Tag Archives: Ranbir kapoor

Bombay Velvet (2015)

Bombay Velvet review.

My Ratings: 2.5/5.

Bombay Velvet is my favorite director Anurag Kashyap‘s latest feature and one of Bollywood’s most anticipated films of 2015. 

bombay-velvet-poster4The story of an ambitious young Johney Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) who wants to be called a ‘big-shot’ after his death; who falls in love with a beautiful club-singer Rosie (Anushka Sharma) and who also makes the mistake of betraying the notorious newspaper tycoon Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar).

Based on Indian historian Gyan Prakash’s book Mumbai Fables – Bombay Velvet claims to be a thriller, a crime drama and also a love story all at the same time.

But unfortunately it doesn’t match up to the audience’s expectation level – primarily because it lacks a dignified story line and intelligent dialogues.

Bombay-Velvet-poster1First of all, the basic plot is very much clichéd and many a times illogical. The film desperately attempts to create the old fashioned ‘film noir’ kind-of mood (dark and tragic) but after the second-half Bombay Velvet becomes predictable and in a way simply refuses to entertain.

The mad-lover in outrage (we have seen better in Dev.D), the police/CBI chasing suspects (seen better in Black Friday), slow motion firing of machine guns with heavy background music (seen better in Gangs of Wasseypur), suspense and unexpected twists in the story (seen better in Gulaal) – honestly even Anurag Kashyap‘s unreleased debut film Paanch (2003) had more zing than Bombay Velvet (story wise).

But again the mood and lighting is brilliant. Cinematographer Rajeev Ravi has done a great job with the colors and texture of the film.

bombay-velvet-posterThe production designers Errol Kelly and Sonal Sawant along with the art director Sameer Sawant recreated the grander of old Bombay with perfection.  

Amit Trivedi‘s music is decent but nothing extraordinary. 

Now for the acting part – good performances all around. Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma seem to have a great on-screen chemistry.  

Unfortunately, after achieving great success in Barfi! and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani actor Ranbir Kapoor‘s luck seems to have taken a summersault. In spite of giving worthy performances, his last three films BesharamRoy and Bombay Velvet (included) somehow fail to hold the audience’s attention.

bombay-velvet-poster3An under-exploited Kay Kay Menon as the CBI officer, Satyadeep Misra as the trusted friend, Vivaan Shah as the lover-boy driver, and even the debutant villain Karan Johar (who seems to have charged only Rs 11 as his acting fee) has done pretty well. 

Overall Bombay Velvet (149 min long) could have been much better with a tight script and crisp dialogues. May be a budget constraint does work better in case of certain directors!

Note: Though Martin Scorsese is given special thanks and Oscar winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (who has many a times worked with Martin Scorsese before) did edit the film – but Bombay Velvet is nothing close to any of Martin Scorsese’s films. So please stop comparing and unnecessarily escalating your expectations.   

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Roy (2015)

My Ratings: 0.5/5.

An interesting fresh choice of actors, a handful of catchy songs and a decent film trailer – who would have known that the result will be a waste of almost 2 and 1/2 hours of my life.

Roy-Poster1Roy will probably be the most hyped disappointment of this year.

Unfortunately within the very first fifteen minutes you get the sense that you have being lured into something unexpectedly boring but till then it’s too late. For the next two hours you are trapped like a bird in a dark cage with a single source of uncomfortable, harsh light that doesn’t let you sleep.

The supposed-to-be dynamic star cast Ranbir KapoorJacqueline Fernandez, and Arjun Rampal tries to act out their parts but without a proper script it’s always tough.

Roy-PosterKabir (Arjun Rampal playing the lead role) is a hotshot writer/director struggling to write his own film script, a playboy who falls in love with another film director Ayesha (Jacqueline Fernandez). 

Ranbir Kapoor though having relatively lesser screen space manages to achieve the difficult task of having not a single expression on his face throughout the film. (I think he should choose his scripts more wisely in future).

For debutant director/writer Vikramjit Singh it evidently didn’t work out this time, but i guess there is always a next time.

Ordinary editing and camera and below average dialogues.

Amal Mallik though deserves a mention for the soulful music of Roy, the only positive aspect in the film.

I won’t personally recommend Roy to anybody.  Watch it at your own risk.

