Bombay Velvet is a 2015 Indian period gangster film directed and co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, based on historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables. It stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in lead roles, with Kay Kay Menon, Manish Choudhary, Vivaan Shah and Siddhartha Basu appearing in supporting roles. The film was released on 15 May 2015.
The film, made on a budget of 120 crore, grossed around 23 crore in the first week. It opened to mixed reviews and was declared a commercial disaster upon failing miserably at the box office.
Plot
In 1969 Bombay, 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.
Cast
Ranbir Kapoor as "Johnny" Balraj, a street fighter
Anushka Sharma as Rosie Noronha, a jazz singer
Karan Johar as Kaizad Khambatta, a quick-witted, flamboyant Parsi media mogul with a high-end attitude Manish Choudhary as Jamshed "Jimmy" Mistry, a newspaper editor Satyadeep Mishra as Chimman, Balraj's friend Kay Kay Menon as Inspector Vishwas Kulkarni, a detective Siddhartha Basu as Romi Patel Remo Fernandes as a Portuguese man Vivaan Shah as Tony, Noronha's chauffeur Sarika Singh as Chimman's wife Shaanti as Hiral, Khambatta's wife Vicky Kaushal as Basil, Kulkarni's subordinate Mukesh Chhabra Varun Grover (Cameo) as a standup comedian Raveena Tandon (Cameo) Mrinmoy Goldar (Cameo) Christopher Hutton as himself (Cameo) Angelina Shum as herself (cameo)
Production
Development
Kashyap was inspired to make such a film after reading L.A. Quartet, a sequence of four crime fiction novels by James Ellroy, set in the late 1940s through the late 1950s in Los Angeles. The novels inspired him to "dig into the dark trenches of the history of Bombay", where he "found a treasure trove that was never-ending".
Bombay Velvet was initially to be produced by Viacom18, but Fox STAR Studios decided to co-produce it with Phantom Films. It is based on Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables and set in early 1950s towards 1970s, before Mumbai became a metropolis. Prakash is also one of the scriptwriters for the film.
Casting
Although Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan, Ranveer Singh and Saif Ali Khan were considered, Ranbir Kapoor was cast as a street fighter, and Anushka Sharma was cast as a jazz singer. Kapoor explained his casting, "The script of Bombay Velvet 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 Karan Johar's second film after Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995); he was cast as the film's primary antagonist, Kaizad Khambata. His role is said to have been inspired from Russi Karanjia.