# Bombay Talkies (film)
**Bombay Talkies** is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language anthology film consisting of four short films directed by [Karan Johar](https://www.edgepedia.org/karan-johar), Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and [Anurag Kashyap](https://www.edgepedia.org/anurag-kashyap), made to celebrate the centenary of Indian cinema[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). It was produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Flying Unicorn Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and released on 3 May 2013, the date on which India's first feature film, [Dadasaheb Phalke](https://www.edgepedia.org/dadasaheb-phalke)'s *Raja Harishchandra* (1913), had been released[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/) • [2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/big-box-office-clash-bombay-talkies-shootout-at-wadala-release-today/). The title borrows the name of the historic Indian production house Bombay Talkies[3](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/refocus/new-forms-new-stories-zoya-akhtars-short-films/F5211C5F49B4F2A6553FC9343EAD2681).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Four standalone short films with no connecting thread, rounded off by a song featuring many top stars[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/) |
| Directors | Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/) |
| Release | 3 May 2013 (India), marking 100 years since *Raja Harishchandra*[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/big-box-office-clash-bombay-talkies-shootout-at-wadala-release-today/) |
| Runtime | 2h 7m (127 min)[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/) |
| Cannes | Special Screening at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, where India was the guest country; Queer Palm nominee[5](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/bombay-talkies-to-screen-at-cannes/) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/awards/) |
| Box office | Estimated budget ₹60,000,000; worldwide gross $1,789,657[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/) • [7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2797242/) |
| Critical score | 79% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (14 reviews)[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombay_talkies_2013) |
## Spoilers
### The four segments
The film opens with Karan Johar's short, followed by [Dibakar Banerjee](https://www.edgepedia.org/dibakar-banerjee)'s, with the post-interval portion carrying [Zoya Akhtar](https://www.edgepedia.org/zoya-akhtar)'s film and Anurag Kashyap's last[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/).
**Karan Johar: Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh.** The segment follows a married couple, Gayatri and Dev ([Rani Mukerji](https://www.edgepedia.org/rani-mukerji) and [Randeep Hooda](https://www.edgepedia.org/randeep-hooda)), whose life is upended when Avinash ([Saqib Saleem](https://www.edgepedia.org/saqib-saleem)) joins Gayatri's team at work and tells her that her husband is gay[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). Reviewers noted Johar's use of old film songs to carry the drama and his handling of a subject that would not appeal to orthodox audiences[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/).
**Dibakar Banerjee: Star.** This segment is based on [Satyajit Ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/satyajit-ray)'s short story *Potol Babu Filmstar* and concerns a common man's two minutes of fame when he is asked to face the movie camera with a top star[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). [Nawazuddin Siddiqui](https://www.edgepedia.org/nawazuddin-siddiqui) plays a struggling actor with a theatrical past who gets the chance to do one scene in a film with [Ranbir Kapoor](https://www.edgepedia.org/ranbir-kapoor)[9](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02). India Today called Banerjee's film an unforgettable piece, and a later essay in *The Quint* described it as an overachieving forerunner of the 2021 Netflix anthology *Ray*[9](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02) • [10](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/bollywood/bombay-talkies-ray-feels-like-ishq-ajeeb-dastaans-revival-burnout-of-anthologies-netflix-pandemic-prime-video).
**Zoya Akhtar.** The third short is about a boy, Vicky (Naman Jain), whose father ([Ranvir Shorey](https://www.edgepedia.org/ranvir-shorey)) wants him to play football while Vicky is obsessed with dancing like [Katrina Kaif](https://www.edgepedia.org/katrina-kaif); after watching a television interview in which Kaif says success comes to those who follow their dreams, he decides to pursue dancing[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). Kaif appears as herself in the boy's imagination[9](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02). India Today judged it the most enchanting of the four tales, reading it as a statement on parents forcing their dreams on children[9](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02).
**Anurag Kashyap: Murabba.** The closing segment follows a young man ([Vineet Kumar](https://www.edgepedia.org/vineet-kumar)) sent to Mumbai by his father, a diehard [Amitabh Bachchan](https://www.edgepedia.org/amitabh-bachchan) fan, on a mission to make the superstar taste his wife's murabba, a fruit preserve, so the father can die in peace[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/) • [11](https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20130513-bombay-talkies-100-years-of-indian-cinema-763407-1999-11-29). Bachchan makes a special appearance as himself[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). India Today read the film as a tribute to the small-town fan whose aspirations are driven by the larger-than-life Bollywood hero[9](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02).
The four stories are rounded off by a song composed by Amit Trivedi featuring many top stars; the reviewer Komal Nahta judged the song not a hit number but found the sight of so many stars sharing screen space thrilling[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/).
## Themes
The anthology repeatedly puts marginal figures at the center. India Today's review described a boy who wants to dance like Katrina Kaif, a young gay man who discovers an unhappily married man shares his obsession with the composer Madan Mohan, a frustrated actor selling emu eggs, and an Allahabadi guide on a mad mission for his father as the oddballs of the film, two outsiders united by their love of Hindi cinema[11](https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20130513-bombay-talkies-100-years-of-indian-cinema-763407-1999-11-29). The Indian Express found the strong connection running through all four segments to be the love of movies[12](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/the-storytellers-tales/lite/).
