Bombay Velvet
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Writers: Vasan Bala, Anurag Kashyap
Stars: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar
Strength: Perfectly recreated environments
Weakness: Poor direction
Runtime: 149 minutes
Rating: 2.5/5
Plot: An ordinary man goes against all odds and forges his destiny to become a 'Big Shot'.
Review: Based on Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables, Bombay Velvet is about those days when a newly independent India was struggling to find its feet. Bombay, due to its strategically positioned dockyard and a number of mills, was fast emerging as the perfect centre for trade and trade unions. There begins the actual story of Bombay Velvet. The Bombay Velvet plot is littered with street fights, shootouts and murders on the one hand, and jazz soirees, bitter tabloid wars, fierce political rivalries, deadly depredations of land sharks and labour unrest on the other.
The main plot of the movie is that of Johnny Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor), a street kid who strays into a city in rapid flux two years after Independence and is raised by a Falkland Road sex worker. With childhood chum and fellow migrant Chimman Chopra (Satyadeep Mishra), a gawky-eyed Balraj watches James Cagney die in the arms of Gladys George in the climax of the classic 1939 gangster film, The Roaring Twenties. Ever since watching this film, he becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming a big shot. The only other major obsession of Balraj's life is jazz singer Rosie Noronha (Anushka Sharma), who sings with gusto of the hard knocks that life has subjected her to.
By the time the myriad manipulations begin to wind down, Bombay Velvet runs out of steam. The last half-hour of the film is devoted to going through the motions to reach a climax that is as grotesque as it is risible. The film has been considered one of the most anticipated Bollywood films of 2015. Unfortunately, the film hasn't been able to deliver on its hype and is now considered an epic disaster due to its abysmal performance at the box office. In short, only diehard fans of Ranbir or Anushka can make themselves watch this movie.
Reviewed by Intisab Shahriyar
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