Fashion begins in, where aspiring model Meghna Mathur [Priyanka Chopra] expresses her wish to go to Mumbai and pursue her dream of becoming a supermodel. While her dad [Raj Babbar] denies her permission, her mom [Kiran Juneja] is supportive. Against her dads wishes, Meghna leaves her house with dreams in her eyes to strike it big in the modeling world. But it is not a path of roses for her. Meghana initially stays with her maternal uncle and his family in Mumbai. She experiences some major difficulties in her initial days in Mumbai auditioning several times but being rejected. But she gets a good helping hand with an old acquaintance, Rohit [Ashwin Mushran], an aspiring gay designer who assists big shot designer Vinay Khosla [Harsh Chhaya]. She keeps bumping into another struggling model, Maanav [Arjan Bajwa] while making the rounds of modeling agencies for auditions. She visits Rahul Aroras fashion show where she comes face-to-face with reality of the major people in the industry including the reigning supermodel Shonali Gujral [Kangana Ranaut]. She is mocked by the show choreographer Christine and is advised to visit hotshot photographer Kartik [Rohit Roy] for her portfolio. To pay Kartiks high fee she attends functions and even shoots for a lingerie advertisement, all the while mentored by another smalltime model Janet [Mugdha Godse]. Subsequently, Meghanas lingerie pictures appear on the cover of a magazine found by her relatives. Meghna becomes good friends with Maanav and even starts sharing his apartment after she faces accommodation problems. Meanwhile Meghna continues to strive, modeling for various designers as a side-by, all the while, aspiring to be as successful as supermodel Shonali Gujral. Meghna is noticed by a top official Anisha Roy [Kitu Gidwani] of a major modeling agency Panache who brings her to her boss, Abhijit Sarin''s [Arbaaz Khan] notice. Abhijit gets impressed by her ambitious nature and go-getter attitude. Panache''s face is Shonali but though very successful, her drug abuse starts becoming a problem for her and subsequently for Panache. Abhijit decides to terminate Shonali''s contract and ropes in Meghna to replace Shonali as Panaches new face. Shonali warns Meghna that she will just lose herself in all that jazz, as she did. Meghna becomes an overnight success and is everywhere - right from being the showstopper at the biggest fashion shows in town to fashion magazine covers to print ads to TV commercials. The overnight success spoils Meghna and the budding love relationship between her and Manav comes to an abrupt end. She also starts having an affair with Abhijit. Meanwhile, Janet, an old time acquaintance of Rahul, grabs an opportunity of being his showstopper. Rahul gets worried as his mother becomes increasingly doubtful of his sexual orientation and asks Janet to marry him though he tells that his relation with his boyfriend will only be compromised to some extent. Shonali, on other hand, gets a wardrobe malfunction at an event and her career ends. Her drug abuse gets worse and she lands up at a rehab centre. Meanwhile, Meghna gets pregnant with Abhijits child and reluctantly has an abortion due to the conditions in the contract earlier added by Abhijit himself. She tells about their relationship to Abhijits wife and Abhijit terminates Meghnas contract with Panache. An angered Meghna, unable to believe what happened, resorts to alcohol to relieve herself. She gets into a verbal fight with Janet, when she tells her that shes ruining herself and on the same night attends a rave party where under the influence of cocaine, she unknowingly ends up in bed with a black male bouncer. Later when she comes to her senses, she feels guilty of her act and realises how low she had fallen. She leaves Mumbai to return to her parents in Chandigarh. Broken and depressed Meghna lives in Chandigarh for more than a year but she has lost all taste for life including her self-confidence. However, somewhere in her heart she stills longs for the ramp, a fact recognized by her father. Encouraged by her father, she goes back to Mumbai. There she befriends Janet again and models for Rohits show. However, she freezes on stage and gets negative reviews from the whole industry and media. She visits Maanav to ask forgiveness and gets to know that he is engaged. Shonali is shown on TV as a highly disturbed alcoholic on the streets. Meghna brings her home and takes it as a challenge to rehabilitate Shonali. She also gets an offer from Rahul to be his showstopper but refuses only to accept it later when Shonali encourages her. One day before the show, Shonali goes missing from Meghnas home. Just before Meghna was to walk the ramp, she gets a call from the police that Shonali has been found dead apparently from a drug overdose. Meghna becomes frigid with sadness, but overcomes the grief and walks fantastically on the ramp, which not only revives her career but also heals her self-esteem. She ultimately acknowledges that her ensuing success is not due to her own efforts to revamp herself, but due to Shonali and Shonali alone, for she was the one who instilled once again her newly found self-confidence and gave her a self-recognition in this so-called glamorous world of fashion. Destiny has failed to give Shonali a second chance to recoup her own losses but through manifestation of her blunders, has taught Meghna a lesson to face the wicked world once again with a new vigor. Meghna hence gives up her drinking and smoking habits and takes on the ramps once again as an ideal model. Her career takes a new flight again and she achieves a new pinnacle of success. The movie ends with Meghna shown walking the ramp in Paris.

