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Anurag Kashyap, in a recent interaction, described the post-production phase of his 2015 film Bombay Velvet as “the worst experience” of his life. The filmmaker opened up about the film’s colossal failure and revealed that he was under immense pressure from the production house to ensure a return on its massive investment — an ordeal he described as deeply traumatic.
Anurag also shared that after the film, which was made on a budget of Rs 90 crore, he decided to go back to basics and make a film for just Rs 3.5 crore. He said, “I understood my audience, and then I started working backwards. I asked the production house, ‘how much money will you give me if I don’t tell you what is the script, and I don’t tell you who I will cast in the film, but you feel that I will recover the money.’ This was 2016 post-Bombay Velvet. They gave me Rs 3.5 crore. After Rs 90 crore I went straight to Rs 3.5 crore because I didn’t want to get trapped. Many of my filmmaker friends and even my brother… so when you make a big film and that didn’t work you get trapped. After that, you keep trying to prove one point your whole life — about trying to make a hit big film.” For the unversed, Bombay Velvet minted Rs 43.20 crore worldwide.
Talking about how a producer can make or break a film, he explained, “Director is the captain of the ship, but a producer is the mother of the film. A director can make a good film only when a producer stands like a wall behind him. A producer has a big role in a director’s life, and I have experienced that personally. When a producer trusts you, you do good work, but if your producer is scared, you get scared seeing his fear.”
When asked to name the film in which he felt let down by the producer, Anurag candidly said, “Bombay Velvet is the biggest example. Everyone was scared. They found the film’s length very long, they wanted me to cut the childhood story of the lead actors. They wanted me to do all of these things because the film’s cost was a lot more. The opening on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was more important than the film itself, which is why I got nervous even before the release of the film. I had to cut the film. If I would have retained those 25 minutes, it would have been a better film and maybe it would not have seen this much loss.”
Calling the film a source of trauma, Anurag said, “If I could have owned this failure, this film wouldn’t have been a trauma for me. It became a trauma for me.” When asked if it was the worst experience in his 32-year career, Anurag replied, “Yes, in the post-production stage, not the shooting. I went on the back foot. This was the first time I saw so much negativity in my life.”
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