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Best of Bollywood 2012 and 2013 (10+1 list)

Best of Bollywood 2012 and 2013.

written by Souranath Banerjee.

Best of Bollywood 2012 and 2013 is the list of my most favorite Hindi films (in Hindi language) in the recent times.

Kind of a flashback of the last two years and if you have missed any of these films (though i very much doubt it) no need to feel guilty. Watch them as soon as possible and you will be forgiven.

This list is especially for my friends who are foreign based or foreign to Bollywood films and many a times ask me to suggest some meaningful Bollywood cinema … well, this list is all you need.

10. Kai po che (2013)

Kai Po Che poster

Very rarely it happens that a film turns out to be better than the book it’s based on.

Rajkummar Rao, Sushant Singh Rajput and Amit Sadh have given their best performances – after ‘Rock on’ this is again a great film by derector Abhishek Kapoor.

A story of friends and friendship beautifully told.

9. Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

gangs of wasseypur poster

Anurag Kashyap at his best, Gangs of Wassypur is an epic story of violence between two families.

A raw desi masala tale of revenge and betrayal that takes three generations to come to a resolution.

Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Piyush Mishra … entertainment unlimited.

8. Paan Singh Tomar (2012)

paan singh tomar poster

A biographical drama on the life of the famous Indian athlete Paan Singh Tomar who turned into a decoit in his later days.

The film won that years’s National Award in the ‘Best Feature Film’ category and Irfan khan won the National Award for the ‘Best Actor’.

Tigmanshu Dhulia gives us probably the most unique and brilliant film of the year 2012.

7. Shanghai (2012)

shanghai posterThe best political thriller of Bollywood till date.

A remake of the Greek director Costa-Gavras’s political drama ‘Z’ or rather adopted from the same novel written by Vasilis Vasilikos Shanghai keeps up to it’s promise.

Yet another feather on Dibakar Banerjee’s cap – superb performances by Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi.

6. Kahaani (2012)

kahaani poster

Kahaani which literally means ‘story’ is indeed one of the best mystery stories of that year told by director Sujoy Ghosh.

Vidya Balan, the helpless pregnant lady desperately searching for her husband in Kolkata – a search that gets too dangerous and ends with a twist to remember.

If you haven’t seen this film yet you are missing something.

5.The Lunchbox (2013)

The LunchBox poster

Arguably the perfect choice for the Oscars from India last year (though the Gujarati film Good Road was sent instead).

A terrific film – simple yet crisp and full of soul.

Top rated performances by Irfan khan, Nawazuddin Sidiqui and Nimrat Kaur – what an extraordinary debut film by Ritesh Batra!

4. Bhaag Milkha bhaag (2013)

bhag milkha bhag poster

Another biographical film adds to this list – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s take on one of India’s all time legend athlete Milkha Singh.

A brilliant film that received the national award for ‘Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment’.

Farhan Akhtar bagged almost all the popular awards as the Best Actor – splendid performance.

3. Barfi! (2012)

Barfi poster

Barfi! was the film India sent to the Oscars in 2012.

Salute to the director Anurag Basu for such wonderful concept and direction.

Ranbir Kappor and Priyanka Chopra have given their performances till date.

A fun filled film that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

2. OMG Oh My God (2012)

Oh My God Poster

In such a religiously frantic country like India you have to give credit to the film that raises its voice against religious corruption and that too in such an entertaining manner.

A common man who dares to take God to the court room!

Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar’s superb performance and Umesh Shukla’s direction – a real OMG film in a good way.

1. Shahid (2013)

shahid poster

You can guess a film’s worth when that film has won National Awards in both ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actor’ category.

Very recently saw the film and i was a spellbound.

Hansal Mehta has evolved into a fine director and Rajkummar Rao – what natural acting man!

Watch it. You won’t regret.

and (The ‘+1′ film is not necessarily the best but certainly the most crazy one. A must watch).

+1. Ship of Theseus (2013)

ship of theseus poster

Won the National Award for Best Feature Film – this film is truly an unique experience.

Three different stories brilliantly woven into one, arty and matured, intelligent and honest.

Anand Gandhi has paved a new path to sophisticated cinema and raised the bars for the other film-makers.

The success of this film has proved that the concept of Bollywood audience only craving for hard-core commercial masala films is only a myth.

Lets hope and wish for a better future of Bollywood in the coming years.

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