BOMBAY VELVET: All flash-no flesh! [2.5/5]

Anurag Kashyap has this unique ability and talent to surprise you with quirky ideas and innovatively conceived elements to see and present things differently on screen. Who else would think of using a popular actor in a portrayal of a male singer mimicking female counterpart in local orchestra (Yashpal Sharma in GANGS OF WASSEYPUR)? Or that breathless all ‘huffy-puffy’ police chase in BLACK FRIDAY revealing chawls and bylanes of Mumbai slums the best way anyone could; or for that matter, the 10-minute long ‘FIR’ sequence in UGLY where cops show great insensitivity towards a possible case of kidnapping of a minor. Sadly, his latest magnum-opus BOMBAY VELVET falls short of that distinctive touch of the filmmaker and then, what it does to its audience can hardly be described as surprising, or amazing, or even impressive at par his past low-budget yet highly-visionary films.

Finding a solid base in historian Gyan Prakash’s writing work MUMBAI FABLES, Anurag brings back an era that looks terrifically vintage of greater visual appeal and also, terribly cliché in holding its fort of being a classic love saga. A street fighter Johnny Balraj [Ranbir Kapoor] with hopes and dreams to die someday being ‘a big shot’ is on the rise as the Bombay of 60’s becomes the literal ‘land’ of opportunities. Land-shark Khambata [Karan Johar] needs someone handy and powerful to set up his empire and the ambitiously vulnerable Balraj is his best bet. Initial success gifts him the love of his life Rosy [Anushka Sharma] - a singer who’s forced to dance on the tunes of a manipulative Press owner Jimmy Mistry [Manish Chaudhary]. Soon, the flashy world of opportunity starts fading out to the shady game of greed, power and ambition.

With an eagle-eye in detailing, Anurag recreates the Bombay of 60’s with one of the best production-designs in Bollywood. The disappearing trams, vintage cars, graphically achieved landscapes, costumes, brilliantly envisioned set-designs; everything in the frame justifies its mark and meaning for being placed there. The club-singer is a recognized Geeta Dutt fan. His chauffer [Vivan Shah] also doesn’t miss to flaunt his so-called ‘pehchan’ with Chic Chocolate- a noted trumpeter with the famous music-director duo Shankar-Jaikishan. These minimal references work but what don’t work are the puzzling plots and subplots. They keep coming to you to earn your precious attention and interest in the film but in a perplexed way and disinterested narration that you are left in disbelief as what is happening and why? The screenplay also is a bumpy ride. Songs and the fascinatingly refined jazz music do some serious kind of damage-repair.

On the performances, Ranbir is precise, measured and totally in-character. His role on paper might sound in correlation with the character his grandfather Raj Kapoor played in SHRI 420 but Ranbir’s is a lot stylish and modern. Anushka, most of the times, is there on stage to lip-sync the club-numbers but whenever she’s off-stage, she manages to pull it off well. Karan Johar handles only one scene well that deserves a mention. His uncontrollable laugh at Balraj’s poor English language skills! For the rest, it is forgettable. Manish Chaudhary is first-rate. Satyadeep Mishra is the only actor who never ever disappoints you. Kay Kay Menon is regular.

At the last, BOMBAY VELVET has striking likeness of Martin Scorsese’s and other films of that style. This could well be Anurag Kashyap’s tribute to the filmmaker but is certainly not the best in his kitty. Watch out if you don’t know who Anurag Kashyap is, and you might come out praising him. For fans, it is a disappointment despite being not-so-bad! [2.5/5]   

UGLY: Kashyap Returns to his territory! Dark gets darker! [4/5]

A 10-year old girl is missing. Or kidnapped. Or murdered. And the cops at the nearest police station are busy scratching their nails deep into why actors change their names for screen and if everyone does it, why hasn’t Amitabh Bachchan done the same? This is a piece of reality anyone would relate to. Certainly, this doesn’t work in the favor. For that matter, even the departmental sniffer dog is also an inefficient one. But Anurag Kashyap never misses it, especially when it comes to paint the screen in the most under-lit shades. UGLY is dark, disturbing, real, riveting and one of the best thrillers in the lines of Kashyap’s earlier trysts with the genre; PAANCH & BLACK FRIDAY!

The college love-triangle usually flourishing in the most vivid Karan Johar style romantic dream world returns to the hard & harsh world of reality, handled in Anurag Kashyap fashion. The ‘Rahul’ boy with the most charming looks [Rahul Bhatt] here is now a struggling actor with a bottle of rum in one hand and packs of pre & post workout protein supplements on the upper rack in his room.

The girl in love [Tejaswini Kolhapure] has lost it completely. Her dream world is beaten, bashed and thrashed to the broken world of no hopes left. The silent-shy lover and the toughest cop in the circuit [Ronit Roy] do come to recue the girl but not without leaving his masculine ego to throw away lines like ‘tum bachi khuchi mili thin mujhe’. Circumstances bring both the contenders against when the daughter from the first marriage goes missing. And everyone is under the sharp knives of suspicion; from the real father and his friends to the step one!

Kashyap’s UGLI is a winning combo of brilliantly written characters, worth-watching performances and a perfect expertise on the execution level. The cinematography is extremely grasping, explosive and exact. The background score keeps the tension high on meter and constantly haunts for the rest. And then, the most enjoyable characters with their indefinite shades.

Girish Kulkarni as the ‘technology unconscious’ cop is both maddening and enjoyable. Vineet Kumar Singh is a shocking revelation. Watching him trying voice-modulation in one scene and his all swearing verbal outburst in the finale, is a rewarding experience. Tejaswini deserves a mention for playing hopeless soul torn between her miserable first choice and the unashamedly egoist savior in the second. Rahul Bhatt fearlessly shifts shades from a caring father to self-centered struggling actor. We have seen Ronit Roy as an arrogantly manipulative cop [in Akshay Kumar starrer BOSS] and a dominating male [in Kashyap produced UDAAN] before, but it looks like neither he’s done with it nor us. He’s repetitive but simply outstanding.

With UGLY, Anurag Kashyap returns to his territory where dark is the only illumination to reveal and discover one’s inner-self. The violent, sadistic, opportunist, selfish and vengeful self that come out in light only when it gets dark. And real. And well-suited. When a subordinate updates his chief about the missing girl being a fine-looking and that this could make it narrowing the search to the child-sex rackets, he realizes later that it is the father who he’s talking to. Nothing can be so terrifying for a father and a sensitive viewer too. Definitely, the world outside is dark. Watch it if you want to wake up yourself from laid-back dreams and don’t if you have a fragile heart. UGLY remains awesome, in both settings! [4/5]