Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

bobbysing Madhur Bhandarkar willfully tried to break his fading routine style with DIL TO BACCHA HAI JI, but couldn't find any takers. So he forcibly returned to his good old winning formula of realistic films and made HEROINE revolving around his own film industry and its dark secrets. Now no doubt he once again successfully serves you a fine lead performance along with some severe scandalous revelations as per his unique style. Yet, this time it's more repetition all through the movie for a common man rather than having some fresh original content from the thoughtful director. The last year Hit THE DIRTY PICTURE, his own FASHION and the recent RAAZ 3, made on the similar subjects might be one of the reasons of this 'seen before' kind of feeling from the film. But the conclusion is that the master is not at his best in HEROINE and fails to give you something novel as always expected from him according to his own fixed standards.HEROINE straight away begins with a tense scene and then picks up rarely in its 148 minutes of duration, unable to generate any kind of lasting impression on the viewer. The film majorly lacks on the entertainment quotient since it doesn't have any major entertaining or enjoyable sequences right till the end and becomes too slow (& stretched) post intermission. Thankfully, Kareena scores well & looks stunning with one of her career best performances which remains the only reason why it can be watched once, in order to honor her honest attempt. The lady is in her boldest avatar ever in HEROINE and also gets terrific support from the entire cast featuring Helen, Shahana Goswami, Randeep Hooda, Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutta, Govind Namdev, Mugdha Godse and Sanjay Suri in that given order. Cinematography and Background Score does not give you anything special to enjoy but the costume designers do give you many open spaces in their dresses to peep in.To be honest, I strongly disagree with Madhur's outlook this time as he goes completely NEGATIVE in the film degrading the already frightful image of the film industry further to many folds. In fact the only positive scenes & dialogues in HEROINE are the ones featuring HELEN posing as an old time successful actress who is not treated well by the present industry people in her old age. And apart from that, every single character in its script is an opportunist who is just interested in using the other person for his own benefit and nothing else. So you have a purely humiliating or shameful depiction of the Film Industry here in HEROINE revealed by a veteran director of the industry himself. In other words, its a VIBHISHAN kind of act by Madhur Bhandarkar in which he ridicules his own chosen industry, reveals its ugly darker side like a insider and makes fun of it in the end with an open climax. In a broader sense it's all a mutual game going on here in the materialistic world where everyone is using each other for their own hidden interests. And the Film Industry isn't the only negative industry in existence as portrayed by the film in particular. The dark features prevalent in film business can easily be found in all the other major businesses too involving big investments. But the problem here is that Madhur in HEROINE paints such a dreadful image of the industry on the screen which straight away gives you a strong impression that there cannot be anything worst than the Film Industry in the entire world. Watching the kind of relationships shown in the film where veterans are not respected, directors are thrown out of the offices by shutting down their months old projects, roles are cut on the editing table, publicity is planned for only a chosen few, actors are signed on hidden recommendations, films are planned like canned food and sex is practiced in its all (questionable) forms ranging from straight, gay & lesbians……I seriously doubt any concerned parent would like to send his daughter or son in the film line after seeing HEROINE.Interestingly, the last year's hit THE DIRTY PICTURE was also about this dark revelation of the film line. But there the director was more interested in entertaining the audience with some great mix of fun, song, dance, sex and drama. But here in HEROINE, such is the impact of negativity sprayed on the screen by Madhur Bhandarkar that one is bound to ask that "Is there nothing positive or good in the Film Industry at all?"In fact that is the biggest failure of this project since it only stresses upon the negative side of a coin and tries to sell itself like an evil film to the audience. Quite strangely Madhur doesn't include even a single positive scene in his script which tries to highlight the few good people functioning in the industry too along with the bad ones. In truth, negativity or evil cannot survive alone in existence as it does need the assistance of goodness essentially to make its presence felt. But since Madhur only deals with the evil in HEROINE, it falls flat and fails to impress.Besides, the release time of HEROINE itself is a spoof on its director and producers themselves since they exactly do the same thing in real life as planned by the fading actress Mahie in their script to gain some extra free publicity on her new film's release. In the film she leaks an intimate video clip to the media for getting a good opening at the box office and in real life Madhur smartly plans the release of his film on Kareena Kapoor's actual birthday.Because in reality….its all Show Business and a part of the game.

