Anurag Kashyap recently revealed that his 2015 film Bombay Velvet turned out to be a major failure at the box office.

The 53-year-old filmmaker, known for his 2004 film Black Friday, shared that the crime thriller was made on a budget of ₹90 crore.

In an exclusive conversation, Kashyap 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 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 ₹3.5 crore. After ₹90 crore I went straight to ₹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.”

Later in the interview, the Gangs of Wasseypur director described Bombay Velvet as “traumitising.”

Speaking to the outlet, he added, “If I could have owned this failure, this film wouldn’t have been a trauma for me. It became a trauma for me. 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.”

This came shortly after Kashyap opened up about replacing Ranveer Singh with Ranbir Kapoor in the crime thriller.

For the unversed, Bombay Velvet grossed ₹43.20 crore worldwide.