When Bold Vision Backfires: How Bombay Velvet Shook Ranbir Kapoor’s Creative Confidence

Director Anurag Kashyap takes responsibility for the film’s colossal failure—and how it stifled Ranbir’s daring approach until he rediscovered his courage in Animal.

Anurag Kashyap’s ambitious period crime drama Bombay Velvet, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, was positioned to be Bollywood’s grand visual spectacle—but it ultimately emerged as one of the industry’s most notorious box-office failures. Despite its impressive cast and lavish production, the film failed to strike a chord with viewers, leaving both audiences and its creators reeling.

In a candid conversation with Galatta Plus, Kashyap reflected on how the overwhelming budget—and the accompanying expectations—influenced the film’s execution. He admitted he strayed from his original research-led vision, succumbing instead to external pressures to match grandeur with star power and big money. Kashyap acknowledged, “We sometimes go crazy with money… The film should have been made the way it was researched. But I did it the way it was budgeted… I also bought into all the bullshit that everybody threw at me.”

Beyond its financial failure, Bombay Velvet delivered a psychological blow. According to Kashyap, the outcome shook Ranbir Kapoor’s self-belief, curtailing the actor’s willingness to explore unconventional roles. He remarked, “Ranbir Kapoor commits a lot…and that’s the one thing I feel responsible for because he has stopped experimenting.”

However, Ranbir began to reclaim his daring edge with Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal. Kashyap highlighted this as a turning point, emphasizing the actor’s deep trust in his directors and resilient dedication. He shared that Ranbir had faced a crisis of confidence following a string of failures—Bombay Velvet, along with Besharam and Jagga Jasoos—but ultimately emerged stronger, “his commitment is amazing.”

Kashyap remains steadfast in his belief that when a film doesn’t succeed, responsibility lies with the director. “Everybody comes together to make a good film; directors make bad film,” he remarked, ready to shoulder the burden of the failure.