Bombay Velvet (2015)

These days the movies which deserve the right kind of appreciation fails to get it due to the power of internet, sometimes people fail to look in to something different and run towards the obvious. This kills the very fact of appreciation for good work. Wonder what is that everyone is looking in a film, people statements goes likes this “There’s no story…” , “The actress looked weird in that character….”, “Screenplay was not tight….”, “Look at the camera angle…I don’t feel it’s right”……..Wait right there!!!! Story is the travel of the writing if the travel is approaching a destination there’s story in it…, That actress is suppose to look like that for character she can’t use her assets all the time on screen…., Tight screenplay what you want to do with it being tight???….Camera angle..have you seen yourself in an angle???. ….Sorry guys have to lash out like this sick and tired of these baseless statements, when these comments are thrown on a well made film it break my heart. “Bombay Velvet” is a piece of work which has been put together which utmost taste.

Anurag Kashyap is one of a kind who presses that nerve of the Bollywood, which hurts the most…because that nerve is gone so numb when someone steps on it, it awakens with curiosity, wondering how this guy does it. His movies are always in news, controversies and always something to do with it’s release. In Bombay Velvet he portrayed the 60’s in it’s grandeur format. The movie is quite long, when the movie is long keeping it together for the entire runtime is a task, the way it has been narrated here is niche. It travels at a very relaxed pace with registering every character in your mind, even the smallest character will be remembered after watching the movie, now that’s where we can say a Director makes his stand as a filmmaker.

Ranbir Kapoor, didn’t have a good start with ROY, but BV will make it up for that more than he lost. He is a perfect example of his Grandfather. A actor who can change it’s color based on the character and gel in without any difficulty. Ranbir says he’s a big fan of “Charlie Chaplin” you can see some traits of that in this character. With pencil mustache, over grown curls, skinny body…makes this character tailor made for him “Johnny Balraj“. The transformation from “Balraj” to “Johnny Balraj” was smooth. The innocence of “Barfi” is wrapped with “Balraj’s” wickedness. He charms in every shade he appears, he carries the character really well with great dedication, you can picture him in many roles he could play from our Hollywood brothers. Johnny Balraj a.k.a Ranbir makes a deadly presence on screen.

Anushka Sharma, the entire world was behind her lip job, which was done for this particular movie. We’ll it didn’t look bad at all, like she said it’s temporary for the role and it did justice to that. Now I’m honored to welcome the voice of Bombay Velvet “Rosie Noronha” , the layers of the character “Rosie” are innate and those layers were unfolded with utmost caution. I heard people she over did the singer part, that part requires over acting cuz she’s portraying a stage artist not a film artist.

The show stopper of Bombay Velvet is “Kaizad Khambata” played by Karan Johar. His flamboyance in real life takes a wicked turn in BV. Never thought a filmmaker who makes cheesy love stories can portray a character like Khambata. His wicked laugh is the best in recent times, he steals the show with his unexpected performance. Every trait of that character spells wicked. The attitude was right on dot, and is bold coming out of the closet that a gangster could be Gay too!!..no offense intended. He pulls off Khambata with finesse. Karan Johar makes a impactful debut which will be remembered forever.

The supporting cast was well chosen with Kay Kay menon playing the ballsy cop of those days, Manish Choudhary(Jimmy) and Siddhartha Basu(Romi) make a commendable appearance in their respective characters. Vivaan Shah as “Tony, Noronha’s chauffeur” had a small role but he makes it big by his simple yet noticeable performance. Another character to look for is Satyadeep Misra as “Chimman, Balraj’s friend”, he did a great job and stood well with his co-characters.

The movie is lush in set design which were created to suit the period in Sri Lanka. The color and feel of the movie gives a great feeling taking you through the time. The movie has one peculiar trait that is it’s sound design, which is mind blowing, never till date heard a mix like that, main reason no one have tried that yet cuz it was recorded at 96 KHz instead the usual 48KHz in Dolby Atmos. You’ll understand the difference when you feel it yourself.

The sound was well complimented by spectacular score by Amit Trivedi, the background becomes a character itself in the movie, it did great wonders and suits the mood of the flick.

The cinematography was astounding, Rajeev Rai captured every detail with perfection, the movie had a the same effect as any Hollywood gangsta flick. There is this one particular scene involving “Tommy Gun” that was spectacular, blows you away with exceptional camera and sound work. The long run time was well edited with sharp cuts and mellow transitions by Academy Award winner Thelma Schoonmaker in assciation with Prerna Saigal.

Anurag gave an ode to Hollywood gangster movies with Bombay Velvet and proved that films of this calibre can be made by Bollywood too, “it takes one to inspire and another to criticize”.

Bombay Velvet is a work of passion which will go on shelves remembered for many periods of cinema, film-making at it’s finest which leaves you in awe. It’s visual brilliance topped with artistic approach transports you to that period itself. Worth a watch, don’t listen to the negatives…decide for yourself!!!

Super movie

Bombay Velvet Review: Direction

Anurag Kashyap is one of the finest dark film makers.He said that he wanted to enter into mainstream cinema with Bombay Velvet.Let’s see whats the result.

Bombay Velvet is a beautiful mixture of thrill, drama, romance and action.The film is slow at the start but it picks up pace soon.Showcasing a street fighter passion, anger and struggle, Anurag Kashyap wins you with the tale.It is a story of ambition, love, greed and music.No other director would be able to pull this off other than Kashyap.Only he can think out of the box.Screenplay is superb as always for Anurag films.Editing should have been tighter.Some scenes should have been avoided which were repetitive and make no difference to the actual story.

Technically film is brilliant having stunning visuals.It is not easy to recreate the Bombay of 1960’s.Kudos to the technical staff.The music by Amit Trevedi may have not become popular but it will grow rapidly after the film.He has composed some melodious compositions which will be remembered for a long time.A treat for Jazz lovers.A special mention for background score which lifts many scenes in the film.

Bombay Velvet Review: Star Performances

Ranbir Kapoor as always steals the show with his unmissable act.He will make you breath Johnny Balraj.He once again proved that he can off any kind of role.Outstanding.

Anushka Sharama is riding high on the success of his films PK & NH 10 and also the critical appreciation she received for those films.She continues her good form and delivers an excellent performance.

Karan Johar is the surprise package in Bombay Velvet.He looks calm and cool as a business tycon.He redefine the villains in Bollywood.Surely debut of the year.

In the supporting cast Kay Kay Menon and Sidharth Basu are brilliant as always.Vivan Shah looks cool too.