Starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma in the leading roles, Anurag Kashyap's most ambitious saga Bombay Velvet has been one of the most talked about films in the past decade. The period gangster drama bombed at the box office, was panned by critics, and became one of the earlierst victim of social media trolls. Did it really deserve the hate or did we miss to recognise a genuine filmmaking effort? Let's go back in time and revisit Anurag Kashyap's magnum opus.
Based on Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables, Bombay Velvet was originally meant to be the first in a series of four crime-based films planned to cover the history of Mumbai from the 1940s to the 1970s. Set in the pre and post independence era till late 1950s, the film traces the journey of Ranbir Kapoor's Johnny Balraj, a street fighter who dreams to conquer the city. He is assisted by his childhood friend Chimman, Satyadeep Misra in his career-best performance.
Johnny gets embroiled in crime and politics through his boss, Kaizad Khambatta, who is a media mogul and among the richest persons in the city (an interesting casting choice in the form of Karan Johar). To run his illegal trade empire, Khambatta opens Bombay Velvet, an elite jazz club that lends its name to the title of the film as well.
Enter Anushka Sharma's Rosie Noronha, the leading singer of Bombay Velvet who is actually sent in by Jimmy Mistry (Manish Chaudhary) a newspaper editor who wants to bring down Khambatta's empire for his own good. The two lovers Johnny and Rosie's conflict to escape from the clutches of Khambatta and cops forms the rest of the plot.
Ranbir Kapoor was fantastic as Johnny Balraj and carried the film on his shoulders. Karan Johar wasn't the perfect antagonist, but Kashyap must be applauded for his courageous choice to replace his original pick Naseeruddin Shah with the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director. But, it's Anushka Sharma and Satyadeep Misra who deliver the most brilliant performances. Chimman's eyes and Roisie's silences are the two aspects where Kashyap beautifully excels.
Made on a very un-Kashyap-like budget of Rs 120 crore, Bombay Velvet suffered multiple delays due to its extensive post-production work as the entire city of Bombay was recreated in Sri Lanka. For Kashyap, it was his costliest project as the filmmaker has been known to make unconventional, distinctive films such as Black Friday, Gulaal, and Gangs of Waseypur on limited budgets. The rumours and speculations around the director not being able to handle the budget, going overboard, and doing multiple reshoots killed Bombay Velvet even before its release. Eventually, the film turned out to be one of the biggest disasters in Bollywood history.
Also, the Anurag Kashyap film released in an unfavourable climate during the early days of #BoycottBollywood trends on social media. Multiple blind items were written against the film, which made sure it was labelled a flop even before it hit theatres. Also, the critics were too harsh as they judged Bombay Velvet against Kashyap's previous cult films such as Gangs of Wasseypur, Dev.D, and Black Friday,
However, among the reviews and box office brouhaha, one aspect of the film went completely unnoticed - its unforgettable music. It won't be incorrect to state that Bombay Velvet is among the most underrated soundtracks in the history of Indian film music. Amit Trivedi amalgamated jazz with the sound of Hindi film music and created twelve original tracks with lyrics penned down by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Neeti Mohan became the voice of Rosie just as Mohit Chauhan became the voice of Jordan in Rockstar. From Behroopia and Ka Kha Ga to Naak Pe Gussa and Dhadaam Dhadaam, the film's soundtrack deserved much more attention and love.
Bombay Velvet essentially looked at the city's dramatic transformation from a colonial port to a metropolis. Neither is the 2015 film a masterpiece nor it is Kashyap's finest film, but it's a film that cannot be ignored and deserves a fair chance for Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma's highly remarkable performances, Rajeev Ravi's breathtaking cinematography, Anurag Kashyap's sincere filmmaking, and Amit Trivedi's finest soundtrack.
