TNI Bureau: Madhur Bhandarkar’s latest release ‘Heroine’ could not prove itself despite the presence of Kareena Kapoor as Mahi Arora and a band of superb actors. It is true that ‘Heroine’ is Bebo’s film all the way and in terms of her acting prowess, she has dominated the screen, but the movie is not at par with Bhandarkar’s earlier films.
‘Heroine’ is all about a distressed Bollywood actress who unwisely moves from professional and personal crisis to another. She is confused in love and changes boy friend but of no use; her failures chase her all the time.
Plot of the film is synonymous to ‘The Dirty Picture’ that portraits the ups and downs of a female lead actor in the showbiz. In ‘The Dirty Picture’, Silk’s professional and physical fall down led her close to destitution and disgrace. But Bhandarkar wants to portray the tale of failure in romance and career of Mahi.
The film is a typical Bhandarkar film, containing the routine reels of glamorous parties, wild alcohol-soaked babes, backbiting celebrities, half-truth gossiping by columnists and the varied gay characters.
However, there are certain writer’s flaws left out in the film. Like in one scene, Mahi tells her mom (Lilette Dubey), who happens to be the mistress of a cabinet minister in Delhi, that “I am in full control of my life”. But if she was in full control of her life how she could not manage it well and had to roll from one man to another, a film star to a cricketer?
Secondly, the film is a bit stretched. At least the last half an hour could be précised. It seems the director grasps details from the newspaper headlines and intertwines them into a shiny, music-laden fiction revealing all (useless) details of a heroine.
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Unfortunately the male characters in the film make no impression at all except on a few scenes. Of course, the cameos by Helen, Shahana Goswami and Divya Datta are encouraging.
But at the top of all Kareena rocks and sizzles in ‘Halkat Jawani’, the item number.
So the verdict is that despite its many black and white aspects ‘Heroine’ can still be watchable for Kareena Kapoor and her heroine essence.
Director – Madhur Bhandarkar
Stars – Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda
Our rating is 2 and half stars out of 5.