Bombay Velvet:
Success stories are scripted in blood. The stench of the bloody drench is
getting to be difficult to swallow. Bollywood celebrates the spirit of evil
with style. Stars endorse it. Promote it. Put off your TV sets and take the
trouble of going to the theatres and sit there in the dark of the auditorium
yet again to savour one other instalment of violence and a depraved depiction
of our kind. When it is not violence in the back yard – Gangs of Wasseypu, it
is a stylised shoot out in the streets of Mumbai called Bombay. The film maker
dresses his script in the past. We had Byomkesh Bakshi taking us to Kolkata of
the 1930a now we have Anurag Kashyap tripping us to Bombay in the 1940s. It is
a film screaming style over soul and is riveted over the presence of Anushka
Sharma and Ranbhir Kapoor and their star value. So get ready for a date with
gory violence. We have been cultivated studiously to appreciate this genre.
Spoilt to be more accurate.
‘Big shot’ is the mirage our protagonist is in search of. His journey from the
bank yards of a sex workers home in Falkalnd Lane to the dizzy heights of
social Bombay and his fatal road ahead is what the film is about. The best way
to get to being a ‘big shot’ is the short cut. The notorious under belly that
has been portrayed ever so often by Bollywood is the mantra. There has in fact
been a whole genre dedicated to the studio to theatre mantra of come to crime
and be successful tales in our cinema. Johnny Balraj (Ranbhir) is the new
recruit out there. He comes to big bad world of bizarre dreams and stained
values. He promptly runs into another kid on the streets and soon with
promptitude he is introduced the world of crimes. His new found friend Chiman
Chopra (Satyadeep Mishra) and he team up like the Goonday duo and the later
stays on till death do them apart.
There is the little gal with Portuguese baggage and magic in her voice who
comes to be a Jazz singer Rosie (Anushka). Even as she belts Behroopia you know
this script is dedicated to yet another tale of deceit and cheating. You have
put off the TV sets at home and walked into the dark precincts of a theatre
only to realise that deceit shadows you. Here it is larger than life and the to
set you may well have forgotten to put off on your way to the theatre. We have
her as a mole for Jimmy Mistry (Manish Chandari) who is out there to expose the
dirty businessman Kaizad Khambata (Karan Johar) who is in an unholy alliance
with the local Mayor (Sidharth Basu – in yet another immensely forgettable
outing).
Balraj joins Kaizad and the script is dedicated to twists and turns to tell us
how depraved and cuss filled we humans are. There is nothing positive out there
and not a single human being is worth a respectable look in this macabre world
of Anurag Kashyap. It is devastatingly demoralising. Everyone sooner than later
is a victim to a gunshot just as he or she was going up in the game of one up
man ship a while ago. There is scene in the film when the investigating officer
(Kay Kay Menon) throws his hat down in disgust which sums up a person who
carried his nerves and sensitivity along with him to this evening of
entertainment.
Like the song Rose renders at the bar Bombay Velvet Dhandam Dhandam there is
such volcanic hate and vile that is out there that you would believe that some
anti vile inoculation is a social need. Murder, blackmail, senseless killing,
trampled relationships, emotional perjury, sleaze for glitz is what is
romanticised and depicted. Thank you Anurag Kashyap.
The cast is adequate, the crew wonderful. The script tight, the performances
good. The mount is glamorised and the content stylised. Yet this velvet is
anything but smooth
Rating 2.5 stars.
– Soul less
+ Full of style
L. Ravichander.