Anurag Kashyap Talks About Ranbir Kapoor’s Self-doubt After Film Failures

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has opened up about working with Ranbir Kapoor in Bombay Velvet (2013) and reflected on how the actor approached his career during that phase. While promoting his upcoming film Nishaanchi, Anurag Kashyap spoke about Ranbir’s craft, his faith in directors, and the period of self-doubt he faced after a series of box office setbacks.

“Ranbir commits a lot. That is the one thing that I feel responsible for. He stopped experimenting as much. Animal was an experiment… he trusts his director fully. Once he trusts, he goes in fully. But there was a time period where he got into a lot of self-doubt,” Anurag said.

The filmmaker explained how a string of commercial disappointments affected Ranbir’s choices. “It was a series of three films. It was my film (Bombay Velvet), my brother’s film (Besharam), and Jagga Jasoos [directed by Anurag Basu]. After that, he suddenly stopped experimenting. But his commitment is amazing, he does not do wrong… it is the director. Everybody comes together to make a good film, but directors make bad films,” he admitted.

All three films mentioned by Anurag starred Ranbir in lead roles and struggled at the box office. However, the actor bounced back with some of the biggest hits of his career, including Sanju (2018) and more recently Animal (2023), which became the highest-grossing film of his career with collections crossing Rs 800 crore worldwide.

Ranbir is now preparing for one of his most ambitious projects yet,  Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana. The two-part mythological epic stars Ranbir as Lord Ram, with Yash as Ravana, Sai Pallavi as Sita, Sunny Deol as Hanuman, Amitabh Bachchan as Jatayu, and Ravi Dubey as Laxman. Backed by a score from global legends Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman, the film is slated for a grand Diwali 2026 release.

With Anurag Kashyap highlighting Ranbir’s commitment and resilience, the actor’s journey seems to underline how setbacks only sharpened his choices, setting the stage for one of the most awaited films in recent Indian cinema.