Heroine (2012 film)

Plot

The movie begins with Mahi Arora (Kareena Kapoor), a renowned actress and film heroine, being thrown out of a car at night. She hails a taxi to a police station with the intention of lodging a complaint. Before she can do so, her agent Rashid Bhai (Govind Namdeo) arrives and takes her away from the station.

Through a flashback, we are shown Mahi's relationship with well-known leading actor, Aryan (Arjun Rampal). Aryan is going through divorce proceedings with his wife, while dating Mahi. Mahi is completely in love with Aryan, and during one of their intimate moments, takes a video of them. Aryan's loyalty and priorities are split between his wife and son, his career, and Mahi. When Mahi comes to know about an intimate scene Aryan is shooting for a movie, she barges on to the set and creates a scene, which upsets Aryan. Later Mahi is mocked by Aryan's wife at a party, and they exchange heated words. While driving back from the party with Aryan, Mahi raises the topic of his wife, which results in her being thrown out of the car.

Realising her place in Aryan's life, Mahi goes into depression, putting her career in jeopardy. A friend convinced Mahi to leave the past behind her and re-enter the industry with a bang. Heeding her advice, Mahi decides to rejuvenate her career. She employs a public relations Offiver, Pallavi (Divya Dutta) who reinvents Mahi's image and puts her back on the front page of every newspaper and magazine. She starts a relationship with an upcoming cricketer, Angad Paul (Randeep Hooda). Their love affair begins to blossom and puts her back into the spotlight. Mahi uses Angad to get role in a big budget film. However, the lead actor manipulates the director to shoot the film in such a way, that the story becomes purely about him and an item girl. Mahi is dissatisfied despite the film being a success, and in a desperate attempt to prove her acting skills, she works in an art film for next the nine months. Angad proposes to Mahi, but she feels that presently they should concentrate on their respective careers. This causes Mahi and Angad's relationship to end. The art film never completes, and Mahi goes into depression, accompanied by heavy drinking and smoking. Since she cannot get a role in big budget productions, she decides to work on a low budget film with newcomers. Also she agrees to make an appearance at the marriage of a wealthy socialite.

Mahi meets Aryan at the wedding. Aryan seems to be apologetic to Mahi, and they decide to rekindle their affair. Aryan says that he wants her to do a big budget film with him, however, the director of the film is reluctant to cast Mahi in the role of the lead heroine as she has lost her appeal. Mahi becomes obsessed with the thought of losing the role to another heroine. She asks Pallavi to leak the sex tape of her and Aryan on the news so that she would get back on the spotlight, for the release of her low budget film. As a result of this controversy, the film becomes an instant hit.

Mahi's success and happiness is short lived. She starts questioning her career and life choices. She finally decides to leave the industry after her agent Rashid Bhai quits, and Shagufta Reza (Helen), a veteran actress who Mahi admired dearly, dies. In the concluding scenes, Mahi is shown walking alone in a foreign country, and on being asked if she is Mahi Arora, she replies "no". It is implied that she has moved on with her life and put her heroine days behind her.

Cast

Hooda was cast by the director to essay the role of a cricketer. Prior to the start of principal photography, actor Arunoday Singh was chosen to play the role, but was later dropped from the film due to unknown reasons. Media reports began speculating the name of several actors (such as Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan and Prateik Babbar) though Bhandarkar later confirmed that he had selected Hooda after seeing his performance in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011). As a way to make his character more believable, Hooda began taking tips and lessons from cricketer Virender Sehwag.

Dubey was cast by the director to essay the role of Kapoor's mother.

Described as the director's "lucky mascot", Shorey was roped in to make a cameo appearance.

Development

Following the completion of his film, Jail (2009), Bhandarkar began toying with the idea of making a project on the film industry. Along with writer Niranjan Iyengar, the director began developing the story about the life of an actress and later approached UTV Motion Pictures with whom he had worked on several occasions. Bhandarkar, who was keen on using the title Heroine for his film, donated ₹100,000 (US$1,600) to Guddu Dhanoa's charity. He later explained that he had been subconsciously preparing for the movie ever since he joined the industry.

Pre-production work on the film was expected to commence during the summer of 2010 but was put on hold due to Kapoor being busy with other commitments. During this period, Bhandarkar announced that he would be making another project while putting Heroine on hold. Though speculated to be based on the lives of yesteryear divas like Madhubala and Marilyn Monroe, Bhandarkar denied the reports saying that the movie is a "contemporary film which reveals the underbelly of the movie industry and its well-kept secrets". In an attempt to prepare his protagonist for the film, the director prepared a three-hour documentary on Hollywood actresses Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Vivien Leigh. Designer Manish Malhotra was signed on to design the costumes. Choreography of the movie was done by Remo D'Souza Ganesh Acharya and Jasmin Oza.

Filming

Production for the film was marred by the kidnapping and brutal murder of Meenakshi Thapar by a co-star, Amit Jaiswal, who like Thapar, only had a minor role in the film. Thapar was strangled in her hotel room in Gorakhpur and her body dumped into a water tank and head decapitated and thrown out of the window of a moving bus.

