Movies that showed the dark side of the glam world

From Priyanka Chopra's spiral into self-destruction in 'Fashion,' to Kareena Kapoor's emotionally frayed turn as a fading actress in 'Heroine,' these stories not only encapsulate fame, but also the fragility and volatility of fame, along with its steep price. There is exploitation disguised as opportunity, public validation camouflaging private suffering, and dreams punctured by gatekeeping and gloss. Just like it here is some films which shows the dark side of the glam world:

Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Fashion’ follows Meghna played by Priyanka Chopra from small-town anonymity into supermodel stardom, capturing the adrenaline of runway rush and magazine covers, but beneath every triumph is a tremor. Meghna's rise is darkened by addiction, lost friendships and lost identity; Bhandarkar embodies her fall with almost supernatural ability, showing us how every dazzling moment comes with a backstage breakdown. It is a story of beam and burden — of wearing glamour as simply a potent mask in the midst of emotional turmoil.

In a raw, jagged performance, Kareena Kapoor plays Mahi Arora, a Bollywood actress losing grip as her relevance fades. The film is a psychological unwrapping of what fame does to a woman once she stops trending. There’s media brutality, high-powered manipulation, tabloid hysteria, and a terrifying emotional solitude. Mahi becomes a haunting personification of how an industry that adored her yesterday uninvites her today, with no explanation and no goodbye.

As a first-time director, Zoya Akhtar creates a multi-faceted amalgamation of compromise and contradiction. While Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen Sharma play aspiring actors trying to chase their cinematic dreams, they must face nepotism, transactional relationships, and the erosion of emotion. The strength of the film lies within its soft truths; how talent is never enough, how ideas become sacrifices for visibility, and how fame always comes with a cost to someone else. In Zoya's Bombay, luck will knock, but luck never stays free.

Five women rise to fame overnight through a high-profile calendar launch. Yet the cost of visibility is high. Bhandarkar exposes fractures beneath their glossy rise, underworld connections, public-shaming, emotional crises, and public deception. The story is relentless, emphasizing that ambition is vulnerability in the wrong hands.

Through the eyes of a young journalist, Konkona Sen Sharma, this film explores the superficiality of celebrity circles and the emotional erosion that comes with chasing page-one placements. Parties are performative, friendships fleeting, morals ambiguous. What’s written on page three often masks what’s erased from real life. ‘Page 3’ is not just reportage but it’s a requiem.