Madhur Bhandarkar has been unmasking the world of showbiz to the audience for a while now. Be it “Fashion” or “Heroine”, the director has stripped glamour industries naked for his viewers and with “Calendar Girls” he hopes to do the same, or at least promises so.
He showed the world the real and dark side of the entertainment world through these films. When people say the showbiz industry brings in money, fame and name, Madhur showed how it is gained.
Madhur captured the Indian minds and showed them the unknown side of entertainment industry. When the news of his next film ‘Calendar Girls’ broke out, there was a lot of eagerness to watch it, as it was Madhur’s one more realistic film.
The film starts with five ambitious young women setting out on the journey of their lives for the love of fashion. A Bengali, a Muslim, a Catholic, a small town girl and another from a metro get selected to feature in the biggest fashion calendar of the year. On the very first ice breaking session with their photographer Ronit Roy, he probes into the sexual pasts of the girls.
Acres and acres of flesh—pushed-up cleavage, bare legs disappearing under the shortest, flimsiest of shim-shams, swaying washboard abs — is on constant display, cementing every single prejudice spilling out in these times of ravenous tabloidization. If you are a ‘calendar girl’, you must be, a) hot b) easy c) willing-to-compromise d) sleep your way to the top. Fill in the rest of the alphabets.
Bhandarkar has nothing interesting or new to offer in this flick. The girls look clones of each other. Everything looks forced: right from the cheesy dialogues they mouth to their lovemaking scenes! High on melodrama, the film has neither powerful cast nor content!
The film traces individual journeys of the girls after their famed calendar shoot. Predictably, everything begins on a high note for the girls and then life happens!
Gay designers, old school filmy managers, shrewd corporates, sleaze balls and high society gossipmongers… You will find these familiar characters even in this flick.
Though, all the five actresses playing the calendar girls, namely Kyra, Avani, Ruhi, Akanksha and Satapura have performed their respective roles to the best of their abilities. They do not land up playing a caricature, which makes their roles very relatable. Even though the men did not have much to do, still, actors like Suhel Sheth, Rohit Roy, Atul Parchure and Keith Sequeira shine in their respective characters.
The music (Meet Bros) is situational. Since the premise of the film did not have any requirement of music, one did not miss the want of a chartbuster song in the film.
Madhur Bhandarkar has always tried to make women centric films exposing the ugly underbelly of society. Here too he tries to do the same and as usual fails miserably. What could have been a thought provoking depiction of the dizzying heights of stardom becomes an unimaginative piece of humdrum. Save yourself the trouble and give this one a miss.
