WILL ANURAG’S DREAM PROJECT HIT THE BULLSEYE?

The much awaited and anticipated film Bombay Velvet is finally hitting theatres tomorrow. Interestingly, the trade experts are divided over the film’s fate. While some feel it will bomb, a section of them believe that the film can work and grow by word of mouth.

Bombay Velvet is directed by Anurag Kashyap and is inspired from Gyan Prakash’s book ‘Mumbai Fables’. Anurag had the script with him for almost 10 years and the book and the movie was supposed to come out together. But since the film got delayed, the book came out first. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma in leading roles. Karan Johar plays the villain and looks quite dashing. The film also stars Kay Kay Menon, Manish Chaudhari, Satyadeep Mishra and Raveena Tandon. The music is by Amit Trivedi and the jazz inspired songs are outstanding. Amit reportedly has worked on the music for almost 4-5 years. The other brilliant aspects of the film are its sets. The makers erected the Bombay of 50s/60s in Sri Lanka. And it looks so bloody authentic! The VFX by Prana Studios make it seem even more real.

However, the challenges faced by Bombay Velvet are immense. The film got delayed after PK ‘grabbed’ away its release date (Xmas 2014). Then, the VFX took time. Meanwhile, reports started pouring in that there’s a rift between Team Anurag and co-producers Fox Star Studios over the budget and the duration. Such reports became so frequent that Anurag began losing cool every now and then on Twitter and even at public events. Moreover, the trailer didn’t get unanimous praise. Many began to wonder how the film will be able to recover its huge costs (officially, it’s Rs 80 crore but it’s believed to be around Rs 110-120 crore). The film needs to make at least Rs 175 crore in order to be qualified as a hit. And seeing the response to the promos, it doesn’t look like it’ll happen. The word of mouth might help the film but till what extent it’ll help remains to be seen. After all, Bombay Velvet is not a massy film that will be a hit even in the interiors.

Nevertheless, Bombay Velvet looks like a genuine sincere product and it’s evident that the makers have tried giving the audience something different, sensible and entertaining. Here’s hoping it works, especially if it’s a well-made film!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BOMBAY VELVET AND WHY? DO LET ME KNOW!

Anurag Kashyap on the Bombay that once existed and his upcoming film on the city
Shakti Shetty (MID-DAY; March 19, 2014)

He looks tanned and thinner now. In Sri Lanka to shoot on the sprawling and dreamy sets of his forthcoming film, Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap is upbeat about his first ‘proper’ commercial film. With a budget of close to Rs 80 crore, Kashyap is confident that his film will win people over. In a candid chat, the 41-year-old reveals, among other things, what prompted him to make this film…

What was the biggest challenge for Bombay Velvet?
Recreating the world in which jazz and Bombay co-existed. Shooting-wise, I’m a minimalist — I don’t spend much on sets. So if you give me Rs 5 crore, I’ll make a film that looks as though it cost Rs 15 crore to make. But what happens when I get an amount so big that I’m not used to it? Well, I have tried to make a film that looks like it took up Rs 200 crore. And that’s a challenge in itself.

Would it be correct to say that jazz is extinct in Mumbai?
It almost disappeared by the mid-’70s, but it never went away completely. Did you know Mohammed Rafi was a jazz singer who sang in Konkani before his big break in Bollywood? And if you observe closely, Hindi film music in that era was certainly influenced by jazz. A music lover will always find influences, the way I did.

What prompted you to make this film?
The story, of course. But also because I hate to see a beautiful city transform into something unappealing.
Every now and then, we come across a beautiful old building that is pulled down, only to be replaced by a monstrosity. We’ve basically destroyed a city and my film is about the phase when greed began to take over. Bombay Velvet is basically about a city that is filled with vice.

Ranbir Kapoor has never done a full-fledged action role before. But in this film, he plays a boxer.
With his rigorous training and the number of bruises he earned in the process, he’s almost like a real boxer now. There was a point when his mother (Neetu Singh) told me that she could no longer see her son get beaten up in the ring. But that’s Ranbir — he gives his all to the character.

Is it true that Ranveer Singh was your first choice?
No. Aamir (Khan) initially had the script but he got busy with other things. Besides, the project was getting too expensive and I started looking for a younger face in the meantime. So we went to Ranveer Singh, but we were getting a funding of just Rs 30-40 crore at that time. Fortunately, Ranbir loved the script right away and agreed to come on board. This sorted out a lot of things on the financial front. Things become smoother from that moment onwards. That’s when I felt this film would finally shape up my way.