The scholar Meheli Sen of Rutgers University, writing in *South Asian Popular Culture*, analyzed the industrial and aesthetic strategies by which the film presented itself as emblematic of the Hindi film industry as a whole, noting that a portmanteau largely devoid of stars and song-sequences was an exercise in formal novelty for Hindi commercial cinema[13](https://www.researchwithrutgers.org/en/publications/bombay-talkies-and-the-indian-cinema-centenary/).
## Release and festival presence
The film opened on 3 May 2013, the same day as the gangster film *Shootout At Wadala*, and was shown at the 66th Cannes Film Festival later that month, where India was the guest country[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/big-box-office-clash-bombay-talkies-shootout-at-wadala-release-today/) • [5](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/bombay-talkies-to-screen-at-cannes/). Cannes listed it as a Special Screening in a Gala Screening tribute to India, with a listed duration of 130 minutes[14](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/bombay-talkies/) • [15](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2013/2013-official-selection/). It was nominated for the festival's Queer Palm[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/awards/).
Commercially the film underperformed. Komal Nahta reported a poor opening and judged its commercial potential very limited, since audiences were not used to short films within a feature and the four stories shared no common thread[1](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/). Box Office Mojo records a worldwide gross of $1,789,657 against an estimated budget of ₹60,000,000[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/) • [7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2797242/).
## Reception
Critical reception was broadly positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 79% Tomatometer from 14 reviews and a 62% audience score[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombay_talkies_2013). Anupama Chopra of *Hindustan Times* gave 4/5 and called it a unique experiment that works very well, adding that the collaboration between four leading directors suggested a confidence rare in the industry a decade earlier[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombay_talkies_2013). Shubhra Gupta of *The Indian Express* rated it 3.5/5, writing that the film fills you with hope[16](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/movie-review-bombay-talkies-fills-one-with-hope/). Tim Grierson, writing for Screen International, called it a consistent charmer and a rare portmanteau film where the whole is more than the sum of its likeable parts[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombay_talkies_2013). On IMDb the film carries a weighted user rating of 6.6/10 from about 6,100 votes[17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/ratings/).
The film received four nominations, including a Screen Award nomination for Best Performance by a Child Actor for Naman Jain and a BIG Star Entertainment Awards nomination for Rani Mukerji[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/awards/).
## Legacy
The film is credited with familiarizing Indian audiences with the anthology format. *The Quint* wrote that its grand theatrical release, helmed by four big directors and backed by the idea of 100 years of Indian cinema, achieved what earlier Indian anthologies such as *Dus Kahaniyaan* (2007), *Mumbai Cutting* (2010), and *Kerala Café* (2009) had not[10](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/bollywood/bombay-talkies-ray-feels-like-ishq-ajeeb-dastaans-revival-burnout-of-anthologies-netflix-pandemic-prime-video). IMDb lists it as the first of a three-part series by the same four directors, followed by *Lust Stories* (2019) and *Ghost Series* (2020)[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/).
## References
1. [Komal Nahta, "BOMBAY TALKIES | 4 May, 2013", Film Information](https://filminformation.com/reviews/bombay-talkies-review/)
2. [Sarika Sharma, "Big box office clash: 'Bombay Talkies', 'Shootout At Wadala' release today", The Indian Express, 3 May 2013](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/big-box-office-clash-bombay-talkies-shootout-at-wadala-release-today/)
3. [Amber Shields, "New Forms, New Stories: Zoya Akhtar's Short Films", ReFocus (Cambridge University Press, 2023)](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/refocus/new-forms-new-stories-zoya-akhtars-short-films/F5211C5F49B4F2A6553FC9343EAD2681)
4. [Bombay Talkies (2013), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/)
5. ["Bombay Talkies to screen at Cannes", The Indian Express, 18 April 2013](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/bombay-talkies-to-screen-at-cannes/)
6. [Bombay Talkies (2013) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/awards/)
7. [Bombay Talkies (2013), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2797242/)
8. [Bombay Talkies (2013), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bombay_talkies_2013)
9. ["Movie review: Bombay Talkies", India Today, 3 May 2013](https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/bombay-talkies-movie-review-161664-2013-05-02)
10. [Aishwarya Bodke, "'Bombay Talkies' to 'Ray': The Revival and Burnout of Anthologies", The Quint, 28 July 2021](https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/bollywood/bombay-talkies-ray-feels-like-ishq-ajeeb-dastaans-revival-burnout-of-anthologies-netflix-pandemic-prime-video)
11. [Suhani Singh, "The Day of the Outsider", India Today, 13 May 2013](https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20130513-bombay-talkies-100-years-of-indian-cinema-763407-1999-11-29)
12. [Shubhra Gupta, "The Storytellers' Tales", The Indian Express, 4 May 2013](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/the-storytellers-tales/lite/)
13. [Meheli Sen, "Bombay Talkies and the Indian cinema centenary", South Asian Popular Culture 13(1), 2015](https://www.researchwithrutgers.org/en/publications/bombay-talkies-and-the-indian-cinema-centenary/)
14. [BOMBAY TALKIES, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/bombay-talkies/)
15. [2013 Official Selection, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2013/2013-official-selection/)
16. [Shubhra Gupta, "Movie Review: Bombay Talkies fills one with hope", The Indian Express, 3 May 2013](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/movie-review-bombay-talkies-fills-one-with-hope/)
17. [Bombay Talkies (2013) – Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2797242/ratings/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2010s › Hindi films of 2013*
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