Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap puts up a brave face as social media engages in a big war over Bombay Velvet. By Karan Bhardwaj
Twitter wars are a ritual now but the intensity of spats and debates over Bombay Velvet is a little overdrive. Those limited people who have liked the movie are gradually coming forward to rescue director Anurag Kashyap in his lone battle of defending his movie.
Interestingly, the industrywallahs who were victims of Kashyap’s random commentary on their ‘brainless and commercial’ cinema are now taking jibes at the failure of Bombay Velvet quite brutally. Ram Gopal Varma, a critic of Kashyap and Koran Johar (who acted in Bombay Velvet), called the director “arrogant”. “A director standing by his film rejected by the audience is like him telling a girl, ‘I love myself and I don’t care if you don’t love me (sic).’” Varma posted on Twitter in a series of comments. It was his response to Kashyap’s defend which he posted on Facebook late Sunday night.
In another episode, writer Milap Zaveri, comedian Tanmay Bhatt, actor Gulshan Devaiah, journalist Suprateek Chatterjee and Balaji CCO Tanveer Bookwala engaged in a serious discussion. “Anurag said he won’t see GrandMasti if offered 5 crore. le leta aur IJ BombayVelvet ke collection mein add Karta. double figures toh ho jaate (sic),” Zaveri attacked Kashyap. He also passed a few more comments saying, “Just remembered a super line said by @_SanjayGupta to me once — “Fiat chalaane Waale ko Mercedes chalaane doge, toh thok hi dega na! (sic)” Not ending there, he further added, “Whenever a filmmaker in his arrogance decides to “teach” the audience what cinema to like, the audience teaches him a lesson back! (sic)” However, he later deleted some of his comments and took a diplomatic stand.
Nonetheless, a few trade analysts and filmmakers have come in favour of Kashyap, too. “Agreed #BombayVelvet is not flawless, & so is all my Movies too. Fail 2 understand the cynicism of Cinegoers. Seen worse movies crossing100cr (sic),” tweeted Anurag Basu.
The movie has crashed at the box office badly but the furious discussion in public discourse is keeping it alive. That perhaps is the reason why Kashyap, in an unprecedented move, came to defend his film in its first weekend itself. “A lot of people do not connect with it (Bombay Velvet) and a small number of people did. Maybe when the shock of the narrative wears down, you will revisit it in the calm of your homes and will get into it. Maybe our experimenting with the narrative didn’t work for most but I firmly believe in the film. This is the film I wanted to make and I am glad I got to make it. I am very happy that all those who have been part of this journey firmly stand with it. No I am not depressed or hiding, this has taught us a lot and is my absolute personal favourite, there have been no regrets whatsoever,” he said.
Whatever be the case, there’s no denial to the fact that social media has played a pivotal role in breaking Bombay Velvet at the box office. The overflow of opinions and “statuses” now guide the choice of most cinegoers.
As blogger Nikhil Taneja puts it, “With the groundswell of opinions on every movie, especially if they are strong and loud (whether positive or negative), our expectations have “become” our review of the movie. Think about it, we now rarely feel any different after watching a movie from what is being said about the movie, or the opinion we formed about it beforehand. We already liked Piku before we entered the theater to watch it because everyone loved it. We were already impressed by the excellence of Court because everyone was impressed by it.” Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma are keeping mum. Maybe, silence speaks louder than words.