The 1959 Nanavati case that had everyone in India caught up in its racy plot was the inspiration for Sylvia, a song in Anurag Kashyap’s upcoming film Bombay Velvet.
Performed by Anushka Sharma’s character Rosie and sung by Neeti Mohan, the song comes at a crucial moment in the movie.
During a musical event in Panaji on Monday night, the director explained the history behind the number.
“Sylvia was the name of Nanavati’s wife. The song is inspired by the tabloid perception of the story,” said Kashyap.
KM Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra was a 1959 Indian court case where Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati, a Naval Commander, was tried for the murder of Prem Ahuja, his wife’s lover.
The Nanavati case was also India’s first “media trial”, provoked by highly charged and often biased coverage by the tabloids of that time.
Earlier, the director revealed his struggle to bring the story to the big screen and how they had to scale it down. Bombay Velvet is still Kashyap’s most expensive film till date.
“When we were planning to make the film in 2009... the budget was coming around Rs160 crores [Rs1.6 billion, Dh92 million]. It was not even feasible because films were not earning that much. We scaled the cost down,” Kashyap said.
The film’s delay generated some bad publicity but Kashyap is confident that once people watch it, they will love the world that he has created.
“It is [Bombay Velvet actor] Ranbir [Kapoor’s] best work. For the first time his father loved any of his films while his mother hugged me and told me that this brings the best in her son,” he said.
Kapoor said the role was not offered to him, and he had called up the director because he felt it was rare to be a part of something like this.
Talking about the references to bygone eras, be it a Cary Grant picture hanging in Johnny Balraj’s club or the scene where Kapoor comes out holding guns in both hands, a la Tony Montana of Scarface.
“There are many such references because both Anurag and I are fans of that world, Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino. These little references are our tribute,” Kapoor said.