Sreya Maitra There are a lot of negative reviews about this movie, but I differ, in a movie people always want new and entertaining things no matter what, but complain when people show them how they get that. And more importantly forget that they themselves made the film industry like that. And that's that.In short - This movie isn't so bad, as a movie maybe not so good, but it's a lie if someone says it isn't realistic. We see this ALL THE TIME in reality, that's why people got bored seeing it again. At last, it comes down to people didn't like paying for watching what they do on News or Bollywood channels.Starting with performances:- Before I go any further; Kareena is the best. No matter if you like this film or not, Kareena has done a REALLY good job; 10/10. The main guys are Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda, Arjun as usual hardly shows any emotion, but his role is the main. Randeep has a smaller role, but well played. Divya Dutta might be annoying but acts fine, Mugdha Godse has a small okay role. Shahana Goswami is nice. But the second best in this film after Kareena is Ranvir Shorey. He's AWESOME in his portrayal of a Bengali "realistic" film maker, his role is short but well done with his "Bengali" accent. There's also Helen in small role and some others. There are some people from Fashion also and they actually feel like Deja Vu and shouldn't have been here.Yes, it's similar to Fashion. The story is the same but with a heroine, her rising, falling and desperate trying to fix up and mess up. Only difference that everything is EXTREME here. From scenes to details of tricks, unlike Fashion which shows overall happenings, this goes into lot of details of cheap publicity tactics and relies heavily on relationships.The movie should have been titled "The Dirty Picture Behind The Picture" instead of "Heroine", get it?People dislike the character Mahi, as she just whines and throws tantrums in the whole movie. She's arrogant, insecure and emotional. But people are forgetting something - she's supposed to be SCHIZOPHRENIC. And THAT'S how they are. We should give the character some credit.Moving on to the story; It's nothing new. As I said, we see those all the time on news. From the publicity stunts to the relations, everything has happened with real people. And you tell me, when News channels have nothing to show they do a 1 hour show of a celebrity's relationships, and not giving any attention to an old star in their life, they do a whole week specially dedicated to them when they die; and people STILL watch it again and again. Instead of celebrity's films, they talk more of their love lives.People say the first part is more entertaining, but I don't think so, because at first it's just Mahi and others bitching to each other. I didn't feel any compassion for Mahi, but it gets better in the second part. Although it's melodrama and lots of twists which are predictable as that's what happens in reality.There's lot of profanity and sexuality. Movies 'Fashion' and 'Race' look like "U" rated films in front of 'Heroine' even though they were "A" rated too. I'm comparing this to Fashion because, as said it's similar, and I DON'T MIND it. Why? Because it's in the same industry! Actors all the time walk as models and models become actors. I always expected Heroine to turn out like this only. Just HOW could anyone expect something else? Fashion was different because we see models everywhere in Ads and magazines but don't even know their names and let alone personal life, but we know EVERYTHING about film stars so that's why people got bored watching it again.Now, the songs are good, but not in the film. Terrible choreography, destroyed the only 2 songs which weren't background music.People call the characters here stereotypes, but audience is the most stereotype as they OBVIOUSLY don't know how stars really are and how hard for them it can be. The bad thing about this film is that they didn't show any good sides of Bollywood.I wouldn't call this the best film ever, but definitely not worst. At least not brainless movies like 'Ready' or 'Tees Maar Khan'. And don't make me start on those COUNTLESS useless unknown films. People should appreciate psychological films. Those art films get high acclaim even though they don't have any entertainment, so why hate this one so much?Okay, lastly even after saying all this, I STILL don't recommend watching this film in cinema hall. Wait till it comes on TV, every movie seems better on TV. But if you really want to watch it for Kareena, then get the lowest priced ticket in morning shows on weekdays. In that way you won't lose much. It's actually not a "time-pass" film, but okay if you have a mood to watch a movie in halls.Wrapping up this review; my verdict - 6 out of 10 = 3 or maybe 2.75 stars out of 5 to Heroine.

