In these fast paced times, with the virtual world and the Television Channels continuously evolving, and new opportunities are cropping up every day, there is always a new face waiting to be discovered now and then. Calendar Girls – movie review
Now, things have progressed so fast that even a sizzling debutante of her debut film, which may be a hit, disappears from public memory if she doesn’t follow up with subsequent releases or with an ad film or so.
A decade ago there was a phase when models featured on the Calendar of a brewery were treated as something out of this world. They became celebrities overnight.
It is the same director who made classy and hard hitting films like Chandni Bar, Fashion, Page 3 and Corporate, Madhur Bhandarkar disappoints with his latest offering.
The film features 5 girls who hail from different towns & cities of India, and who have been selected to pose for the country’s most prestigious annual Calendar which is a joint effort of a business tycoon Rishabh Kukreja, and his able photographer friend Timmy Sen.
Bhandarkar has assembled five leggy lasses from around the country, including one from the neighboring country to participate in a coveted calendar shoot. The assignment is so hyped that the innocent girls believe that this assignment would change their lives forever.
The selected 5 calendar models are – a Hyderabadi girl Nandita Menon (Akanksha Puri), a Goan Sharon Pinto (Kyra Dutt), a Pakistani model Nazneen Malik (Avani Modi), Rohtak’s Mayuri Chauhan (Ruhi Singh) and a Bengali Paroma Ghosh (Satarupa Pyne).
Post the success of Calendar launch, after a year or so, it is shown that most of the ambitious girls land up taking rash decisions or being exploited for their loved one’s selfish motives. This is where things look outdated. Today’s girls are far more smart, wise and professional who do not easily get swayed by their emotions or other people’s smartness.
To begin with the most unfortunate one is the Pakistani girl Nazneen Malik, who becomes a centre of debate with the local political party labeling her as a cultural outsider. She ends up becoming an escort girl.
The simple Bengali girl, Paroma Ghosh, who has attained celeb status post the calendar launch, has alienated and overambitious boyfriend calling up on her who plays the emotional card and exploits her by using her as a candy to lure cricketers to fall into the match-fixing trap.
It is the girl from Goa who is positively portrayed as a forward thinking girl who starts by being a VJ for a TV channel, survives the big-bad world with her hard work and creativity and good-looks of course.
The Hyderabadi girl is given the choice to give up modeling and get married to a Rajasthani royal, incidentally the royal dude continues his flirting ways with other girls, while this bahu is lectured on ‘parampara’ by her father-in-law.
The girl from Rohtak is shown as an overambitious actress who acts stupid with her Facebook and twitter accounts. She is lucky enough to have a wise manager who guides her ably through opportunities in her career.
If all this wasn’t enough the director himself makes an appearance in the film. What’s more?
Calendar Girls is an average film with skin show in abundance.
Click on the Thumbnails for ENLARGED PICS:
Cast:
Akanksha Puri as Nandita Menon from Hyderabad
Avani Modi as Nazneen Khalid from Lahore
Kyra Dutt as Sharon Pinto from Goa
Ruhi Singh as Mayuri Chauhan from Rohtak
Satarupa Pyne as Paroma Ghosh from Kolkata
Meeta Vasisht as Ananya
Rohit Roy as the still Photographer
Rushad Rana as Aniruddh Shroff
Vikram Sakhalkar as Harsh Narang
Atul Parchure as Manager
Indraneil Sengupta as Shashank
Arhaan Chaudhary as Cricketer
Suhel Seth
Kiran Kumar
Gargi Patel
Sharad Ponkshe
Anant Jog
Shishir Sharma
Suchitra Pillai
Keith Sequeira
Credits & Crew:
Banner – Mangal Murti Films PVT. LTD., Bhandarkar Entertainment
Produced by Madhur Bhandarkar, Sangeeta Ahir
Director – Madhur Bhandarkar
Story Writers – Madhur Bhandarkar, Anil Pandey, Rohit G. Banawlikar
Background Music – Rohit Kulkarni
Choreographer – Ganesh Hegde
Music Directors – Meet Bros Anjjan, Amaal Mallik
Lyrics – Kumaar
Editor – Devendra Murdeshwar
Cinematography – Harri Vendaantam
Dialogues by Rohit G. Banawlikar, Abhiruchi Chand
Calendar Girls – Hindi movie review
