MUMBAI: Anurag Kashyap is one of India’s most fearless filmmakers, known for dark, raw, and realistic cinema like Gangs of Wasseypur, Black Friday, and Ugly. He prefers creative control over commercial pressure and often works with smaller budgets.
Ranveer Singh, Today, Ranveer is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars known for his power-packed energy and blockbuster hits. But in his early days, many directors underestimated him something Kashyap says is shocking in hindsight.
Ranbir Kapoor, A highly acclaimed actor from the Kapoor family, is known for films like Barfi!, Rockstar, and Sanju. When Bombay Velvet was being made, Ranbir was already a massive star, which is why he was chosen by the studio.
Bombay Velvet, A crime drama set in the 1960s, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, and Karan Johar. The film had grand production value, expensive sets, and a massive budget but it failed at the box office. Kashyap says the film grew too big and lost its soul.
Anurag Kashyap known for bold storytelling and unconventional filmmaking shared why he avoids big-budget films with huge stars. According to him, large productions come with restrictions, making it impossible to work freely. He felt this most strongly while making Bombay Velvet, a movie that became one of the biggest setbacks of his career.
Kashyap explained that the film was planned with a modest budget of ₹28 crore, but once the studio stepped in, everything changed. The budget shot up to almost ₹90 crore, luxury facilities were added, and the project became too big for the kind of film he originally imagined. The director admitted he completely lost control, saying that freedom disappeared the moment money increased.
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Kashyap revealed that his first choice for Bombay Velvet was Ranveer Singh, who was still a newcomer then. Shockingly, many well-known directors didn’t believe in Ranveer and even mocked him, calling him a “Treadmill” because of his high energy. The industry told Kashyap that Ranveer wouldn’t survive and pushed him toward Ranbir Kapoor instead.
It took Kashyap almost a year mentally and emotionally to accept replacing Ranveer with Ranbir. He added that he consulted everyone in the industry, including Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra, to decide if this big jump in scale was worth it.
Everyone advised him to go big and cast a bigger star. Eventually, he agreed but the results didn’t go as planned. Bombay Velvet flopped and is remembered as one of Bollywood’s biggest box-office failures.
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