Cold Heart Ans: Be Madhur Bhandarkar and show people your Heroine! I went in with GREAT expectations. Frankly, I was prepared for both Masala and sleaze which justifies itself in the context and boy was I in for a MAJOR disappointment.I am a big fan of the emotions which are so freely expressed in Bollywood movies but more than anything Im vowed by actors who encompass poise and calm even when they are super charged and hyper. Perfect example Sridevi in Chaalbaaz.Sadly though,poise and grace were the last thoughts on the mind of our leading lady in Heroine, who looked desperate to fulfill herself with Mahi Arora rather than the other way around. It was plain pathetic. 10 minutes in the movie and I was impatient, restless, and ready to jump out.Only the money spent on VIP tickets kept me seated! Overall the movie was a huge let down since Ms.Kapoor couldn't portray what was required. Now please, crying is not acting.Chain smoking is NOT acting. Doing Halkat Jawani is not acting.And going all "natural" without any make-up on is definitely not acting. Rather it is called "lowering the bar to suit your skills which couldn't be lifted in about 12 years of working as a sleaze bomb very effectively". Heroine was a crime! for Madhur Bhandarkar resume and definitely ripped other very capable actors of any true chance to show their genuine skills. Ranvir Shorey was outstanding, the real treat in the movie. I thought he was my reward for buying the tickets , but his role was mercilessly cut short. Helen was the grace and poise Madhur and Kareena could learn from! Randeep Hooda has a very strong presence on screen and he doesn't falter.Again we were deprived of any entertainment he promised to bring. As for Arjun Rampal , he is one of the finest actors today. That poise , grace and devilish good looks combined with smooth emotional ranges that he can portray were wasted as he like all of us in theater, had to cope with the shrieks from Ms.Kapoor. Her presence in the movie ensured other far, far superior actors were misused throughout the movie.So what was lost in those ear-piercing shrieks? Let me try and explain from the perspective of a viewer looking for pure entertainment WITH intelligence (believe me I don't take easy if a movie makes fun of IQ and reasoning powers of it's viewers and Heroine manages to do both INTENTIONALLY). First, who were the characters and just who was Mahi Arora? How did she reach such heights of popularity being an outsider in the industry (which is what we are told through a brief voice over at the beginning). Second, our protagonist tapes her intimate moments to bring the extra kinky out right and this is the same woman who refuses to sleep with the producer of her movie during the most desperate of times and hence deals final blows to her declining career ONLY to leak sex tapes later to boost publicity of a much smaller film.But the sex tapes have no sex in them or did I miss out the best part of our Heroine's acting skills?. Third, she cannot portray a prostitute in a Bangali film, but wait isn't she a Superstar or are we being told that Bollywood actresses can become Superstars without being able to act? Didn't that hurt Kareena? Fourth, she is Bipolar and this is where Kareena has convinced and deceived people, she gets away with the shallowest of performances and gathers praises as well BECAUSE she is bipolar and this is a state of mind she has portrayed in ALL her movies so far save for Refugee and Jab we met. Fifth, why couldn't the movie focus on some other characters AT ALL? or are we being told that success mantra is different in movie business and that A-List stars (which we are told our Protagonist is) don't have any emotional support systems like people who support their professional lives? The whole idea contradicts itself. In fact by taking focus away from ALL characters and meekly putting it on the protagonist , the director takes a leap of faith and commits artistic suicide! Only the B-grade industry wannabes resort to tactics that our director shows a superstar applying to her life and career. Sixth, when the water goes way above her wise head, Mahi decides to run to Europe and live an anonymous life. So how does she ditch her bipolar self? or was she using it to shriek good senses out of her man? what again? Sorry.Seventh, Okay she is a headstrong and stupid person (which is finally something believable) headstrong okay but none of the real-life leading ladies are stupid. Kareena herself has tactically topped all rankings with very flat acting skills or did everyone forget that the movie was supposed to be about a washed out One-hit-wonder? Eighth and I'll end with this, Kareena reportedly would get a cut from movie profits. Now did she influence the production to show-case herself ONLY because let's face it movie business is way too suave, mature and professional (or how can you explain the multimillion dollar worth of business it garners every year?) than what this movie tells us and Mr.Bhandarkar is a smart man (with however many clichés , his previous movies have still been way better!). He wouldn't kill his film by giving Kareena 2.4 out of 2.5 hours of screen time now or would he? I also noticed some bizarre behaviors while Heroine was being heavily promoted on all TV Channels which definitely made me watch the movie, case of sheer irony or Madhur Bhandarkar tried to pull a smart one on us?*bad-taste-in-mouth-when-I-think-of-it kind of awful. I do swear that I'd stick to my earlier vows and would never ever watch a Kareena starrer again*

darshu790 One of the boring movies from Madhur Bhandarkar. Throughout the film kareena weeps, weeps and WEEPS. The director himself is confused while he portraits Mahi Arora (Kareena) as confused. Its again a mixture of Fashion, Page 3, Dirty Picture which results in a new movie, Heroine. Its glamorous, rich in fashion statement, thanks to cinematographers and Manish Malhotra for designs. Big problem in Heroine is that... that wow moment which usually happens in Madhur's films, doesn't happen at all. There is nothing to cherish when you come out of the theater (Except Kareena's performance) Trust me, after not being a Kareena fan, She is at her phenomenal best in this. She looks gorgeous even when she cries out loud. Sarcastic, attitude, jealous, happy, distort, devastation, frustration and all other emotions showcased perfectly by Bebo (Kareena). She is the star of the movie. While movie itself is sulky, sloppy, boring and bad in all parts. Watch it for Bebo if you are a die hard fan of her. 3 out of 10 for Heroine. 1 for movie and 2 for BEBO