I thought the movie was good. I just finished watching it on NetFlix (they have amazing Bollywood movies collection whereas LoveFilm don't). And I have to say I agree and disagree with the early reviews the movie received when it was released.
The story was lacking - I get that it was about Mahi Arora but then there were some unanswered questions like what did Mahi do after leaving the film industry that made her happy and peaceful?
There were other things in the movie that made it seem like it was put together in pieces - they only word I can think of to describe the over movie is choppy.
Mahi Arora - the character - was somewhat difficult to understand (not her actions or dialogues but the character description). She is bipolar but her 'episodes' very not very convincing. It seemed like she was throwing a tantrum and not that she was either in the 'low' or 'high' state (in terms of the bipolar disorder). Kareena did try but I think it was more of the character description that was provided to her that lacked this further explanation. I watched Ek Main Aur Ek Tu and Kareena was spot-on there. The character was very well-defined so you could see that in Kareena's acting. (the age thing was a bit of an issue - they could have just said Kareena's character is 32 years old and Imran's character is 31 years old. It would have made sense. Making them in their late 20s just didn't sit well - no matter how good the make-up is, or how good the plastic surgery (including botox) is, as humans grow age is visible, the speed of reaction, the way one walks, talks etc and I am not saying Kareena or Imran or anyone did plastic surgery etc).
I got side-tracked there. Anywho, coming back to Heroine: it seemed incomplete. I haven't watched Fashion but I did watch Page 3 and it disgusted me, I couldn't watch or read anything related to Bollywood and Media for like months after I watched it but Page 3, as far as I can remember, seemed complete. Heroine, on the other hand, lacked that completeness - it was the story and at some places even the direction was very poor.
The overall movie looked like it was three different short movies put-together: the first story centering on love-hate-paranoid relationship, then another relationship started with Crickter which went into the second story which was on trying to re-invent herself by working in that small budget movie 'Taranum Jaan' and the third story on complete breakdown. So I don't think it was any actor's fault per say it was the scriptwriters, producers, director's and editors fault. It could have turned out better if they had just focused on the whole story instead of short bits of one story.
Coming to acting, my first thought on Arjun Rampal's was that his acting sucked. When he came back (in the movie) in the last part/story, he seemed to have improved.
The actor who portrayed 'Abbas' character was very bad. I have seen him in some other movies - those released in early 2000s - and he was good in those but here he was just bad.
The actor who portrayed a cricketer was very good and Kareena and him seemed to share a good on-screen chemistry (for the lack of a better word here). Even the cameo-appearance female actor in the Taranum Jaan movie was great.
Kareena - I think she tried, she really tried to play Mahi well but couldn't. But she was one of the 3 good things about the movie, the other two being that crickter actor and that cameo-appearance actor.
I didn't like that Halkat Jawani song, in fact, I skipped it but other songs played in the background were really nice. I didn't really understand why they played an Arabic song in that love-making scene between Kareena and Arjun's characters.
There were some really good points raised in the movie - how when a female actor doesn't socialise with male actors/directors/producers etc after pack-up, she loses opportunities to star in films. I really think Bollywood and all other Film Industries change their casting to audition-only. Why not? If we have to interview for any normal job then why not do the same for movies? It could somewhat cut down on 'sleeping with xyz' to get a film role. People could do the same with those responsible for auditions but it could deter people, somewhat, I hope so. And, not to mention it could become more professional.
I don't watch movies to be shocked or feel any negative emotions. I watch them for entertainment. The Hunger Games I absolutely loved even though it was on the negative side of human beings. I could have come to really like Heroine only if all the points I mentioned above would have been improved.
So, my rating for the film out of 5 stars, I'd give it 3 stars i.e. neutral - liked the movie and didn't like the movie at the same time.
Seher Hone Ko Hai
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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