Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has revisited the failure of his ambitious film Bombay Velvet, revealing a rather bizarre explanation offered by a studio research team after the movie flopped at the box office.
Released in 2015, Bombay Velvet was one of Kashyap’s most high-profile projects. Backed by a reported budget of ₹100 crore, the film starred Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma and marked a significant shift for the director, who until then was best known for critically acclaimed films with relatively limited commercial scale. Despite the expectations and star power, the film turned out to be a major commercial disappointment.
In a recent interview with Screen, Anurag Kashyap recalled the post-release discussions that followed the film’s poor performance. He said the studio’s research team came up with an explanation that left him stunned. According to the feedback, audiences were allegedly put off by Ranbir Kapoor’s hairstyle in the film.
“The shocking thing was, people didn’t like Ranbir’s hair,” Kashyap said, recalling the research findings. He explained that Ranbir’s curled hairstyle was a deliberate creative choice made collectively by the team to suit the character and the film’s period setting.
Kashyap admitted he found the reasoning hard to believe. “I thought it was the most absurd reason I could hear,” he said, adding that while it is understandable if viewers say a film didn’t work for them, blaming the lack of box office opening on an actor’s hairstyle seemed far-fetched.
Bombay Velvet has since gained a cult following among some cinephiles, but its theatrical run remains one of the most talked-about box office failures in recent Hindi cinema history.