Critical reception

= Indianinfo.com gave a glowing review for the film saying, "Bhandarkar takes us through a labyrinth of emotions, some devastating in their gut-level directness. But at the end, we come away with a film that gives us something to hold on to permanently even as the characters on screen lose practically everything worth holding on to. A truly outstanding film." Critics praised Priyanka Chopra and especially Kangna Ranaut, for delivering remarkable performances as supermodels who lose everything in the world of fashion. Newcomer Mugdha Godse was also credited for a "confident debut". Taran Adarsh from indiaFM gave the film a 3.5 out of 5 rating, saying " Madhur Bhandarkar, the undisputed king of realistic fares, comes up with yet another hard-hitting film that enlightens you, moves you, motivates and deflates you, even shocks and surprises you and of course, entertains you." He commented "Post Aitraaz, Fashion is another medal that shines the brightest when you look at her[Priyankas] body of work. But the real star is Kangna. Her role may not be as lengthy as that of Priyanka, but the actress pitches in an awesome performance. Her confidence at the very start is infectious and her overall performance deserves an ovation. Mugdha Godse is, again, supremely confident. " While Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5, saying " Stop thinking of it as a realistic expose and treat it as just another masala potboiler and chances are you won''t complain. " He, in particular, praised Kitu Gidwanis act as the tour de force performance in the film. Rajeev noted, "Priyanka Chopra turns in a respectable performance, one that will inevitably go down as her best. Ditto for Kangana Ranaut who plays the eccentric superdiva with such an awe and first-timer Mughda Ghodse invests such sincerity into her role..." Subhash K. Jha called it a truly outstanding film and wrote, "Bhandarkar takes us through a labyrinth of emotions, some devastating in their gut-level directness. But at the end, we come away with a film that gives us something to hold on to permanently even as the characters on screen lose practically everything worth holding on to." Jha noted, "This is Priyankas coming-of-age film. She looks like a zillion bucks. And acts like a woman who connects with the darkest, most desperate human emotions without wallowing in them. What Kangana does in Fashion, no other actress can do. But therere no surprises in her performance as she has done it before. Mugdha is the female discovery of the year. " Nikhat Kazmi from The Times Of India said "[in the movie] show stopper [read scene stealer] is crazy, kinky, Kangana who does an exquisite metamorphosis from a wispy, high-strung, nervous child-woman to a stunning ramp diva. Watch her handle her wardrobe malfunction, make faces at her nagging manager or exchange bitter workplace truths with rival Priyanka in the ladies washroom and youll realise shes perfected the Girl Interrupted act after similar roles in Woh Lamhe, Life in a Metro and Gangster. The men? No place for them, especially since the women completely overshadow them."

Awards

The awards it won are highlighted in bold.

