Heroine Movie Review: Old Wine In A New Bottle!

The life of a top-notch Bollywood star is like that of a heady cocktail of success, power and richness. For someone who rules the roost of the showbiz, he/she needs to play smart and safe to retain the stardom. But for those who fail to retain spoils, witnesses the hell.

When the question comes to unravel these sordid sagas onscreen, no one can perform a better work than Madhur Bhandarkar. But was Bhandarkar's latest release Heroine a masterpiece, like his previous projects?

Heroine features Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda in the lead. The movie reveals the delightful, bold, shocking, scandalous, sensitive exposing scenes behind the glitz and glamour that our film stars reside. Well, hold on for a minute! Doesn't that sound like a known plot?

Story:

The story is about superstar Mahi Arora, who has the world at her feet for a bit in the beginning of the film. Sadly, her happy days get over soon, when she tries playing stupid and overemotional about her boyfriend Aryan Khanna (Arjun Rampal). Mahi is more interested in settling down with Aryan, rather than concentrating on her rocketing Bollywood career. This leads to her downfall and Mahi realises that she needs to fight back.

Then comes Mahie's long and monotonous fight to win back her glory that tends to give us more headaches than evoking interests. No miracle happens, Mahi loses on every aspect. Her affairs end up as disasters, and her movie fails. And, then what? Mahi comes up with a new idea that finally worked. What's that? A DIRTY PUBLICITY STUNT...that saves Mahi's sinking career.

Bhandarkar's previous attempt in the film Fashion exposes some behind-the-scenes realities and unspoken truths of the glamour industry, which worked well with the audience. But the director does a grave mistake to repeat the same in Heroine. For those who have watched Madhur's earlier movies are well aware about this dirty industry. We have already heard about the fake smiles, the secrets, dirty politics, incredible heights of fame & the lonely depths of failures in Bollywood. Anything new, Mr Bhandarkar? We do not need a Heroine to re-watch these old stories again. Moreover, Heroine is too long to endure the pain of being patient.

Heroine's music is a big let down. The plot of the movie is too confusing, and we all know, no one prefers to break his/her head on a messy plot. A little more editing could have saved the movie's fate. But, ALAS! This again turns out to be a big setback.

Performances:

Kareena Kapoor steals the show with her dead-drop gorgeous looks and stupendous performance. No wonder, Kareena does a superb job, but somewhere down the line, we aren't so much convinced. A poor Mahi's career is on a decline. She's left with nothing, she's all alone, but we aren't left sympathising for her. Courtesy, a lifeless plot. The two leading hunks of Heroine, Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda were equally convincing in their roles. Supporting casts like Shahana Goswami and Divya Dutta have done a great job.

Verdict:

On the whole, Heroine is old wine in a new bottle. The film lacks life and passion and moreover is drably monotonous. In one word, we aren't wowed at the climax of the film.

Madhur Bhandarkar presents a rehash of his previous films and wastes a talent like Kareena Kapoor Khan in a done-to-death role.