MUMBAI: Anurag Kashyap is a filmmaker who is unapologetic and thick-skinned. He does not mince his words before giving his opinions. 

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Be it on the stardom of superstars or their price tags. He once even suggested Kareena Kapoor to choose her scripts wisely. However, the director has been talked about for three films mostly. All three were a huge part of his career – Gangs of Wasseypur, Bombay Velvet, and Tere Naam.

Gangs of Wasseypur made Anurag Kashyap a superstar in his own right. He recently confessed that despite earning very well at the Box Office, it was removed from the theatres to accommodate Salman Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger while he talked about the Box Office economics of studio films.

Tere Naam was a film Anurag Kashyap was supposed to do but one day he advised Salman Khan to grow some chest hair and the next thing he knew was the film was already being made without him being informed that he was ousted as a director!

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Coming back to his third highly ambitious project – Bombay Velvet. The film starred Ranbir Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, went over the board with the budget of the film falling prey to stardoms and studio systems! 

During a recent interaction, he even confessed how Ranveer Singh was supposed to play Johnny Balraj and why he was replaced with Ranbir Kapoor.

In a conversation with Bollywood Bubble, the Manmarziyaan director revealed, “He (Ranveer Singh) really wanted to do Bombay Velvet and he remembered all the dialogues.”

However, Kashyap revealed that a lot of people suggested him against the decision of casting the Don 3 superstar. He confessed, “I have tried very hard, I tried so hard that I even postponed the shooting of Bombay Velvet and went on and shot Ugly. Hoping things would get right at that time because Ranveer also started shooting for Lootera at that time. I waited and then I went for advice and everyone told me I was wrong in chasing it. A lot of people said… everyone today in the industry who’s who people who have worked with Ranveer also the ones advising me this will be a hurricane.”

Talking about how Kashyap managed to control the economics of Bombay Velvet, the director claimed, “It took me a long time to understand that films jo hoti hai choti choti but hamari kam budget ki thi. The film got sold at a very high cost and the selling I was not part of. When the film was sold at a high cost to make the film it wasn’t sustainable.”

Anurag Kashyap further revealed that he never tried to work with Ranveer Singh again because of his own demons. He admitted, “I have tried to (work with him) but I think I also have my own guilt. I feel like I did not…I sort of cut down my cost, whatever. But I have tried that and there was a time also I reached out to him but he was dealing with his own issues. And I was in a desperate state so I said, ‘Listen, you deal with the things, I’ll move on.”

Interestingly, Anurag Kashyap recently watched Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani starring Ranveer Singh and offered rave reviews about the film, especially praising Ranveer Singh and said, “Phod diya usne.” 

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Coming back to Bombay Velvet, the film starred Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma in the lead and Karan Johar as the negative lead. Mounted on a very high budget, it was a disaster at the Box Office.

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Credits - koimoi