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Anurag Kashyap: ‘Bombay Velvet’ Was Written for Ranveer Singh Before Studio Recast It With Ranbir Kapoor

He describes a studio-driven overhaul whose aftermath left lasting creative scars, straining ties with the leads.

Overview

  • In a new interview with Screen, Kashyap says he conceived Bombay Velvet for Ranveer Singh, but the backing studio packaged it around Ranbir Kapoor and a much larger budget.
  • He says the shift took about a year to accept, while stressing that Ranbir was a “dream actor” to work with and that the change was not about capability.
  • Kashyap recounts that the 2015 flop scarred him creatively and steered him toward smaller, non‑Bombay projects such as Raman Raghav and later Sacred Games.
  • He says his relationship with Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma grew distant after the failure, adding that Ranbir urged him to stop discussing the film publicly.
  • Kashyap cites studio research that blamed audience dislike on Ranbir’s hairstyle, a conclusion he calls absurd; reports put the budget near ₹115–120 crore against roughly ₹23–43 crore in collections.