Once upon a time in Bollywood’s not-so-distant past, there was a film that arrived with sky-high expectations, glossy posters, and the promise of something bold and different. Bombay Velvet was meant to
mark a turning point — a lavish, star-led leap for filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Instead, it became one of Hindi cinema’s most talked-about misfires, remembered as much for its ambition as for the curious reasons later offered for its failure.
Released in 2015, Bombay Velvet was Kashyap’s first full-scale studio-backed project after years of critically acclaimed independent films. Backed by a hefty budget of around ₹118 crore and headlined by Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, the neo-noir period drama was expected to make a strong impact at the box office. That, however, did not happen. The film went on to earn only ₹43 crore worldwide, falling far short of expectations.
In a recent interview with Screen, Kashyap revisited the post-release discussions surrounding the film’s poor performance and shared a reason offered by the studio’s research team that left him stunned. “The debacle of the film was such that when they did the research, the shocking thing was, people didn’t like Ranbir’s hair. They said that audiences got upset with Ranbir’s hair, because he had curled it up. And it was a choice that we all made; we designed it like that. And when I heard this, I was like, that’s the most absurd reason I can hear. One can say, ‘Oh, the film didn’t work for me,’ but coming up and saying hair didn’t work, and because of that it didn’t get an opening, and people didn’t go to see the film because they were put off by the hair, was absurd,” Anurag recalled.
The film featured Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma in the lead, with Karan Johar playing a key role. It also included Kay Kay Menon, Manish Choudhary, Vivaan Shah, Siddhartha Basu, and a then relatively unknown Vicky Kaushal in supporting parts. Directed and co-produced by Kashyap, Bombay Velvet was based on historian Gyan Prakash’s book Mumbai Fables and was set against the backdrop of a transforming Bombay.
Kashyap also spoke about Ranbir Kapoor’s discomfort with the film being repeatedly discussed years later. Reflecting on their conversations, he said, “I think Ranbir was very upset about that, and he keeps saying, ‘Why do you keep talking about Bombay Velvet? Just ignore it. The film didn’t work, it didn’t work, but you don’t have to talk about it all the time.’ But people ask me questions all the time, how can I just ignore that?”
While Bombay Velvet remains a sore chapter in his career, Kashyap has continued to earn critical praise with films such as Raman Raghav, Manmarziyaan, Kennedy, and Nishaanchi.
