Bombay Velvet

Casts: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar, Kay Kay Menon
Banner: Fox Star Studios, Phantom Productions
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Producer: Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl
Writers: Anurag Kashyap, S.Thanikachalam, Vasan Bala, Gyan Prakash
Music: Amit Trivedi, Mikey Mccleary
Release Date: 15th May 2015

Story line: Bombay Velvet movie is based on historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables, a story of how the city of Mumbai became a metropolis against the backdrop of love, greed, violence and jazz music.
It is the story of one ordinary man who goes against all odds and forges his destiny to become a 'Big Shot'. A film about jazz clubs, a passionate love story, a growing metropolis and a phenomenal hunger for a good life. Its the story of how one man's Dream becomes every man's Nightmare

 Facts And Figures:
·         Film is based on historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables. Set in Bombay of the 1960s. Prakash is also one of the scriptwriter's for the film.
·         Bombay Velvet was initially to be produced by Viacom18 but Fox Star Studios decided to co-produce it with Phantom Films
·         The first schedule of Bombay Velvet started in the third week of July 2013 and continued till the first week of September 2013.The first schedule was shot at Sri Lanka's Ranmihitenna Mahinda Rajapaksa National Tele Cinema Park, Hambantota. Filming was also done in Colombo, Galle and Pasikudah. The second schedule was also in Mahinda Rajapaksa National Tele Cinema Park, Sri Lanka, where Sharma and Kapoor rejoined the filming in February. The second schedule completed in March. Parts of the set was left at the National Tele Cinema Park, rather than being dismantled, as it will be used as a tourist attraction site. The third and final schedule was in Mumbai where shooting was held for a 10-day period.
·         Film length is 2 hours, 19 minutes and movie budget is Rs 80 crore.

Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director:  Anurag Singh Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. He has received acclaim for his often realistic films and backing numerous small projects with newcomers. For his contributions to film, the Government of France has awarded him the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2013.

After writing few news paper articles and a television serial, Kashyap got his major break as a co-writer in Ram Gopal Varma's crime drama Satya and made his directorial debut with Paanch, which is yet unreleased regarding censorship issues. He then directed Black Friday (2004), a film based on the book by Hussain Zaidi about the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Its release was held up for two years by the Central Board of Film Certification because of the pending verdict of the case at that time, but was released on 2007 to widespread critical appreciation. Kashyap's followup, No Smoking (2007) met with negative reviews and performed poorly at the box-office, but has since garnered a cult following. His next venture was Dev.D (2009), which was well received both critically and commercially. Followed by Gulaal (2009) and the more offbeat thriller That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011). both films received critical acclaim. His prominence increased with the two-part crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 1 and Part 2 (2012). His next films were Bombay Talkies (2013) and Ugly (2014), all of which screened at the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight section.

Apart from Film making, Kashyap also currently serves as the Member of board of Mumbai-based NGO, Aangan, which helps protect vulnerable children around India.He is the founder of two film production companies, Anurag Kashyap Films, which is run by Guneet Monga. Along with Phantom Films with partnership from director's Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl and producer Madhu Mantena.

My Gut Feel and comments:
This is one of those movie where I am finding it tough to pen down my thought and gut feel as going by face value it looks like an exciting movie however as I reconcile  it with kind of cinema we associate Anurag Kashyap there is a distinction. I associate Anurag with low budget realistic dark cinema which still holds a sensibility which restricted to its target audience however suddenly in case of Bombay velvet he has been equipped with big banner, big budget, renowned star cast and larger than life canvas which we could associate with Karan Johar however not with Anurag Kashyap, and this is my dilemma. It’s my closed observation that whenever abundant resources given to creative people like Anurag they failed miserably however I don’t want Bombay velvet to end up in that league and hoping it to be a great entertainer. It happened with Tigmanshu Dhulia in case of bullet raja where he got the best of the resources however he delivered a below average film.
Film’s story line reminds of Shree 420 where a dreamer dangled in his own created web world.

Star cast is impressive and brining 1960’s Bombay live, that to in Sri Lanka is remarkable. With Piku releasing one week before and Tanu weds manu returns releasing next week of Bombay velvet’s release , on ground it’s going to get tough competition as far as registering commercial success at box office. 

Keeping my figures crossed and hoping all my doubts would turn untrue and film would prove to be an entertainer, I am giving this movie 3.5 star out of 5, eight days before the release and thumps up from my side.

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