Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Corporate' carries a tremendous sense of deja vu. Apart from the fact that it looks too similar to 'Page 3' and 'Satta' in style, treatment and even content to an extent, there's nothing here about the murky side of the corporate world that one hasn't already read in the newspapers or worse, watched in Hindi cinema. In fact, the kind of business rivalry 'Corporate' depicts is no different from what we saw in 'Trishul' almost 30 years ago, albeit in a different context. Bhandarkar merely follows in the footsteps of his former boss Ramgopal Varma and comfortably settles down into a formula of his own, instead of moving on and exploring different themes and experimenting with his form (which Varma at least tried).'Corporate' is a two-and-a-half hour-long film filled with all the banal ingredients of a Bhandarkar potboiler. There are two rival groups – Marwah (headed by Raj Babbar) and Saigal (Rajat Kapoor) – trying to outsmart each other in buying a defunct PSU. There is a smart woman executive, Nishigandha (Bipasha Basu in a role of a lifetime), in the Saigal group who thinks two steps ahead of her rivals and gives her company a head start on the deal. There's her love interest Ritesh (Kay Kay Menon) who also happens to be Saigal's infamous brother-in-law fresh from a failed project in London and out to prove something to someone. There are sleazy politicians, Bollywood actresses doubling up as call girls, tacky item numbers, journalists who wield incredible power with the big bosses, back-stabbing, exploitation and yes, a soft-drink with pesticides (Coke anyone?).
Not that Mr. Bhandarkar would have noticed, but there are real sociological problems in urban India, which are a by-product of the changing face of the corporate world. There are single men and women, leading stressful and terribly lonely lives in big cities; institutions like marriage and family are struggling to cope with the pressure of this new-age materialistic lifestyle. Luckily for filmmakers, they can choose where to place their characters and so the director creates a heroine who is a divorcee from Kolkata and has a live-in relationship with her boyfriend. There is no mention of any family for her and his sister and brother-in-law are painted as dark as creatures from hell – so there is no question of any conflict at all. But what are the complications that arise out of such relationships, especially when the couple is working together in the same office on the same project and there are thousands of crores of rupees at stake? Don't they have professional differences that take a toll on their personal lives – or do they stay glued together on every issue like Siamese twins?
It is simplistic and very convenient to create black and white characters. But someone who claims to document reality through his film should know that life lies in the grey areas. None of the characters in 'Corporate' have any shades at all, barring the heroine, whose motivations the director doesn't delve into for reasons best known to him. If Nishigandha is uncomfortable about her boss' underhand tactics, there's nothing to suggest that she discusses the situation with her boyfriend. When she herself uses unethical means to get information from her rival, she and her boyfriend gloat over it. Why does the heroine find one unethical act justifiable and the other repulsive? Nobody knows.
Then, this protagonist, who seems to have a mind of her own (like most other Bhandarkar heroines) turns strangely submissive towards the end and loses her spunk as she sacrifices herself for her love. Unfortunately, because the screenplay never makes the Nishi-Ritesh romance intense enough, her actions seem incongruous and the end is most dissatisfying, particularly because one expected some redemption for at least one of the lead characters at the end of such a long and tedious story (which happened both in ‘Page 3’ and ‘Satta’ as the two heroines learn some lessons through the hard knocks they take). Ritesh's character is so shallow that one cannot relate to him at any level, despite Kay Kay’s sporting attempt at making an insipid man somewhat likeable.
Perhaps the only real revelation in ‘Corporate’ is Bipasha Basu in a performance several notches above her previous roles. Which isn't saying much, but if there is something one must take away from this spiritless and visually stale film, it will have to be this one notable act.
Deepa Gumaste
3 comments:
Completely agree. The name of the film has nothing to do with the film and the corporate scene is only used to show a mishmash of various "questionable" acts. Infact there is a character in the film who is shown to be sleeping around with his sub-ordinate and there is an attempt to actually prompt a garrish joke out of the situation.
I am sure that the naive middle class that majority of India is made of, will actually shudder to educate their children with an eye on a corporate career!
Insipid, slow and simplistic. That’s correct. But it could be quite educative for those oblivious to the shenanigans of unbridled capitalists.
At a conceptual level though there are a few things that stand out. Firstly, it shows the willingness of a corporate boss to even kill people to rake in profits. Secondly, it shows the triumph of good over evil. The character played by Raj Babbar is constantly defending himself from the anti-ethical aggression of the other camp. But it is he who eventually wins the match, so to speak!
The earthiness of the real people depicted by Viju Khote in the 5 star hotel was very pleasant. Where I got my money's real worth was where reality was depicted in the sequence where the 'gora' investor intimidates the Finance Minister and the minister capitulates.
The 'cooperation' between rival political parties when it comes to raking in the dirty moolah is another feature.
By the way, did Bhandarkar try and parody a politician we know?
I didn't find anything novel about the way Bhandarkar has depicted business rivalries. Ruthless, ambitious businessmen who are prepared to go to any lengths to make money are hardly new to Hindi cinema. Gulzar's 'Hu Tu Tu' explored the deep-rooted nexus between greedy businessmen and crooked politicians eight years ago. The methods used by the two business houses to buy out information from each other was shown way back in 'Trishul'. The fact that politicians can change their stripes at will was seen in Bhandarkar's own 'Satta'. The questionable lives that the rich and the famous lead was seen in 'Page 3' and the kind of self-made, independent minded heroine he has tried to create here was far more effectively sketched in his earlier two films. The entire look and treatment was simply a hangover of 'Page 3' and 'Satta'. But I liked both those films because in the end, the heroines evolve as they gain in experience and learn from their mistakes, lose their naivety, become stronger individuals. Here, the end is disappointing, particularly because the character doesn't seem to have gained any wisdom at the end of the journey. At least that's what I thought. Also, the triumph of the Raj Babbar character in the end can hardly be seen as the triumph of good over evil. He is as ruthless a businessman as his rival, except that he is a more 'traditionalist' man who believes in holy men and lucky stones etc. He too pays off the politicians and in fact, is quite arrogant about his own power. To my mind, he's as unethical as Rajat Kapoor, except that the other leads a blatantly 'loose' lifestyle, which Babbar doesn't.
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