Posted by Sid
April 11th, 2007
Anurag Kashyap definitely needs no introduction. The man behind Black Friday and a hoard of other films is undoubtedly the most known and credited scriptwriter in the industry today. Despite being a busy director, he still finds out time to write films and is exploring new avenues as a screenwriter by writing the narration for the Hindi version of the Oscar winning documentary film ‘March of the Penguins‘.
IndiaFM had a tête-à-tête with him where he spoke about his experiences on this film and his other projects as well.
While writing the narration for ‘Penguins: A Love Story’, have you just translated the French version in Hindi or added a lot of your own to the narration?
There is a lot more that has been added. The French version has been used as the basis at large. The sound track and everything is from the French version and not the American one. The American version doesn’t use the original sound. The narration was written because it was to be voiced by Mr Amitabh Bachchan. Keeping that in mind it was completely approached like that. It has a lot of details of the penguins. The narration is not very detached like the American version which has Morgan Freeman’s voice. It is more like documentation, it’s more personal. Mr Bachchan’s voice is more intimate and more personal. His voice is not used in the way that it is normally used. It reaches out to you. It’s more off a spoken language, broken down.
The narration by Amitabh Bachchan is not very detached like the American version which has Morgan Freeman’s voice.
Even for Water, you were credited in the titles as ‘Hindi translator of dialogues’. So was your role in this film similar as that of Water?
I wrote the dialogues for Water. It was one of my earliest films and I got credited this way. I guess I was a fool then. In this film my role wasn’t similar. I wrote the narration for this film. In a documentary there is only a narration. So all you can do for a documentary film is write the narration. All the information was already provided and the film was already shot. So it was far more easier to do this. The only difficulty was to find the spoken quality and a voice which is suitable.
The film is released in India with Amitabh Bachchan’s voiceover in Hindi and English languages. Have you written the script for both the Indian versions (Hindi and English)?
I wrote the script for the Hindi version. The English version was an adaptation of the Hindi version. And both the Tamil and Telugu versions were adaptation of the Hindi version.
In fact the English narration by Amitabh Bachchan for the Indian version is preferred by the French producers over the English narration by Morgan Freeman in the American version. Even for the DVD of the film, Amitabh Bachchan’s voiceover has been selected over Morgan Freeman’s for the English language. The French producers endorse this version over the American one.
Amitabh Bachchan makes anything sound incredible. It gives you a feeling that you are a good writer.
Since you might have obviously seen the film, how did you like it?
I loved it. I am not yet objective about the film but very subjective about it. Half the time I was in love with hearing Mr Bachchan speaking my lines.
So you think Mr Bachchan has done justice to your script?
He makes anything sound incredible. It gives you a feeling that you are a good writer.
The best producers for your work are those who respect your copyright and respect your work.
Would you like to write for an Indian documentary, if given a chance?
It depends on the subject. Documentary is not something that I would want to do as in looking out for a subject. If I come across a subject that moves me I will definitely do it.
Since you and Amitabh Bachchan are the only two people involved in the Indian version of this Oscar nominated film, does it feel great?
It has won the Oscars even before we were involved. However, it’s a great feeling to be a part of a film which has won so many accolades. The good part is that the French producers respect the copywriters. Like you took the example of Water, the amount of work I put in, how I wrote all the dialogues and hell of a lot of things were re-written. But I was credited as translator of Hindi dialogues because I didn’t sign a contract. They could not have managed to do that with Fire or Earth because they had senior writers. While doing Water I was only one film old with Satya. The best producers for your work are those who respect your copyright and respect your work. Water was a terrible experience, which reminds me I also did a film called ‘The Goal‘ where I hardly collaborated a day or two and my name is officially credited as a consultant. But you realize when it comes to India, Indians are the cheapest people the world over. They don’t like to give credit to people for their work. And I saw that a lot in Water with Deepa Mehta. A.R. Rehman is also unhappy with Deepa Mehta by the way he is credited in the film. It’s the fellow Indians who treat Indians like shit.
After writing avant-garde scripts, do you think you went the conventional way by writing dialogues for masala films like Shakalaka Boom Boom?
Shakalaka Boom Boom is the pits of my career. I got involved with the film and wrote for the film. But half of the things I wrote aren’t even there. For me the biggest lesson I learnt from it was that never ignore the instinct. My first instincts were not to do the film. I told myself that when I do something like that I will charge a lot of money. The money promised to me never came my way. There were various other people in the film that I counted on and depended on and in the end got the most flak for it and I can’t get away from it because I have done it. All I can do is apologize to the audience and to myself and make sure that next time I do it I get paid Rs 50 lakhs for it.
Shakalaka Boom Boom is the pits of my career. My first instincts were not to do the film. But I ignored my instincts
You are also writing dialogues for the sequel of Hanuman. Is it any different, writing dialogues for an animated film?
