Bombay Velvet: Not For All Tastes

Anurag Kashyap has always been hailed as the kingpin of alternative cinema in Bollywood by many of his peers. With Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap goes hardcore commercial, as he works with a big star like Ranbir for the first time. The movie had created a lot of curiosity when it was first announced, due to the people and the production values involved. The trailers of the film, however, had been a mixed bag. Bombay Velvet is one of the soundest technical products ever made in India, forget Bollywood. Anurag and his technical crew have taken great care to recreate the Bombay of yore.
Unfortunately, a technically sound product is not always a good film. While trying to do justice to the ’60s era, Anurag fails to offer anything note-worthy to the screenplay. The first half of the film moves like a non-stop train, with lot of events happening and characters dropping in and out, that it doesn’t matter whether the viewers are managing to keep track of what’s going on. The second half is nothing but a clichéd vendetta saga, with failed assassination plots, fruitless police investigations and a climax that’s a predictable let-down. There are no twists and turns that we expect in a Anurag Kashyap film, nor are there any of his trademark witty one-liners. Also the movie looks like an ode to Brian De Palma’s master-piece, Scarface. In the climax when Balraj burst out into the club’s kitchen with two tommy guns, audiences smile reluctantly at the obvious reference.
Even the other characters are left without any proper standing. Though Karan’s acting ability is impressive, his negative character is no Ramadhir Singh of Gangs of Wasseypur. He lacks the punch to be a memorable villain, especially in the climax, where his volte-face is unintentionally hilarious. Manish Chaudhary’s character, while being an important player in the first half, almost disappears in the second half. The terrific Kay Kay Menon is under-utilised. Also after hearing so much about being Raveena Tandon’s much touted comeback to films, all we could see her on screen was for 30 seconds or so (though she looked really beautiful!). Even if you are an ardent Anurag fan and are expecting another Gangs of Wasseypur, better give it a miss instead of getting monumentally disappointed.

 

Bombay Velvet: Not For All Tastes

Anurag Kashyap has always been hailed as the kingpin of alternative cinema in Bollywood by many of his peers. With Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap goes hardcore commercial, as he works with a big star like Ranbir for the first time. The movie had created a lot of curiosity when it was first announced, due to the people and the production values involved. The trailers of the film, however, had been a mixed bag. Bombay Velvet is one of the soundest technical products ever made in India, forget Bollywood. Anurag and his technical crew have taken great care to recreate the Bombay of yore. Unfortunately, a technically sound product is not always a good film. While trying to do justice to the 60s era, Anurag fails to offer anything note-worthy to the screenplay. The first half of the film moves like a non-stop train, with lot of events happening and characters dropping in and out, that it doesnt matter whether the viewers are managing to keep track of whats going on. The second half is nothing but a clichd vendetta saga, with failed assassination plots, fruitless police investigations and a climax thats a predictable let-down. There are no twists and turns that we expect in a Anurag Kashyap film, nor are there any of his trademark witty one-liners. Also the movie looks like an ode to Brian De Palmas master-piece, Scarface. In the climax when Balraj burst out into the clubs kitchen with two tommy guns, audiences smile reluctantly at the obvious reference. Even the other characters are left without any proper standing. Though Karans acting ability is impressive, his negative character is no Ramadhir Singh of Gangs of Wasseypur. He lacks the punch to be a memorable villain, especially in the climax, where his volte-face is unintentionally hilarious. Manish Chaudharys character, while being an important player in the first half, almost disappears in the second half. The terrific Kay Kay Menon is under-utilised. Also after hearing so much about being Raveena Tandons much touted comeback to films, all we could see her on screen was for 30 seconds or so (though she looked really beautiful!). Even if you are an ardent Anurag fan and are expecting another Gangs of Wasseypur, better give it a miss instead of getting monumentally disappointed.