Skip to main content

Bombay Velvet

                                                                        BOMBAY VELVET

What do I say?
Does anyone remember the experience of seeing a bowl of Halwa loaded with dry fruits and piping hot, giving off steam and then you diving in with a spoon and blowing on it furiously to cool it down? Then chomping your bite only to discover that there is a bitter almond in it? Thereby ruining your entire experience? Well BV is exactly like that….. Months of anticipation, getting red hot tickets and then the bitterness. Sigh!
When will these crazy experiments stop?
The bitter almond in question here is the bad script, there is no other word, it is bad through and through. The loose ends aren’t tied up and the protagonists have no clue whether they are coming or going. The only fine thing is the way Bombay of yesteryears has been shot. But that sure isn’t enough. I needed more! We all deserved better.
My problem with Johnny Balraj is that there is no defined skill set. Is he all brawn aka Sunny Deol of yesteryears or is he a winning mix of brains and brawn like Sultan (Ajay Devgan ) in Once upon a time? What exactly is his passion? Money or power or Rosie? And Rosie when she speaks is so unutterably intolerable. She doesn’t even look her part. Where is the smouldering fire, the angst?
She is a victim of child abuse and yet can arouse no sympathy. There are definite Anurag Kashyap sparks but no roaring fire like Gangs of Wasseypur or Ugly. Wow! Is it the same guy who made all these? Unbelievable! What is believable is that the movie needed 22 days of re-shooting. It actually could have done with loads more.
Kay Kay Menon is wasted, Karan Johar is chilling in bits, Satyadeep Mishra was impressive and Manish Chaudhary was competent. An inane interaction between Karan and Ranbir has him saying- Rosie mai kya tha jo mujh main nahi? Oh is it the AIB roast all over again?
Watch at your own risk, I didn’t like it at all.
I wish I had just seen Piku all over again or waited for Tanu weds Manu -2


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Monica, O My Darling

Straight off the bat, let me tell you that I went into this movie cold. I just saw the trailer and put it on my watch list. I was totally enamored with the cast and the premise. I knew I was going to watch this one, so I didn't delve into the promotional shenanigans.  So if you are of the same bent of mind, stop reading and start watching.  And on your behalf, I did Google Ankola, it is a town in Karnataka and is not to be confused with Akola in Maharashtra. Ha ! Ha! Netflix has been delighting us with gems like Raat Akeli thi, Haseen dilruba and Bulbul. Add this one to that list and think Gehraiyaan. I need not stress on the proficient star cast. They are masters of their craft. Starting with the sneaky Rajkummar Rao, the sultry Huma Quereshi and the wily Radhika Apte, the ensemble includes the creepy Sukant Goel, the beleaguered Zayn Marie and many others. For me Sikandar Kher was a standout. A shoutout to his intensity and his baritone.  The dialogues are spot on and t...

Qala

Anvita Dutt, is a master story teller. And she, tells this one well too. She and Kanika Dillon have a knack of painting their leading ladies in shades of grey. Whilst Kanika brings in the whacky and the wild, Anvita brings in the angst. It makes for great entertainment.  This movie seeps in slowly and is for those of you who like the slow burn. There is drama and angst and tragedy and it leaves you wondering, what did I just watch? Was this a movie or sheer art? And it is a movie that stays with you for a bit.  The visuals are stunning, particularly those of the boat on the water. The noir-ish feel of the movie fits the mood perfectly. One does know what has happened and why, but the visuals and the artistry keep you in thrall. This is the story of a woman, who learns to be competitive in her mother's womb itself. Her quest for survival began in the womb itself. She then spends all her childhood and teen years having only her mother and constantly craving her validation. Is ...

Shades of Grey

For a very long time I have held a rigid view about what is right and what is wrong. And never have I ever allowed myself to be deviated from what I thought was correct and incorrect. I am not saying that I always did the right thing, but yes even when I was doing the wrong thing I did know that i was wrong. No one had to hold up the metaphorical mirror and tell me that I was wrong. I knew it all on my own. So veering between being an absolute Gandhian and a naughty imp, I had more or less kept my moral compass due north. In fact I was quick to judge people on their actions, without trying to place myself in their shoes and walk a few miles, to see what the impediments were. I was always pretty  smug about knowing what was white and what was black. But as they say, its only when we experience something do we truly realize what it was to have stood in someone's shoes and made a decision which felt totally right at that time. Would you condemn a hungry urchin for stealing food? ...