No. The film is animated after you have written the script. I am just doing the dialogues. There are other people also involved. There is Amit who has worked with me on the script. There is VG Samant who has created the character. There is Abhilash and Upendra from Percept who are animation film directors. So there are a lot of people involved to make that one animation film happen. In the end I might get the most credit for it but it also involves a lot of other people as well.
Does the film have 2D or 3D film animation?
Both, its 2d and 3d. Its very high quality work
Is it a mythological episode like the prequel or contemporary?
It’s more contemporary. Hanuman in the modern world.
What do you think is the future of animated films in India?
I think the future of animation films is just like any other films in India. Animation is the future. Lots of films are being made on animation. It’s not only about Mandrake or Phantom. Cinema is changing, the world is changing. Everything is changing. At a time of globalization, anything that is good will work in the world.
Finally what is the status of for directorial venture No Smoking?
The shooting is over. We are looking for the release somewhere in August or September. I cannot decide because I first want to ready the film
source:www.naachgaana.com
Showing posts with label anurag kashyap interviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anurag kashyap interviews. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
“I was always confused,” says Anurag Kashyap
[Interview by Faridoon Shahryar]
Monday, February 05, 2007
He is a maverick writer whose work you appreciated in films like ‘Satya’, ‘Yuva’ and ‘Nayak’. He was also the consultant on ‘Guru’ and ‘Water’. His stint with direction is going to see the dark confines of cinema hall as ‘Black Friday’ (A film on Mumbai Bomb Blasts of 1993) releases this Friday. His yet unreleased works ‘Paanch’ and ‘Gulal’ may also find a release this year as he is getting on with his next directorial venture ‘No Smoking’ with John Abraham. Meet Anurag Kashyap as he talks in a bluntly honest interview about ‘Black Friday’, why Mr Bachchan is making a fool of himself and why he shares ‘creative differences’ with Mani Rathnam on ‘Guru’.
How do you feel about your first release ‘Black Friday’?
It is my first release. I don’t know what to feel. It’s been so many years of excitement, ups and downs. I am excited but I can’t express it.
You had done a lot of research, the locations, pulse of people….
We shot the film on all the real locations. We had a team of three people who went everywhere and collected all the material. They got in touch of all the real people, the victims of the blasts to police officers. I personally met Rakesh Maria (the police chief who cracked the case, attended the TADA Court, we got video interviews, press releases, newstrack interviews, got the photographs from the press photographers, read all the published materials, NFDC news reel….Lot of work went into it…
Apparently the High Court stay happened because the film was passing a judgement….
The High Court said that before the Tada Court has announced its verdict, the film should not give its verdict on people who are accused. We postponed the release. The moment the verdict came out, the producer appealed in the Supreme Court and we were cleared.
‘Paanch’ couldn’t see the light of the day, then ‘Black Friday’, did you get used to it….
(Laughs) Nobody can get used to it. After ‘Paanch’ I didn’t do anything for two years. Couldn’t understand why it’s happening. But after ‘Black Friday’I started writing other stuff. I didn’t give myself time to think.
Vijay Mourya has a striking similarity with Dawood Ibrahim…
Vijay Mourya wanted to play Dawood Ibrahiim from the beginning. I know him as he is my friend. He was also part of ‘Paanch’. But you tend to take your friends for granted. I said no, this is a serious movie, we are not doing ‘Paanch’ or something. He didn’t speak for me for one month. He kept at home, didn’t meet anybody, he grew a moustache and gave me a screen test. He arranged the whole attire. That’s how he got the role.
What about Pawan Malhotra as Tiger Memon?
He is brilliant in the film, simply superb. Probably he is more Tiger Memon than Tiger Memon himself. That’s how good he is. And he also auditioned for the role. KK didn’t audition because when I was writing the film, I only had him in mind. And KK has a striking similarity with Rakesh Maria.
Black Friday is based on Hussain Zaidi’s book….How did you adapt from the film?
First I read the original manuscript. I’ve read the book twice or thrice. Then the process was what to keep and what not to keep as the book is lot more in detail. We decided to go with the central case….the blast and the investigation…And only go with those people who planted the bombs, were part of the conspiracy and what the conspiracy was.
Have you ever received any phone calls from underworld?
Not yet. I’ve not been threatened. I’ve only been warned by friends, but kuch hua nahin.
Did you always want to be a director or a writer?
(Laughs) I was always confused. When I came here I wanted to do theatre, I wanted to do something with cinema, I didn’t know what. Then I started writing. I wanted to make films but that was just a desire. But I also wanted to run a cinema hall. Now, I want to write and make my own films.
