Bombay Velvet

I watched this out of curiosity because of the many jokes and harsh reviews surrounding it, and unfortunately, they were right. Well, sort of. The film is interesting enough to sit through, but not engaging enough to make you care about its characters or central conflict.

Visually, it’s stunning. The mise-en-scène, costumes, hair, and makeup are all meticulously crafted. Even the premise shows some promise, but it never feels convincing enough in its execution. The plot is unimaginative, the characters lack depth, and there are no hard-hitting emotional moments. Even the actors, despite the strong cast, seem disconnected — you can see the acting rather than believe in it.

While older Hindi cinema often embraced heavily stylized, theatrical performances, that approach doesn’t work here. It tries to explore love, corruption, and betrayal, but it only delivers surface-level versions of each. As a result, nothing feels authentic. So when the film finally introduces more interesting developments toward the end, they fail to land.

I can understand why Bombay Velvet didn’t work, but it’s not nearly as bad as its reputation.