Netflix’s ‘The Fame Game’: I Would Not Like to Remember Madhuri Dixit Like This
- If the series makers were trying to make it artsy or inspired by gothic tales, they dropped the ball in the dark.
Madhuri Dixit is one of the lucky ladies who has a very symmetric face of classic beauty. Like Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Marilyn Monroe, she is akin to the Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships. Beauty appears to be ageless, her smile lights up the room, her ebullience appears so effortless. These attributes and her dance moves have won the hearts of millions of fans. She is a natural and her acting talent has improved over the years.
But I still identify her as carefree Nisha in “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?” Her dance moves are unforgettable in “Anjaam.” No one can forget her nuanced performance as Chandramukhi in “Devdas” or the tongue-in-cheek one in “Dedh Ishqiya,” opposite Naseeruddin Shah. She is a gorgeous lady and although is completely aware of her sex appeal and magnetism, she retains the girl next door charm. She is not an ice princess. And that’s her appeal.
This Friday, after a long week with several irons in the fire, I decided to spend a quiet evening at home. To my pleasant surprise, “The Fame Game” was streaming on Netflix with my favorite actress in the lead. The opening shot with her dropped in a glamorous heavily embroidered gown in a crushed pomegranate crimson was good. An ornate ruby chocker on her neck. A princess wave and the practiced smile. She looked like a goddess.
Equally glamorous in both her left and right profiles. Dixit as Anamika Anand plays the titular character, a successful silver screen heroine who is making a “comeback” in a movie produced by her husband. In the “Fame Game,” Madhuri Dixit lives in a palatial mansion with her husband played by a Scotch-drinking Sanjay Kapoor. Her mother Suhasini Mulay is very acerbic and her kids are Amara (Muskaan Jaffrey) and Avinash (Lakshvir Saran).
It seems like a normal household with usual upsets, which she is trying her best to navigate. The daughter wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps, and the son is overwhelmed by an identity crisis. There are money woes, a bullet hole and there is something about a mystery fan. Then Anamika suddenly disappears.
Shobha Trivedi (Rajshri Deshpande) is on the case. Anamika is very glamorous in her heavily embroidered gowns and perfectly made up face, with arched eyebrows, but she is hiding something. So is the entire family. She finds that Anamika has an ex lover Manish (Manav Kaul) and more. It suddenly gets really out of control and creepy. If the producers and director were trying to make it artsy, or were inspired by gothic tales, they dropped the ball in the dark.
The last part is very unsettling indeed. Who kidnapped her? What was the motive? Who fired the gun? What was the reason for Anamika’s disappearance? There are a lot of questions but the viewer is not left with the right clues or answers to solve the mysterious event? I would not like to remember Madhuri Dixit like this!
With one foot in Huntsville, Alabama, the other in her birth home India and a heart steeped in humanity, writing is a contemplative practice for Monita Soni. She has published many poems, movie reviews, book critiques, essays and contributed to combined literary works. Her two books are My Light Reflections and Flow through My Heart. You can hear her commentaries on Sundial Writers Corner WLRH 89.3FM.