Story: Mahi Arora
has all the trappings
of a Bollywood superstar-name, fame and fortune. Unfortunately she’s also a manic depressive and constantly courts a death wish. Will Mahi succumb to her weakness or will she manage to stay afloat?
Movie Review: Multiple National-Award winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar takes vicarious pleasure in giving his audience a ring-side view of various walks of life. His Chandni Bar (2001) dealt with Mumbai dance-bars; Page-3 (2005) showed the shallow side of the media and celebrity circus; Fashion(2008) dealt with the seamier side of the fashion industry. And one must say here that in each of his previous works Madhur was far more in control of proceedings than he is in Heroine; a film that superficially traces Bollywood’s underbelly.
The protagonist is Mahi Arora ( Kareena Kapoor), a superstar, who has the world at her feet for a bit in the beginning of this film. Unfortunately she is also fashionably diagnosed with the bipolar syndrome and is happy to destroy herself in her various relationships.
If you are wondering why Sunshine Girl Mahi is on a constant emotional roller-coaster; the narrative tells you that she has had a messed up childhood and hence she has developed this masochistic streak.
So on the one hand, Mahi is cutting ribbons, and shooting for a dozen endorsements. But quickly enough she is also threatened by the arrival of the younger actresses and awards that go missing. To add to her woes, she’s drawn like a moth to a flame to her married co-star Aryan Khanna( Arjun Rampal); a cad.
Very clearly the written material at hand draws from unflattering accounts of various real and reel Hindi film heroines of the 80s (unfair to name them because a couple of them are not even around to defend themselves); who were in messy situations with their married co-stars.
In a bid to pack in every piece of studio gossip ever heard; Heroine makes Mahi swing from a relationship with a married actor to another with a successful cricketer ( Randeep Hooda). Cloning stereotypes of what the middle-class call a liberated; Mahi is also shown smoking, drinking and popping pills so frequently; she seems more like a social hazard than a free-thinking girl.
Of course the saving grace of the film is Kareena who not only looks drop-dead gorgeous but is also adept as the girl interrupted.
Definitely worth a dekho! (Agencies)