Film Review-Corporate

Starring: Bipasha Basu, Kay Kay Menon, Rajat Kapoor.

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar

Rating: * * 1/2

Probably after Page 3, my expectations were too high and that's why I was disappointed. Not that it's a bad film or something but it's just that it's not in par with Page 3. But still hats off to the director who came up with such a novel idea. The scripts originality is what makes it worth a dekho.

The problem with Corporate is that the first half of the film goes in making the audience realize what corporate culture is all about, how it works, what do the jargons mean, et al. The film only picks up just a little before the interval. From there on its captivating till comes the abrupt climax.

The film has no hero or heroine, there are just characters so everyone gets a good chance to perform. But the story revolves around Nishigandha Dasgupta (Bipasha Basu) who surpasses all hurdles in her life to reach a peak in her career. She is a no non sense business woman who also manages to stoop to any level to get her work done. But as luck may have it all her modern values get a horrendous bashing and she is reduced to a mere victim in the big bad corporate world.

Music wise there is just no scope in the film, Kailash Kher's "Sikandar" is passable. Camerawork is ok. But the clothes line from Allen Solly, especially that of Bipasha is really commendable.

Most of the performances are efficient. Be it Lillette Dubey, Raj Babbar, Minissha Lamba, Achint Kaur, The minister, Payal Rohatgi, Harsh Chayya all of them have delivered. Only Samir Dattani is the mute player with only one dialogue. Kay Kay Menon in the role of a "loser in life" is also ok.

But the knock out performances are delivered by Rajat Kapoor and Bipasha. Rajat as the manipulative boss has just given that perfect "is there a bigger bastard than me" performance, indeed very good. And Bipasha, I could never imagine that she could deliver a performance of this caliber. She is the biggest surprise element in the film. Be it her looks, her styling or performance, everything is just flawless.

The innovative subject and the brilliant performances get Corporate the "view it once" certificate.

-Sanketh Rao.