The press leading to the release of 'Bombay Velvet', directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring Ranbir Kapoor, has been fairly discouraging. Articles have dissed the first trailer while certain people have written the film off completely.
One would also think that Kapoor, who is used to working with more commercial directors, would have had some friction with a director like Kashyap, who is known to be very particular with his actors and attention to detail.
However, going by a front-page interview in today's Bombay Times, the two got along like a house on fire, so much so that they sound like they've always been BFFs.
Here are some unedited excerpts from the interview:
What Ranbir said about Anurag
"...but when you work with him, you realise that actually he is quite a softie, a teddy bear."
" He is such a good writer, so he understands the whole process of story-telling, is a big promoter of independent and foreign cinema, travels the world to see cinema, so I think he eats and breathes cinema even more than I do."
"We had a crew of about 300 people on Bombay Velvet and everybody just respected and looked up to him. Even if he sneezed, the whole set used to just turn towards him."
"He is a great guy, a great friend and one of the best directors that I have worked with."
What Anurag said about Ranbir
"He is amazing."
"Ranbir is a kind of actor who completely surrenders once he has said yes to you. And he gives his everything after that."
"To play a boxer he worked out so much that he got himself a 6 pack. But I told him it was the '60s so you are not even taking your shirt off. We don't want 6 packs. We just want a very agile and fast moving guy. And can you imagine he lost his 6 packs? Actors have this vanity that when they get their 6 packs, they want to show it off, but he got it and he lost it."
"He talks about everything and everyone and is curious. He wants to know everything in your life. I love his unending curiosity and his consumption of cinema."
Aww, you guys.
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