hat’s it about:
Welcome to Bhatt’s land of showbiz! Where channel bosses behave like underworld dons and Page 3 reporters resort to blackmail and extortion to harass a celebrity.
2007’s last Hindi release Showbiz begins as a simple love story. Talent hunt winner Rohan (debutant Tusshar Jalota) is in love with the channel creative head Shikha (Mrinalini Sharma of Awarapan fame). When Rohan refuses to give an interview, a bunch of journos (led by Sushant Singh) decide to tarnish his image. As a result, they start reporting false stories about his personal life for a rival channel. Things turn sour when Rohan meets with an accident and is spotted with a call girl near the accident site. Rohan loses his stardom. His struggle to prove himself innocent forms the basis of the remaining plot.
What we liked:
Since Showbiz released with zilch hype, one does not have too many expectations. But surprisingly the movie is quite engaging in parts. Unfortunately, the filmmaker has nothing new to offer in terms of treatment. The story is all about yellow journalism. The first half of the film is quite gripping.
There is an attempt to introduce some mystery in the second half. But if you are an avid Hindi film buff, the real identity of the call girl or the main villain won’t come as a surprise.
What we didn’t like:
It’s a one-sided tale where all the sympathy is reserved for the celebrity. The director suggests that stars have no control over what’s being published, portraying them as helpless mortals. On the other hand channel CEOs are shown as kingpins who are much above others.
Director Raju Khan must really hate the media to have come up with a film like this. Why else would the cameramen and reporters behave like evils? Both the newcomers couldn’t do much with their contrived roles even after several rehearsals. The talented trio - Sushant Singh, Gulshan Grover and Saurabh Shukla - try hard to make sense of what they are doing.
Subjects like Breaking news, TRPs, yellow journalism, ethics, sting operations have been touched upon. But this is no concrete analysis of the glamour world. In fact, towards the end the movie, it becomes a typical revenge drama of the ’80s where the actor is out to settle scores with the journos. But the director also tries to make up for it by introducing some good journalists in the end. The film also has a small lesson for celebs who avoid the media.
Finally, Showbiz completes a hattrick of giving disappointing soundtracks from the banner (after Dhoka and Awarapan). Music has always been the strong point in Bhatt films. But post-Woh Lamhe they haven’t been able to recreate the past magic.
Cast & Crew:
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt
Cast: Tushar Jalota, Mrinalini Sharma, Gulshan Grover
Direction: Raju Khan
Music: Lalit Pandit
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Tags: Gulshan Grover, Mrinalini Sharma, Showbiz - Hindi Movie Review, Tushar Jalota | Filed in Bollywood
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