The story, played against a beautifully set-up backdrop of ‘60s India, is that of a young man named Johnny Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor). Named Balraj by birth, our protagonist is the son of a prostitute who grows up watching Hollywood mob films, and wants to become a “big shot” one day. Visiting a pub one day, Balraj stumbles upon Rosie (Anushka Sharma) who sings Jazz there – it’s his love at first sight. To his disappointment, though, Rosie chooses to leave the pub with a Parsi called Jimmy Mistri (Manish Choudhary) in his car. Balraj realizes that Rosie only goes out with men with big cars so he decides to do whatever it takes to get himself a car. He and his childhood friend Chimman (Satyadeep Misra) go to rob a bank, where they attempt to rob Kaizad Khambata (Karan Johar), a “big shot” in the truest sense, but fail. As they are attempting to run away, Khambata stops them and gives them the money he had just withdrawn from the bank, telling Balraj that he was impressed by his bravery. This is the turning point in Balraj’s life.
Balraj’s bravery impresses Khambata enough to hire him, after giving him a new name: Johnny. Johnny, together with his best man Chimman, works as Khambata’s hitman, killing and kidnapping people on his orders, and is soon rewarded with a huge prize: Bombay Velvet, a massive glittering club. This reward is what makes Johnny what he always wished to become – a “big shot”. To his utter and shocking surprise, he soon finds Rosie standing at his doorstep, whom he hires as the club’s star singer. But all is not as good as it seems as Johnny Balraj’s world soon begins to crumble with one thing lying at its centre: betrayal.
How many Bollywood blockbusters have had genuinely unique stories?
Box-Office and Critical Flop
Soon after the release of Bombay Velvet on May 15, an endless stream of bad reviews was rolled out by the Indian media, basically calling the movie “clichéd”. The box-office rewarded the movie with a 16 crore opening weekend.
It is not entirely untrue that Bombay Velvet does have a run-of-the-mill storyline. It is the story of a gangster and a jazz singer weaved into a mob film – and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. The question is, how many blockbuster movies had genuinely unique stories? Was Chennai Express not a very usual love story? Was Yeh Jawani Hai Dewani not a typical coming-of-age-and-learning-to-fall-in-love movie? Weren’t all the Dhooms heist thrillers? At least Bombay Velvet had more of an artistic feel to it than all of them combined. But it looks like Ranbir would have to change his surname to Khan to make all the ordinariness pay off in billions.
However, it is not hard to understand why the average Hindi cinema lover would not want to watch a movie like Bombay Velvet. A comment at the end of one of the many bad reviews garnered by the movie, said: “Who the **** listens to jazz in India?” As Anurag Kashyap, himself, put it: “a lot of people do not connect with (the movie)”.
The tragedy with Bombay Velvet was, perhaps, that it was too true to its period. The movie, inspired by historian Gyan Prakash’s book Mumbai Fables, showed exactly the type of issues that Bombay faced in the 1960s – like prohibition and construction mafias – made exactly the type of sets that befitted 1960s India, and played exactly the kind of music that was played in the clubs of the Mumbai of 1960s. But, unfortunately for Anurag Kashyap, nobody “listens to jazz” in India.
Why Watch It: Period Film and Jazz Lovers’ Dream
For lovers of period films, Bombay Velvet is a treat to watch. The costumes, the backdrops, the sets, and the mannerisms, all were convincingly ‘60s style. And if, by chance, you are a rare lover of jazz, born in the wrong part of the world, the movie would be an even more pleasant watch. That is, until the bloodshed spills all over the pretty picture.
Ranbir might have to change his surname to Khan to make ordinariness pay off
Why Not: Mob and Romantic Film Lovers Will Be Disappointed
To mob film lovers: you surely have seen it better. If you’ve come to cinema to watch a classic Kashyap-written mob film like Gangs of Wasseypur or Satya, you will be disappointed. The plot is not nearly as engrossing as those two masterpieces.
To romantic film lovers: Bombay Velvet is not a romantic flick. It is a love story, but to get you teary-eyed is not one of its objectives. No need to bring the tissue papers in for this one: you have been warned.