ramp. I was introduced to her previously by a friend of mine. When I saw the confidence in her walk and her eyes, I knew she was my Janet of Fashion. I met her and straight away told her if she was interested to do a movie with me. The rest is history now. In fact, she has surprised everybody by her performance in Fashion. From Priyanka to Kangana, everybody appreciated her work. People say that models can't act. I can say that Mugdha, the newest model turned actress will prove them wrong.
You're working with a fresh and a new team of actors this time around. How was the experience?
I always make it a point to work with a new team and a new set of actors all the time. It's challenging and something different. This is my style of working.
You've said that Fashion is your best work ever, better than all your past films. Is it really?
I don't know or remember where I said this or who has said this (laughs). For me, my best work will always remain Satta which didn't do very well at the box office.
Konkana Sen Sharma and Atul Kulkarni, your two lucky mascots. You can't leave them behind can you?
(laughs) Yes, I can't. They are the best I've worked with. I did approach Atul Kulkarni to play a cameo in Fashion but he couldn't make it for some reason. The good thing is that Konkana is there. She plays herself, Konkana Sen Sharma - the actress. Her boyfriend Ranvir Shorey is also there and both of them play a couple in the film.
This is your first film which will appeal to the overseas audiences as well, seeing the subject you've approached this time - Fashion. Any comments?
You're right. For me it's a big leap in terms of the film, the concept and the budget because I've never made a movie of 18 to 20 crores. I've always made it between 3 to 4 crores. I always say that I am an experimental filmmaker but my films do get a commercial acceptance. So for me, I'm excited by the kind of feedback, messages and calls I'm getting from the UK and the US. I hope that it gets appreciated there.
As you must be aware that the U.K market is star driven. What have you got for them besides Priyanka Chopra?
Priyanka Chopra is the first thing which will make it big in the UK. But more than her, it's the concept and the look of the film which people are going to love. I bet, the overseas audiences haven't seen such style in Hindi movies before. Fashion will change that. Priyanka Chopra has changed at least 150 dresses in the film. Fashion is a personal story of these three models and what they go through. I am not making a statement on the Fashion Industry here.
What about the homosexuality element in the fashion world which prevails? Have you shown that aspect too?
Definitely yes. The gay angle in Fashion is very evident.
Is it wise to go on a fashion show to promote your film rather than go to any reality shows?
Reality show or fashion week or any kind of publicity for any film is a must. If we have to do both, we have to do it. There is no way out and there is nothing wrong in it. I think every filmmaker and the films cast want their film to reach the widest of its audiences. Even the kind of investment put into promotion now-a-days is huge. So it definitely is a platform to promote your film.
Have you met any model who has given up more than just their morals in the fashion world?
(laughs) I know what your question is targeting to. Fashion is much beyond the casting couch story. There are many things that a model has to sacrifice or eradicate like his or hers position, principals, ethics, etc. to reach the top. This film is exactly that. And yes, I have met models who've given up many things than just their morals to reach the standing in their career where they are right now.
You love women, don't you? All your films are more or less having a female protagonist.
Yes, I love my women. Except Traffic Signal, all my films have showcased women as the main lead. You see, even in Traffic Signal, Neetu Chandra and Konkana Sen Sharma's characters were very strong. I really feel that there are certain issues in certain films where the female protagonist can say the narration in a much better way than the male hero. I've been lucky in that way and my women too who've seen their film worked wonders for them. It's a proud moment.
We've even seen UTV's Ronnie Screwvala experiment with different genres. Has he been a great support besides just being a producer?
Ronnie has always been a great admirer of my work and I respect him because he is a man who always encourages new cinema. So after Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, etc we used to meet so many times in parties and events and he questioned me as to when will I be doing a film with him. That's when one day we met and I narrated him the idea of Fashion. He said that it was a superb idea and we should go ahead with it. This is the first time when I'm co-producing the film with Ronnie. It's called UTV and Bhandarkar Entertainment presents Fashion. It's my first production.
So, your money is at stake then huh?
(laughs) Yes, of course, and not only that, my name and my reputation too.
It's strange to see that in an economic meltdown like this, every actor and director are turning producers to keep themselves secure.
It's not about escapism. Today, people want to invest money only because they know that they'll get something back from it. If you see five years ago, no one used to get such big pay packs as an actor and a director. Now things have changed. It's become a big business now. The kind of multiplexes hitting India and the kind of revenue being generated is larger than life.
Another feather in the cap for you Madhur. You and Aamir Khan are being felicitated at the 7th Third Eye Asian Film Festival. I wish I had a collection of such caps too.
(laughs) It's a great feeling for me and when I got the news a few weeks ago, I was over the moon. I know Aamir Khan, and we do interact with each other, not too frequently though. But socially whenever we meet, we talk. I loved his film Taare Zameen Par. It's an unbelievable film and I am also proud of the fact that it's the official entry at the Oscars from India.
When do we then see a Madhur Bhandarkar film going to the Oscars?
I just keep making movies. But fingers crossed, hopefully very soon. I've already got my three Oscars from India which are the National Awards.
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Movie will be screened at South Asian film festival
"Fashion", Madhur Bhandarkar's film set in the glamorous but ruthless world of haute couture, is slated for its world premiere on October 24 during the week-long 5th South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) in New York.
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Nandita Das' "Firaaq", also from India, is the opening night feature of the festival and Das starrer "Ramchand Pakistani" directed by Mehreen Jabbar is the closing film. The festival runs from October 22-28.
SAIFF 2008 will present a select combination of full-length films, shorts and documentaries in a variety of genres. With several screening locations in Manhattan and high-profile sponsors like HBO, the New York Times and Time Warner Cable, the festival is dedicated to supporting established and emerging filmmakers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as well as the South Asian diaspora.
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"Fashion", starring Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Raj Babbar explores the world of style through the emotional journeys of the key people that make up the industry -models, designers, photographers, agencies and businessmen.
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"Firaaq", which premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, takes place over a 24-hour period one month after the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat. It features a star studded ensemble portraying the emotional journeys of "ordinary people" - some victims, some perpetrators and some who watched silently.
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"Ramchand Pakistani" is a true story from 2002 concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the Dalit caste. Nandita Das is the only non-Pakistani in the film's cast.
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