Attack on Anurag Kashyap for ‘Bombay Velvet’ was personal: Dibakar Banerjee

Dibakar Banerjee feels the backlash that Anurag Kashyap faced for the failure of “Bombay Velvet” was unwarranted and stemmed from “jealousy”. When asked about the criticism soon after the release of “Bombay Velvet”, Dibakar said he was disgusted with the trolling that was directed at Kashyap. “There have been films that did not do well and were far wrose than ‘Bombay Velvet’ but they did not get this kind of cruelty… ‘Bombay Velvet’ did not work, ‘Byomkesh Bakshy’ did not work that well either. I read a bit of it and I was disgusted… It was extremely personal in nature and I think it comes from jealousy,” Dibakar told PTI. “Anurag is much more present in the media, it kind of created anti-incumbent effect. He is an emotional person, he does not hold back and what he has on his mind. That can get you enemies and they took it out in a personal manner. But nothing of that sort has happened to me.” The director-producer brought Kashyap onboard for a special web-series to promote his upcoming production “Titli” where they discussed about their first projects and the “naivety and foolishness” with which they made them. 

“There are certain risks that you take in making your kind of films, you never make too much money, you are never at the top of collection heap and never dream to reach there also.Your power does not come from money but the respect your films get. It can be tricky to live on respect but that’s the price you pay,” said Dibakar. The director said his strength comes from making movies that are not budget-driven. “‘Byomkesh Bakshy was the most ambitious film that I probably made but that was exactly one third of the budget of a typical Bollywood film. The audience is slowly building up but it is proportionate to the money these movies earn.” Dibakar assured “Byomkesh Bakshy” fans that he will be back with the second part of the detective thriller. “There will be a second film. We were building up the character of Byomkesh and now I will definitely try and make the part two because the story is not over yet. Me and Adi (Aditya Chopra) are definitely gung-ho about it. But it will not be the next project,” he said. The director is happy to see the growing presence of first time filmmakers in the country and is confident that they will continues to push boundaries. “Every year, there is a growing number of films and it is good. It will always be like this. The alternative never becomes mainstream and it should not, it disturbs the order. The alternative should provoke the mainstream to keep raising its bar. That’s what has happened in film industries all over the world.”