Anurag Kashyap reveals how ‘big directors’ used to call Ranveer Singh ‘treadmill’, urged him to cast Ranbir Kapoor instead in ‘Bombay Velvet’

Anurag Kashyap is known for delivering critically successful films on modest budgets. However, his 2015 film ‘Bombay Velvet’, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, and Karan Johar, stands out as his major failure. Kashyap points to the movie’s excessive budget of Rs 90 crore as the reason it lost narrative control and ultimately failed at the box office.


Filmmaker’s views on budget control and artistic freedom

The filmmaker revealed on the Game Changers podcast, “My thing is I want freedom to make my kind of film. Because I don’t follow trends or don’t make films to cater. So, if I know I’m making a new kind of film, then I need to control my budget to increase my freedom. And I’ve learnt this from filmmakers overseas. It’s not an Indian problem, it’s universal”.



“To make a film reach the lowest common denominator and make it massy, it has to be dumbed down. And if you don’t want to dumb it down then reduce the budget. Don’t do unnecessary expenses and live in 5-star hotels. Make the film you want to, but don’t cause anyone else a loss. The biggest problem with the art of filmmaking is you’re making it at somebody else’s expense,” he added.


Anurag Kashyap’s guerrilla filmmaking approach

Kashyap revealed that his approach to controlling production costs involves shooting films in a guerrilla fashion. Reflecting on his debut film ‘Black Friday’ (2004), he said, “All you need to make a film is a camera.” With limited resources, he avoided building sets and instead took advantage of the law that allows filming in public spaces as long as the camera isn’t placed on the ground. He explained, “I kept it in the car or kept it hidden, then I didn’t need any permissions. The whole city was my set.”


Budget escalation and industry expectations

“The original budget was quite low. But as soon as the studio entered, I got surrounded by ambition. The budget went from Rs 28 crore to Rs 90 crore. Then to justify that, I had to erect a set. The recce I did across Mumbai, keeping the Rs 28 crore budget in mind, went out of the window. Suddenly, we went from rickshaws to Mercedes for going to set. Suddenly, a resort was made in Sri Lanka near the set. We also began believing that we may not be thinking on those lines, but we can make it like this. I still believe money should be spent on the film. Whatever amount you’ve spent, three times of that should reflect on the screen”, asked the filmmaker.


Postponement and industry support
Before beginning ‘Bombay Velvet’, Anurag delayed production by about eighteen months to reassess the oversized budget. Meanwhile, he directed the smaller-scale film Ugly (2013). To navigate the challenges, he reached out to many leading figures in Hindi cinema, including directors Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar. Kashyap shared, “They told me you’ve gone mad. They said just try it out, and do it with a big actor.”



Casting changes and industry opinions
Initially, Ranveer Singh was cast for the lead, but he hadn’t yet become a major star. “Nobody had faith in him. Big directors like these used to call him ‘treadmill’ because he had so much energy. They said they don’t know how he’d fare out, but this (Ranbir) is better. Ranbir is also a fantastic actor. So it took me a year to go mentally from Ranveer to Ranbir. The whole industry told me the studio is experienced, it’s just me who’s afraid to work with a big star. I also bought into that,” Kashyap revealed.