Anurag Kashyap Unpacks the 'Bombay Velvet' Failure: It Was All About Ranbir Kapoor's Character

Anurag Kashyap, a filmmaker known for his often gritty and unconventional narratives, recently peeled back the layers on the box office enigma that was "Bombay Velvet." It was a film, let's be honest, that everyone had high hopes for, especially given the stellar cast of Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. But its eventual, rather spectacular failure left many scratching their heads. Now, Kashyap has offered a surprisingly candid, and quite personal, insight into exactly why he believes it stumbled so badly: the audience simply couldn't stomach Ranbir Kapoor's character.

It's a fascinating perspective, really. Kashyap revealed that the overwhelming sentiment from viewers wasn't about the plot intricacies or the grand production design. Instead, people were genuinely upset by Ranbir's portrayal of Johnny Balraj. They saw Balraj as a "brute," an "ahole," even a "scumbag." And this, according to Kashyap, went completely against what they expected from an actor like Ranbir Kapoor.

You see, Ranbir, in the minds of the audience, was the quintessential romantic hero, the charming heartthrob. He was the guy who made you swoon, the one you rooted for in a love story. To then see him embodying such a dark, morally ambiguous, and frankly, unlikable character, was apparently too jarring for many. It broke their perception of him, and that upset them deeply. Kashyap himself admitted that this reaction taught him a profound lesson about audience expectations and how they perceive their beloved stars. When they saw Ranbir, they didn't just see an actor performing a role; they saw Ranbir being this unpleasant character, and they rejected it outright.

This mismatch between expectation and reality, between the star's persona and the character he played, proved fatal for "Bombay Velvet." It's a stark reminder that sometimes, even with a massive budget and a celebrated director, the intangible connection between an audience and their favorite actors can dictate a film's destiny. The movie just couldn't recover from that fundamental disconnect, sinking beneath the weight of shattered expectations and, frankly, quite a bit of audience disapproval regarding their cherished 'hero' in such a dark light.