Tracks

=

Song	Singer[s]	Notes	Duration
"Fashion Ka Jalwa"	Sukhwinder Singh, Satya Hinduja & Robert Bob Omulo	Picturised on Priyankas first visit to a fashion show and Kanganas first appearance	4:40
"Mar Jawaan"	Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant	Picturised on Priyankas first fashion show and Kanganas awe-inspiring walk	3:59
"Kuchh Khaas"	Mohit Chauhan & Neha Bhasin	Picturised on the moments of Priyanka and Arjan Bajwa	4:59
"Aashiyana"	Salim Merchant	Picturised on Priyankas rise to fame	5:27
"Fashion Ka Jalwa [Remix]"	Sukhwinder Singh, Satya Hinduja & Robert Bob Omulo	Picturised on Priyanka in a club facing the downfall	4:10
"Mar Jawaan [Remix]"	Shruti Pathak & Salim Merchant	Instrumental	Present as background score in the whole movie	3:39

Reception

= The album received positive reviews especially for songs like "Mar Jawaan" and the main theme. The Newsdose.com said that "It''s an above average album with classics like Mar Jawaan and Theme of Fashion. Madhur Bhandarkar finally gets a good soundtrack for his movie and Salim-Sulaiman carried on with their good form. A must listen for everyone." IndiaFM was impressed and said "Fashion works in totality and while numbers like "Fashion Ka Jalwa", "Aashiyana" and "Kuchh Khaas" are good in their own right, the cake is taken by the "Fashion - Theme" and "Mar Jaava" which are the pick of the lot. In his career so far, Madhur Bhandarkars films havent been known for their music, even though the albums of Corporate and Page 3 still saw some sales on the stands. However, Fashion is all set to break the jinx while turning out to be the first Madhur Bhandarkar film ever to boast of a truly mass as well as class appealing score." ThaIndia said "Composers Salim-Suleiman have created great music for the film Fashion. And the success or failure of Madhur Bhandarkar''s movie at the box office wouldn''t change the fate of the album, which, beyond doubt, is a commercial success."

Filmfare awards

= * Best Director - Madhur Bhandarkar * Best Actress Award - Priyanka Chopra * Best Supporting Actress Award - Kangana Ranaut * Best Female Playback Award - Neha Bhasin * Best Female Playback Award - Shruti Pathak * Best Female Debut Award - Mugdha Godse * Best Screenplay Award - Ajay Monga, Anuradha Tiwari, Madhur Bhandarkar

Box office reception

= The movie released on 29 October 2008 with Golmaal Returns. It had an extremely good opening and most of the shows were a sellout. According to Delhi based distributor Joginder Mahajan "Both films are faring exceptionally well at the box office. Content wise, Fashion is for upper crust audiences and is attracting youngsters; Golmaal Returns is for the masses. However, as per the current statistics, the reaction for Fashion is going at around 70 percent, while Golmaal Returns has fallen to 50 percent. Stay wise, the former is a long-term movie and the initial reaction for it has been 100 per cent. But surprisingly Golmaal Returns came out to be the seventh highest grossing film of 2008 but Fashion was dropped out of the top ten." Fashion had already recovered half of its costs - around Rs.8.5 million - from in-film advertising through its sponsors and endorsements from brands like Lenovo, Sunsilk, Reebok and Kimaya even before it released. It was declared an average.

Iifa awards

= * Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra * Best Director - Madhur Bhandarkar * Best Supporting Actress - Kangana Ranaut *Best Story - Anuradha Tiwari, Madhur Bhandarkar, Ajay Monga

Star screen awards

= * Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra * Best Female Playback - Shruti Pathak For "Mar Jawaan" * Best Supporting Actress - Kangana Ranaut * Best Supporting Actress - Mugdha Godse * Best Story - Madhur Bhandarkar, Ajay Monga, Anuradha Tiwari

Awards & recognition

= Priyanka Chopra received a Filmfare Award for Best Actress and a National Film Award for Best Actress. Kangana Ranaut received a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress and a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

2009 national film awards

= * Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra * Best Supporting Actress - Kangana Ranaut

Stardust awards

= * Best Actress - Priyanka Chopra * Best Supporting Actress - Kangana Ranaut * Breakthrough Performance Male - Arjan Bajwa * Breakthrough Performance Female - Mugdha Godse * Best Film * Best Director - Madhur Bhandarkar