May 15, 2015 10:19 PM
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Mumbai is ever expanding. The residents out here must be aware how a lot of politics and corruption have contributed to the emergence of new areas of the city. Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet goes back in time in the 50s and 60s and tries to throw light on the shady dealings and land mafia then. This entire bit of the film is quite interesting. But then there’s a love story as well which is okay. And the rags-to-riches story of Johny Balraj sadly is commonplace. At best, Bombay Velvet is an average fare!
The story of the movie: Balraj(Ranbir Kapoor) comes to Bombay in the late 40s with his mother and soon becomes a street thief in order to survive. He befriends Chiman Chopra(Satyadeep Misra) and they soon start indulging into a lot more than just pickpocketing. One day they bump into Kaizad Khambata(Karan Johar) who offers them a great ‘business opportunity’. Bombay Velvet club gets inaugurated and, Balraj gets christened as Johnny Balraj who becomes the de facto owner of the prestigious jazz venue. Rosie Noronha(Anushka Sharma) is a club singer who is sent to the Bombay Velvet for a purpose. Problem arises for everyone when Johny and Rosie fall madly in love with each other.
Bombay Velvet has a great start – the opening credits are stylish and are well complimented by the visuals and the song ‘Aam Hindustani’. However, the introduction of characters is done in a dry manner but is engaging nevertheless. Things get better as Johny starts working for Kaizad and the Bombay Velvet comes into existence. Johny and Rosie however fall into love too quickly. However, the moments shared by them are quite worth watching and hence no complaints out there. The first half is dominated by Kaizad trying to play his sinister game and this entire portion is quite nicely done. Also, the impending fear of Rosie of everyone finding out her secret adds a nice touch to the entire plot. The interval point comes at a dramatic point and one can say that there are no complaints as such in the first half.
However, things begin to deteriorate a bit in the second half. The entire twin sibling angle seems unnecessary. In fact, one wonders why that particular character came up with such an idea that can easily go bust anytime? Secondly, a few questions remain unanswered till the end. After a while, the film turns out to be one of those where the protagonist, who is on the wrong side of the law, ends up getting in the wrong books of the villain, also on the wrong side of the law, but more powerful than him. Hence, he’s on the run not only from the villain but the cops as well. Now haven’t we seen that in umpteen numbers of films before? The climax is also quite conventional and filmy – where the villain kidnaps the heroine and thereby tries to lure the hero into his lair. And yes, the bullets get over at the nick of time as well! The final scene however is quite moving though a bit unjustified.
Ranbir Kapoor however rises above the script and comes up with one of the most memorable performances of his career. The superstar is in full form and it shows. He has played polished, urbane characters till now. But here he’s essaying a ‘sadakchaap’ and does a bloody good job. Here’s hoping Ranbir’s next films – Tamasha and Jagga Jasoos – repair the damage done to his career by Roy, Besharam and unfortunate, Bombay Velvet as well. Anushka Sharma surprisingly doesn’t speak much initially but overall, does a fairly good performance. The actress looks stunning in every scene and she is terrific in the song ‘Dhadam Dhadam’! Satyadeep Misra has a significant part to essay. He looks a bit unrecognizable and comes up with a terrific performance. Karan Johar is the surprise of the film! He plays the evil Khambata with elan and ease. It’s a treat to see him perform!
Manish Chaudhari(Jimmy Mistry) does a decent job. Kay Kay Menon(Vishwas Kulkarni) doesn’t get to exploit his full talent but is nevertheless fine. Siddhartha Basu(Romi Mehta) leaves a mark. Vivaan Shah(Tony) has a great screen presence. Akash Vijay Dabas(photographer) makes his presence felt. Jagdish Rajpurohit(commissioner of police), Remo Fernandes(Portuguese man), Denzil Smith(Larsen), Varun Grover(emcee cum comedian), Shanti(Khambatta’s wife), Atul Shrivastav(Rao Saheb Desai) and Deshpande(Sandesh Jadhav) are good in their small roles. Raveena Tandon looks ravishing.
Amit Trivedi’s music is outstanding and easily one of his best works and one of the best in recent times. The songs are well woven in the script. It’s hard to decide which is the best track but somewhere ‘Dhadam Dhadam’ stands out. Amit Trivedi’s background score too is splendid. Sonal Sawant’s sets are out of this world. Her sets coupled by VFX by Prana Studios have helped in showcasing old Bombay like never before. It looks quite real and nobody can say that the film is shot in a set. Rajeev Ravi’s cinematography is lovely and it’s great to know that the film is shot in natural and source light only. Niharika Bhasin Khan’s costumes too add to the realism factor. Thelma Schoonmaker & Prerna Saigal’s editing is good but the sharp, raw cuts at places didn’t quite serve a purpose. Gyan Prakash, Thani, Vasan Bala and Anurag Kashyap’s story is flawed but nice and definitely has the potential for a riveting film. Even dialogues are fine. But screenplay is ordinary and shoddy at places and no attempt is made to camouflage the goofs in the plot. Same goes for Anurag Kashyap’s direction. It’s actually quite nice initially and he had the support from the entire technical team who has given everything to the film. But he loses the grip after a point which could have been avoided. Sad to see that his 10-year-old dream failed to make a mark!
On the whole, Bombay Velvet is at best an average fare. The work of the technical team is outstanding and even the actors have done a fine job. The detailing is superb and it was just great to see 60s Bombay in a realistic and authentic manner. However, the storyline is flawed and the second half spoils the joy as the film turns into routine, clichéd drama. Even that wouldn’t have been an issue if the execution was engaging. But alas, even the direction is quite okay. The film has taken a bad opening and is going to further slide down in the days to come. There were lot of expectations from this film and it seemed great that the makers were trying to give viewers something different and unconventional. However, the end result leaves a lot to be desired!
My rating - 2.5/5
