It takes a great courage and determination from an Indian Filmmaker to create a story that could have very well be set in America's Prohibition era, for an Indian Audience and set in Aamchi Mumbai (in the prohibition era again) Anurag Kashyap attempts to do just that with BOMBAY VELVET. We have tommy guns blazing, bootlegging of liquor on the high, mistresses, nightclubs, organized crime syndicate, and a selfish leading man, which could all very well look glamorous in a Hollywood set-up.
Unfortunately for Anurag Basu (director & writer), what he did not count on was an audience who might not understand the tone of the movie. It was like snatching an Amar Chitra Katha from a 7-year-old and forcing him to read a Lee Child Novel. To cut the chase short, the movie is ahead of its times.
The movie begins with a young woman and a child moving into Bombay in 1949 (who we quickly assume are mother and child). The child Balraj is attracted to the world of crime through a friend he makes on the street, a lousy pickpocket named Chimman.
Balraj's mother is thrust into the world of prostitution and we later come to know that she is not his real mother and Balraj was merely forced act as a pimp and a servant for her.
Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Chinman (Satyendra Mishra) grow up into a world of crime. They join a Portuguese gangster and smuggle gold on the Bombay Shores. Inspector Vishwas Kulkarni (Kay Kay Menon) conducts a surprise attack on the gang, Balraj escapes with a case of gold and while the rest including Chinman are caught. Balraj hides the gold in his house and when Chinman is released, they discover that Balraj's mother has took off with the gold. On the other side, we have Rosie Noroha (Anushka Sharma), a singer and mistress to a Portugal musician who treats her rather badly. Rosie kills him and runs away to Mumbai, where she becomes a mistress to Jimmy Mistry (Manish Choudhary), a newspaper tycoon. Balraj sees Rosie singing in a bar and falls for her, but Rosie ignores him.
Balraj is invited by Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar) to join his gang and makes him the manager of his swank night club Bombay Velvet and christens him Johnny. Kaizad is a bootlegger, smuggler and a black mailer. He uses his wife (shaanti) to sleep with politicians and then uses Johnny to photograph the carnal activities and then conveniently blackmail them.
Jimmy Mistry who realizes that Johnny is in love with Rosie, sends her to Johnny. Her mission: to procure a certain negative which could land a politician in trouble. Johnny gets Rosie a job as a singer and Rosie falls for him equally and decides to leave Jimmy Mistry for good.
Meanwhile Kaizad comes to know about Rosie's mission and informs Johnny about it and Johnny promises to kill her himself. Johnny cheats Kaizad and the world into believing that Rosie was killed in an explosion, gets her moved to Goa. Unable to stay away from her, He reintroduces her back into his life as Rita, Rosie's twin. The move backfires as everyone including Kaizad comes to know the truth, putting events in a rush to a gory end.
Ranbir Kapoor as Johnny Balraj is exceptionally good, be it the romantic scenes or the scenes which require him to behave in a totally psychotic mode.
Anushka Sharma as Rosie proves once again she is a versatile actress. The dead pan expression when she is singing even while Johnny is getting beaten up or the cheerful expressions when kissing Johnny amidst a song in the night club or the scene where she is drunk while Johnny is faking her death.
Karan Johar as Kaizad is alright, the role could have been done better by either an Anil Kapoor or a Jackie Shroff, but to give the man his due, there were scenes where he portrayed the character with utmost coldness, especially the scene where he shoots one of the lead characters.
Set design is brilliant, especially in the night club sequences and the Shalimar hotel sequences. Music by Amit Trivedi is OK, and the use of Mambo during a shootout is excellent.
Anurag Kashyap's direction is brilliant, but alas like pointed out earlier if the same movie was made in the English language frame to frame, with an American/British cast, the reception for the movie would have been totally different
Unfortunately for Anurag Basu (director & writer), what he did not count on was an audience who might not understand the tone of the movie. It was like snatching an Amar Chitra Katha from a 7-year-old and forcing him to read a Lee Child Novel. To cut the chase short, the movie is ahead of its times.
The movie begins with a young woman and a child moving into Bombay in 1949 (who we quickly assume are mother and child). The child Balraj is attracted to the world of crime through a friend he makes on the street, a lousy pickpocket named Chimman.
Balraj's mother is thrust into the world of prostitution and we later come to know that she is not his real mother and Balraj was merely forced act as a pimp and a servant for her.
Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Chinman (Satyendra Mishra) grow up into a world of crime. They join a Portuguese gangster and smuggle gold on the Bombay Shores. Inspector Vishwas Kulkarni (Kay Kay Menon) conducts a surprise attack on the gang, Balraj escapes with a case of gold and while the rest including Chinman are caught. Balraj hides the gold in his house and when Chinman is released, they discover that Balraj's mother has took off with the gold. On the other side, we have Rosie Noroha (Anushka Sharma), a singer and mistress to a Portugal musician who treats her rather badly. Rosie kills him and runs away to Mumbai, where she becomes a mistress to Jimmy Mistry (Manish Choudhary), a newspaper tycoon. Balraj sees Rosie singing in a bar and falls for her, but Rosie ignores him.
Balraj is invited by Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar) to join his gang and makes him the manager of his swank night club Bombay Velvet and christens him Johnny. Kaizad is a bootlegger, smuggler and a black mailer. He uses his wife (shaanti) to sleep with politicians and then uses Johnny to photograph the carnal activities and then conveniently blackmail them.
Jimmy Mistry who realizes that Johnny is in love with Rosie, sends her to Johnny. Her mission: to procure a certain negative which could land a politician in trouble. Johnny gets Rosie a job as a singer and Rosie falls for him equally and decides to leave Jimmy Mistry for good.
Meanwhile Kaizad comes to know about Rosie's mission and informs Johnny about it and Johnny promises to kill her himself. Johnny cheats Kaizad and the world into believing that Rosie was killed in an explosion, gets her moved to Goa. Unable to stay away from her, He reintroduces her back into his life as Rita, Rosie's twin. The move backfires as everyone including Kaizad comes to know the truth, putting events in a rush to a gory end.
Ranbir Kapoor as Johnny Balraj is exceptionally good, be it the romantic scenes or the scenes which require him to behave in a totally psychotic mode.
Anushka Sharma as Rosie proves once again she is a versatile actress. The dead pan expression when she is singing even while Johnny is getting beaten up or the cheerful expressions when kissing Johnny amidst a song in the night club or the scene where she is drunk while Johnny is faking her death.
Karan Johar as Kaizad is alright, the role could have been done better by either an Anil Kapoor or a Jackie Shroff, but to give the man his due, there were scenes where he portrayed the character with utmost coldness, especially the scene where he shoots one of the lead characters.
Set design is brilliant, especially in the night club sequences and the Shalimar hotel sequences. Music by Amit Trivedi is OK, and the use of Mambo during a shootout is excellent.
Anurag Kashyap's direction is brilliant, but alas like pointed out earlier if the same movie was made in the English language frame to frame, with an American/British cast, the reception for the movie would have been totally different