‘BOMBAY VELVET’- ANALYSING FAILURE
I felt bad; sincerely
for the failure of ‘Bombay Velvet’. I like Ranbir Kapoor ,his apparent
innocence and his being the grandson of Raj Kapoor whom I adore for his solid
body of cinematic work. I want him to succeed , make good movies and further
the cause of good popular cinema the way his grandpa did. What then went wrong?
What failed Anurag Kashyap’s dreams?
He attempts to
make a crime thriller set in the period between post independence and the
advent of the seventies. Period crime drama . What was he influenced
by? The Period or the story? The
titles say that it is based on a book by Gyan Prakash- ‘Mumbai Fables’ which recounts the many stories which make
the metropolis of Mumbai and has presented a film based on certain facts and
may be some fiction ( fable! ). Post independence advent of the refugees and
their exploitation , the prohibition phase and the reclamation of land from the
sea and the creation of the Narimen Point and the Cuffe parade . The role of
trade unions which were dominated by the left, the rivalry between two Parsis
the owner of Blitz ( Glitz in film ) and the owner of ‘Bombay Velvet’ (
restaurant ) for power and closeness to the seat of authority where Rosie (
Anuska Sharma ) sings , she too arrives in Bombay with a battered past
determined to make it Big! Arrives Ranbir as Balraj as child with his single mother and she is forced
into prostitution and Balraj learns the tricks in the docks and the lanes to
become a fighter with a big heart. He is picked up by a smuggler and then never
looks back. An accidental meeting with Kaizad ( Karan Johar) turns his fate .
He becomes the face of ‘Bombay velvet’
falls in love with Rosie and becomes ambitious. The flm then moves to the
regular crime drama of deceit, revenge , cops , builders , the press and the Unions,
along with the prohibited whisky and the songs of Rosie. The rich exploit
Johnie Balraj. But he gets smart , he wants a bigger share in the pie; he wants
to be a Builder. But he is mocked and trapped and so is Rosie . Bombay flowers into
skyscrapers and slums and the story of Balraj and Rosie is there for us to see.
Now Anurag Kashyap
excels in excess, that is his forte , he extends the envelope. One can say that
he breaks new ground, never traverses on the beaten track and others may say
that he tends to shock the audience and after sometime the people get used to
him, the novelty is lost. He widens the canvas in this film, but he fails to
make an impact as most scenes are indoors and the magic of Bombay is outdoor
which is difficult to create of the fifties and sixties. There are of course
flowing gowns and sparking chandeliers and the glitz and gloss of the emerging
glamour world but it remains static, songs are mediocre and so is the music
which should have been a hit. He tries to be different specially in the
rendition of Gita Dutt songs and falters rather irritates. Audience is used to
action and movement in songs and may have felt let down.
The editing is the
major weak area in the film. The film moves slowly, it rather zig-zags, the
scenes are well conceived and ‘some’ well executed but in its entirety the film
falls. I am told that the editor is of
international repute !Well so was one in ‘Kites’! And since the movie is the
‘magnum opus’ of Anurag there are influences , inspirations of Hollywood Cinema and essentially
Mafia/Mobster cinema, aplenty: The arrival of child Balraj (Ranbir)by train to
Bombay with his mother as he looks out, instantly remind of the arrival of Don
Corleone by ship to New York against the Statue of Liberty in Godfather 2.
Again the attack on Balraj in the climax by Tommy guns remind of the attack on
Al Pachino in Godfather 2. The opium smoking through pipe by Balraj in a scene
takes us to a similar scene in ‘Once upon a time in America’ where Robert de
Niro is shown smoking opium. The very
get up and look of Balraj/Ranbir is borrowed from ‘Once upon a time in America
‘ look of Robert de Niro. In the fighting scenes as he boxes the look is
similar to that of Robert de Niro in ‘The Raging Bull’.
Ranbir is earnest and perhaps complex, he returns to the
fight ring when facing problem in real life and loves to be bagger red, kisses Rosie passionately but
never makes love to her inspite being
invited by her in the bath tub! He has worked hard in his movements and actions which are convincing ,but the language he uses weakens
his character, the typical Bombay dialect ( mawali bhasha ) does not jell with
his look and demeanour ; somehow that over the top characterization is lost.
The two Parsi rivals played by Karan Johar ( Kaizad Khambata ) and Manish
Chowdhary ( Jimmy Mistry ) speak normal Hindi without any Parsi accent ( Khari
Boli ) which looks odd, Karan Johar passes as parsi ( Bawa ) but Manish despite
his overserious bearing ( character
based on Rusi Karanjia ) is weak. Anushka sharma as Rosie Noronha is good,
there is a lingering sadness and fear in her face and eyes which comes out
effectively, her looks as singer are good however her language ,her delivery
falters. As she speaks she comes out more as Punjabi and less Goan specially in
a scene with Balraj when she lovingly tells him that if he leaves her then “Mein kat Dalungi” this dialogue sounds
fine these days but in sixties of Bombay by a Goan girl is unconvincing.
Ranbir and Anurag
are talented and will bounce back soon, but the sad debacle of this ‘Great
Experiment’ shall haunt them for some time!
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