Release of first look (with Aishwarya Rai)

The first look of the movie was released as part of the 64th Cannes Film Festival. A promotional poster was released during a press conference in which Ronnie Screwvala of UTV Motion Pictures, Madhur Bhandarkar, and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan officially announced the movie. The director said, "The movie is a glamorous yet bold story of the internal journey of a superstar. I am certain it will appeal to audiences across the globe and Aishwarya was a perfect choice for the role. In fact, no one could've played it better." Screwvala stated "With Heroine, we plan to take things to the next level. When you watch the film, you will feel that the role was written with someone as talented and stunning as Aishwarya in mind." The actress too admitted that she was "looking forward to this new journey in the movie." It was also announced that Aishwarya Rai will be have a wardrobe of more than 40 outfits designed by Manish Malhotra in the film. Explaining why he was launching the project in Cannes, Screwvala alluded to Rai's star power saying, "She is the brand ambassador for India and for Indian cinema when it comes to the French Riviera." The actress was quick to deny any reference to her personal life being portrayed in the movie and said that the entire idea was a result of Bhandarkar's conceptualisation. The Official Press Release distributed as a part of the announcement stated that "The film is based on the life and times of a superstar heroine, Mahi from the dream factory we call 'Bollywood'. The film is a daring, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind-the-scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour that our film stars inhabit. For a country obsessed with films and film stars, Heroine will take audiences on a voyeuristic journey to see what really goes on in the lives of India's sweethearts."

Release of first look (with Kareena Kapoor)

The director initially planned to put-forth the theatrical trailer attached to the release of Rowdy Rathore on 1 June 2012. However, there were several matured contents featuring Kareena Kapoor, which were essential and must be there to retain the motive of the film title, as per the director. The Central Board of Film Certification awarded an 'A' certificate to the trailer but chopped off Kapoor's smoking scenes and lovemaking scenes from the trailer. The trailer was then scheduled for a 6 July 2012 release, as it would be releasing alongside Bol Bachchan, although it was then postponed to 20 July 2012. It was once again delayed so it did not clash with the late Rajesh Khanna's chautha. On 22 July 2012, two of the first look posters were revealed on the micro blogging site, Twitter, and received an amazing response in just 8 hours. The trailer was released on 25 July 2012 online and will be released with Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum on 27 July 2012 in theatres. The trailer crossed over a million hits on YouTube within 2 days.

The trailer was released on 25 July 2012. After the release of the trailer, a controversy arose. In the film's promo a dialogue of Kareena Kapoor: "If a heroine buys a car, it's gifted to her by a businessman. If she goes to LA (Los Angeles), she's getting plastic surgery done and, god forbid, if she goes to Dubai, you people make a rate card for her," was not appreciated by the people of Dubai. To avoid hurting sentiments, Director Madhur Bhandarkar has had the offending statement censored in the Dubai version. He clarified, "We have censored it. There are some people who have raised objections. But we did not mean to demean anyone, Dubai is my personal favourite city."

Soundtrack

It was announced that music director duo Salim-Sulaiman, who had earlier worked with Madhur Bhandarkar in his critically acclaimed movie Fashion, will be composing the songs for Heroine.

During the shooting of the film, Bhandarkar revealed that there would be two big item numbers in the film, both to be picturised on the leading lady. One of them being called "Halkat Jawani". Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan is scheduled as a single track release on 17 August 2012. Musicperk.com rated the album 7/10 quoting "Although songs like Halkat Jawani, Khwahishein and Tujhpe fida sound nice and enthusiastic as independent tracks, others probably would need to rely on the picturisation of the song for the required effect to be created".

Critical reception

Heroine received universally mixed reviews with most critics praising the story, music and the main cast's performance while the screenplay garnered predominantly negative reviews. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 while saying "Watch HEROINE for Madhur's imposing direction, for Kareena's superlative performance, watch it also for its fearless, inspiring and enlightening storyline divulging the scandalous realities of the movie industry. Try not to miss it!". Shomini Sen of Zee News gave it a score of 3 out of 5 and said "Does Heroine work? Yes, but only because of Kareena Kapoor. From doing the raunchy act in "Halkat Jawaani" to the scenes where she is battling depression and popping pills, Kareena makes Mahi memorable and lovable. Heroine is absolutely Kareena's film, not Madhur's. Two for the film and one extra for Bebo. Three cheers for the film!". Aniruddha Guha of DNA gave Heroine 2 out 5 stars while commenting, "The characters are all caricatured and the screenplay meanders along aimlessly, it being nothing more than an assemblage of scenes – each disjointed from the other – strung together in a long, sleep-inducing and pointless narrative". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated it 2 out of 5 stars, noting "The film that Bhandarkar has made is indeed disappointingly mechanical. Mercifully, Kareena does demonstrate that she has a feel for the character. But, then, why wouldn't she? After all she plays herself in Heroine".

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the film 2 out of 5 and said "Despite an entertaining first half, thanks to all the unintentional laughs, Heroine slips into a slush of melodrama post interval. By this point, it feels interminably long and boring". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com gave it 2 out of 5 stars, remarking "There's nothing innovative about Madhur Bhandarkar's Heroine.I am not sure if this is Bhandakar's idea of comic relief but the hall roared with laughter. What's not funny is just how stunning Kareena Kapoor looks or gives to her role as Mahi Arora". bRoshni Devi of Koimoi gave the film 1.5 out 5 stars, reviewing "Heroine irritates more than entertains, but some of the performances are nice. Kareena Kapoor does a good job and, heck, you even get to see her in a pseudo-lesbian scene along with other steamy scenes. If that's enough to drag you to see Heroine, go ahead. Give it a miss otherwise".

Box office

The film grossed ₹6.94 crore (US$1.1 million) on its opening day. Heroine had an average weekend of ₹205 million (US$3.2 million) nett. The film had collected a fair ₹310 million (US$4.8 million) in its first week. The film had a heavy fall in second week and managed only ₹60 million (US$940,000) nett. It collected 440 million.