Black & White with shades of Grey. Review on Corporate

Corporate is yet another hard hitting film (after Page 3 and Satta) from Madhur Bhandarkar that exposes you to the facts and figures that are generated in those typically closed boardrooms of Corporate houses and their nexus with the Government of India. The subject is very technical and difficult and Madhur Bhandarkar has done some justice to some extent though still a bit far from a perfect product. As it is realistic cinema is meant for the classes and multiplexes audience but making a film on such a subject has further reduced its exposure and made it even more riskier venture.

The story revolves round the clash between 2 business houses, the Sehgal group of Companies & Marwah group of Industries. Sehgal group is headed by Vinay Sehgal (Rajat Kapoor), which belongs to the modern generation of professional entrepreneurs; whereas Marwah group is headed by Dharmesh Marwah (Raj Babbar), which belongs to the old family style of business operations. The first half of the movie tackles with the role of the politicians in awarding the Foreign Institutional tie-ups and disinvestments tenders involving these above mentioned business houses along with a few in the foray. These catfights really expose the levels to which these blue collared, so called professionals can stoop down to as low as pimping & all that under the pretext of business, profits and growth. Ethics have no value and backstabbing is the rule of the game, all in the name of business and hunger for position, status and money. Sehgal has a group of managers that comprise of Harsh Chayya, Nishigandha (Bipasha Basu) and a few others. Bipasha has got the role of her lifetime where she portrays the a strong independent businesswoman who even takes advantage of her sexuality to con the CEO of the Marwah group. Ritesh (Kay Kay Menon) joins Sehgal group since he is the brother in law of Vinay Sehgal who also plays the love interest of Nishigandha. The second half of the movie comprises of emotions, cola wars and betrayal that the common man can probably relate to in some ways as compared to the first half of the movie. The diversity in the character of Bipasha goes to portray that behind an uncompromising, unethical, ruthless corporate businesswoman also breaths a heart that is blindfolded and get carried away and fooled by hollow promises.

The story highlights how the head of the business houses use their manpower and dump them, join hands with competition for selfish interests etc. Madhur Bhandharkar has tried to touch upon many issues like the rigging of the business award functions, sexual exploitation for promotions, moments of first salary, bollywood nexus with the corporate, CEOs and highly placed executives living parallel sex lives, motive behind NGO funding, role of media, astrology, role of Godmen in influencing dispute settlements, IPOs and share brokers. He has done justice to a few only since he tried to bundle all of this in just 2.5 hrs along with some time to spare for songs also. A subject that could have done without songs, were probably introduced only to make it a bit more commercially viable. “Lamha Lamha ..” sounds good because it has been sung by Asha Bhosale. The whole movie has a lot of hangover of his previous cracker Page 3, right from the music to peon/driver gossips and that typical style of presentation. It is more surprising since it comes from a director who claims to be experimental and innovative. There is good continuity in the movie and rightly paced screenplay. It will not be right to compare Corporate with the classic Trishulbut still there are similarities in some situations. Raj Babbar’s group of executives were not given any footage and it seemed as if the whole Marwah group’s each and every decision was only coming from Dharmesh Marwah and that was not convincing.

In the area of acting, Bipasha has proved that she is not only a sex kitten but also an actress one can bank upon. Madhur Bhandharkar has done a great job in casting his characters. Rajat Kapoor is fantastic and his personality does half the job simple for him to get into the skin of the character. Both Raj Babbaar & Harsh Chayya have done a good job. Vinay Apte as the corrupt minister would be a new face our bollywood is gifted with for such roles in the future. Minissha and Sameer Dattani don’t have much scope in this matured subject line. Payal Rohatgi’s dance is poorly choreographed and the role also suits her image that she carries in bollywood. Kay Kay Menon has yet again proved that he can carry such roles effortlessly. Overall this movie is worth a view only if you have a penchant for some serious cinema. Chandni Bar and Page 3 had the glamour quotient to attract the hoi polloi but Corporate is black and white with shades of grey.