Behind scenes, between sheets

<div class="section1"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="61.8%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/997668.cms" alt="/photo/997668.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Page 3</span><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Director:</span> Madhur Bhandarkar<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Cast:</span> Konkona Sensharma, Boman Irani, Sandhya Mridul, Tara Sharma, Bikram Saluja, Atul Kulkarni<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Rating:</span> <img src="/photo/997591.cms" alt="/photo/997591.cms" border="0" /><img src="/photo/997591.cms" alt="/photo/997591.cms" border="0" /><img src="/photo/997591.cms" alt="/photo/997591.cms" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Plot: </span>A behind-the-scenes and between-the-sheets look at the people who make it to the party pages of every newspaper – the so-called social elite.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Setting:</span> In and around parties in Mumbai.<br /><br />With 45 people on the sets at any given point of time, Bhandarkar still manages to give us an interesting story that does not lose its pace or its plot. <br /><br />A multi-character movie, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Page 3</span> has all well-developed characters, no matter how small or big the role. <br /><br />While one would be tempted to say that this is Konkona''s movie, it is not. It is what the title says, about the people who make the party circuit.<br /><br />The movie effectively blows the façade behind the bold and beautiful party people and paints them in a light that is far from appealing.<br /><br />No one has been spared. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/997669.cms" alt="/photo/997669.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />While the movie does host the usual, "any resemblance to any person, living or dead is coincidental" line, viewers will have fun ''identifying'' the who''s who in the movie.<br /><br />There''s the sultry writer who peddles sex in the name of literature and the politician who lacks any leadership qualities but leads the band sycophants. <br /><br />The super cop who''s KRA includes teaching actors how to hold a gun right and the actor who has a wife tucked away in some corner while he dallies with the starlets.<br /><br />The wannabe who sheds her inhibitions and clothes to be part of the with-it crowd and the transvestite who is a celeb, simply by virtue of coming out of the closet first. <br /><br />But the pseudo glitterati are not the only target of Bhandarkar''s pot shots. He does not spare the media either. <br /><br />There is the young party reporter and her crime reporter colleague who believes that "real stories" are in hospital wards and the by-lanes of the city.<br /><br />Their editor and boss who has the right convictions but no guts to uphold them and more often than not bends before the dictates of ''ads before a good story''. <br /><br />The media tycoon who asks the editor to "fire the b***h", supporting the paedophilic businessman simply because he is the paper''s biggest advertiser. <br /><br />Bhandarkar pushes home the point relentlessly - when there''s money involved, it''s simply business and nothing personal. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /> <br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/997670.cms" alt="/photo/997670.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />But before you think this is a moralistic view at the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Page 3</span> crowd and their doings, the director steers clear of passing any judgments. <br /><br />He simply presents things as they are. <br /><br />If Bhandarkar has the crime reporter saying, "To change the system you have to be in the system", he also has the once-moralistic starlet sleeping with the sleazy producer justifying her decision with, "I really don''t mind". <br /><br />One couldn''t help wondering - was this Bhandarkar''s response to the case that was recently filed against him in court? <br /><br />Back to the movie. If Bhandarkar manages to maintain a pace that has something happening at every turn, he controls it too without letting the film spiral into nothing. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section4"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="65.5%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/997672.cms" alt="/photo/997672.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br />If the first half of the film is acerbically funny, the second half is grippingly shocking. After a long time here is a movie where the climax justifies the unfolding story. <br /><br />As for the performances, Irani as the genial-but-spineless editor is brilliant. Any one who has ever had to compromise his principles to save his job will identify with Irani. <br /><br />The audience will also identify with Konkona as the diligent employee who wants to make a difference but is prevented because the higher-ups have their vested interests. <br /><br />Or for that matter with the airhostess who holds no righteous illusions about the world she is living in. Clear about what she wants, she goes after it with gusto. Slightly over the top at times, Sandhya still makes her character believable. <br /><br />If Saluja as superstar Rohit surprises with a good performance, Tara as the starlet still has some way to go before she can be called an actress. <span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section5"><div align="center" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center" border="1" width="70.3%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/997674.cms" alt="/photo/997674.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Page 3</span> is a good movie that works on the theory of identification - the audience will find echoes of itself in one or the other character. <br /><br />But will it make money? There have been dissenting voices that are predicting an early demise for <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Page 3</span> simply because it is releasing with Subhash Ghai''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kisna</span>. <br /><br />Both the movies have very different subjects and a different target audience. <br /><br />If Ghai has a lavish epic aimed at the movie-goer who looks for grandeur, Bhandarkar has made a movie clearly targeted at the multiplex audience, and should recover his costs.<br /> <br />To refer to a past case, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets</span> released on the same date as Ram Gopal Varma''s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Company</span>; yet both movies made money. <br /><br />But has the audience bothered about a movie''s box office record? <br /><br />Strictly with respect to viewing pleasure, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Page 3</span> is an entertainer. Watch it and write back if you recognise the "accidental coincidences" in the movie.<span style="" font-weight:="" bold=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></span></div> </div>