Bombay Velvet

<p>In 1969 , Balraj is a street fighter/boxer who is in love with the jazz singer Rosie. Seeing Rosie with wealthy men further sparks his dream of becoming a “big-shot”, believing that if he manages to become rich, he might win Rosie’s heart. Balraj and his friend Chimman then catch the eye of Kaizad Khambatta, a wealthy businessman who is impressed by Balraj and offers him the chance to manage his club “Bombay Velvet”, which Khambatta uses to further his illegal tasks and activities. He also nicknames Balraj “Johnny”, which then becomes his identification. As well as this, Johnny and Chimman fulfill minor tasks for Khambatta, including capturing a dirty photograph of a minister who Khambatta wants to blackmail. This news reaches Jimmy Mistri, a media reporter, who also happens to be the same wealthy man Johnny had previously seen Rosie with. Remembering that Johnny has a crush on Rosie, Mistri takes advantage of this and sends Rosie to Johnny’s club to get her hands on the photograph of the minister. However, Rosie and Johnny eventually fall in love, and Mistri threatens to reveal Rosie’s true identity to Johnny. Therefore, Rosie begins to supply information about Johnny & Khambatta’s activities to Mistri. After a photograph of a secret meeting between Bombay’s big-shots is leaked, Khambatta guesses that it was Rosie supplying the information and orders her to be killed. Johnny hears of this and forms an enmity with Khambatta, the man who brought him into the crime world. Johnny fakes Rosie’s death and makes her act as if she is her long dead twin sister Rita. But soon Khambatta realises the truth, kidnaps Rosie and tries to kill Johnny and they get into a standoff at Bombay Velvet. Khambatta shoots Rosie to provoke Johnny. Johnny angry at this stabs Khambatta and is himself shot dead while trying to carry Rosie to the hospital, outside the club. It is revealed before the end credits that Rosie survived her gunshot. Kashyap was inspired to make such a film after reading , a sequence of four crime fiction novels by , set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles. was initially to be produced by , but decided to co-produce it with Phantom Films. It is based on ‘s book and set in early 1950s towards 1970s, before became a . Prakash is also one of the scriptwriters for the film. Although , , and were considered, was cast as a street fighter, and Anushka Sharma was cast as a jazz singer. Kapoor explained his casting, “The script of just fell into my lap. I read it and I knew immediately that I wanted to be part of Anurag’s grand vision, his innovative storytelling, his movie-making process; everything that he does so perfectly.” This was director ‘s second film as an actor after (1995) and his first as a lead; he was cast as the film’s primary antagonist, Kaizad Khambata. His role is said to have been inspired from . began in mid-July 2013 and continued till early September 2013. The first schedule was shot at ‘s Ranmihitenna Mahinda Rajapaksa National Tele Cinema Park, . Filming was also done in , , and . 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 where shooting was held for a ten-day period. The film was released in only one version and was edited in collaboration by Prerna Saigal ( (2013)) and Academy Award-winning editor . is influenced by including with its stereotypical caricatures like gangsters, gun molls and femme fatales. The movie draws inspiration from gangster films of the ’30s and the ’40s like (1939) and (1949) and films like (1974) and (1997). The film attracted brand associations worth Rs. 20 Crore with brands like , , , among others. To build hype and buzz around the film, Fox Star India and crowdsourced the official fan art for the movie by running a poster design contest on Cupick. , a promotional based on the film was developed by and released the same year. The soundtrack for is composed by , which he began working on the soundtrack after the release of . Amit stated in an interview that, “The music of reflect the age of 1960s Jazz era of Bollywood.” The lyrics were written by . The album was released on 24 April 2015 by , which took care of the film’s audio rights. The song “Fifi” is a remake of the Hindi song “Jaata Kahaan Hai Deewane” from the 1956 film which was originally composed by and written by . It was re-created by . The film released on 15 May 2015 in 2600 screens worldwide. Performances of Kapoor, Sharma and Johar received positive reviews, but the incoherent script and direction were heavily criticized. Arunava Chatterjee of rated it 3.5 stars and said, “While vintage seems to be the new fad in Bollywood, deserves a standing ovation in this age of run-of-the-mill Friday releases.” also gave it 3.5 stars and said, “On the whole, is a visual masterpiece that is rich in form. If you want to be wowed by the detailing of the 1960s, superb performances of Kapoor, Sharma and Johar, then go ahead and watch this film.” Shubha Saha of gave 3.5 stars and said, ” is more like a roller coaster ride, as it takes you on a dizzy high with its charming ambience and music that is bound to stay with you for long, but later you are brought down not so gently with the underwhelming plot and lack of punches. Watch it for the experience.” The film collected (US$620,000) on first day</p>