'Ranbir Kapoor developed self doubt,' says Anurag Kashyap as he blames himself for 'Bombay Velvet' failure: 'Animal was an experimental film'

One of the biggest flops of Anurag Kashyap's career is 'Bombay Velvet'. The film had high expectations as it starred Ranbir Kapoor in a never-seen-before avatar. In a recent interview, Anurag Kashyap has reflected on the failure of this film which saw Ranbir with Anushka Sharma. He also appreciated Ranbir, adding that he can never go wrong. The film-maker also revealed that the box office failure of the film had a lasting impact not just on him but Ranbir's movie choices.

Anurag Kashyap on 'Bombay Velvet' failure

Speaking about the pitfalls of handling big budgets, Kashyap admitted that the film suffered because he didn’t stay true to his original vision. He explained in an interview with Galatta Plus, “We sometimes go crazy with money, and I have seen that happening with Bombay Velvet. The film should have been made the way it was researched. But I did the way it was budgeted at. I also bought in all the bullshit that everybody threw at me. They told me, ‘When you can make such an amazing film with nobody in it, imagine what would happen if we get stars and big money?’ And we also saw what happened.”

Ranbir Kapoor got into self doubt

Kashyap acknowledged how the film’s massive failure shook Ranbir’s confidence at a time when the actor was known for pushing boundaries. He said,
“Ranbir Kapoor commits a lot and that’s the one thing I feel responsible for because he has stopped experimenting.” When told that Ranbir did experiment with his recent blockbuster 'Animal', Anurag explained how the phase of self-doubt had stemmed from a string of setbacks. “Animal was an experimental film, Ranbir trusts his directors fully, but there was a time period when he got into a lot of self-doubt because of the failure of a series of three films – Bombay Velvet, my brother’s film (Abhinav Kashyap directorial Besharam) and Jagga Jasoos. After that he was unsure for a time period. But his commitment is amazing.”

The director's fault

Kashyap further defended the actor’s choices and stressed that the blame lies with filmmakers if a project fails. “Ranbir doesn’t do wrong. It’s the director’s fault like I say, everybody comes together to make a good film, directors make bad film.”

Released in 2015, Bombay Velvet also starred Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in key roles. Made on a reported budget of ₹120 crore, it managed to collect only around ₹23 crore at the box office—making it one of the biggest flops of recent years.