Even though ‘Paanch’ and ‘Black Friday’ didn’t release you kept writing for other directors. ‘Satya’, ‘Yuva’, you were a consultant for ‘Guru’ etc….
I kept writing. I still write stuff that I believe in. Either I write for money or my passion or faith in the work or the film. So, I’ve continued writing and I shall write time and again. All the work that is coming out is what I’ve done over eight years.
How do you plan to strike a balance between commercial and serious artistic cinema?
I think I am very commercial. I don’t want to bore people. Either you are doing something completely for artistic reasons, then there has to be a clarity that you are doing it for artistic reasons and don’t try and sell it in the commercial market.
Can we see you doing escapist cinema?
I don’t know how you define escapist cinema. According to me, ‘No Smoking’ is an out and out commercial, escapist cinema
source:NaachGaana
Monday, February 05, 2007
He is a maverick writer whose work you appreciated in films like ‘Satya’, ‘Yuva’ and ‘Nayak’. He was also the consultant on ‘Guru’ and ‘Water’. His stint with direction is going to see the dark confines of cinema hall as ‘Black Friday’ (A film on Mumbai Bomb Blasts of 1993) releases this Friday. His yet unreleased works ‘Paanch’ and ‘Gulal’ may also find a release this year as he is getting on with his next directorial venture ‘No Smoking’ with John Abraham. Meet Anurag Kashyap as he talks in a bluntly honest interview about ‘Black Friday’, why Mr Bachchan is making a fool of himself and why he shares ‘creative differences’ with Mani Rathnam on ‘Guru’.
How do you feel about your first release ‘Black Friday’?
It is my first release. I don’t know what to feel. It’s been so many years of excitement, ups and downs. I am excited but I can’t express it.
You had done a lot of research, the locations, pulse of people….
We shot the film on all the real locations. We had a team of three people who went everywhere and collected all the material. They got in touch of all the real people, the victims of the blasts to police officers. I personally met Rakesh Maria (the police chief who cracked the case, attended the TADA Court, we got video interviews, press releases, newstrack interviews, got the photographs from the press photographers, read all the published materials, NFDC news reel….Lot of work went into it…
Apparently the High Court stay happened because the film was passing a judgement….
The High Court said that before the Tada Court has announced its verdict, the film should not give its verdict on people who are accused. We postponed the release. The moment the verdict came out, the producer appealed in the Supreme Court and we were cleared.
‘Paanch’ couldn’t see the light of the day, then ‘Black Friday’, did you get used to it….
(Laughs) Nobody can get used to it. After ‘Paanch’ I didn’t do anything for two years. Couldn’t understand why it’s happening. But after ‘Black Friday’I started writing other stuff. I didn’t give myself time to think.
Vijay Mourya has a striking similarity with Dawood Ibrahim…
Vijay Mourya wanted to play Dawood Ibrahiim from the beginning. I know him as he is my friend. He was also part of ‘Paanch’. But you tend to take your friends for granted. I said no, this is a serious movie, we are not doing ‘Paanch’ or something. He didn’t speak for me for one month. He kept at home, didn’t meet anybody, he grew a moustache and gave me a screen test. He arranged the whole attire. That’s how he got the role.
What about Pawan Malhotra as Tiger Memon?
He is brilliant in the film, simply superb. Probably he is more Tiger Memon than Tiger Memon himself. That’s how good he is. And he also auditioned for the role. KK didn’t audition because when I was writing the film, I only had him in mind. And KK has a striking similarity with Rakesh Maria.
Black Friday is based on Hussain Zaidi’s book….How did you adapt from the film?
First I read the original manuscript. I’ve read the book twice or thrice. Then the process was what to keep and what not to keep as the book is lot more in detail. We decided to go with the central case….the blast and the investigation…And only go with those people who planted the bombs, were part of the conspiracy and what the conspiracy was.
Have you ever received any phone calls from underworld?
Not yet. I’ve not been threatened. I’ve only been warned by friends, but kuch hua nahin.
Did you always want to be a director or a writer?
(Laughs) I was always confused. When I came here I wanted to do theatre, I wanted to do something with cinema, I didn’t know what. Then I started writing. I wanted to make films but that was just a desire. But I also wanted to run a cinema hall. Now, I want to write and make my own films.
Even though ‘Paanch’ and ‘Black Friday’ didn’t release you kept writing for other directors. ‘Satya’, ‘Yuva’, you were a consultant for ‘Guru’ etc….
I kept writing. I still write stuff that I believe in. Either I write for money or my passion or faith in the work or the film. So, I’ve continued writing and I shall write time and again. All the work that is coming out is what I’ve done over eight years.
How do you plan to strike a balance between commercial and serious artistic cinema?
I think I am very commercial. I don’t want to bore people. Either you are doing something completely for artistic reasons, then there has to be a clarity that you are doing it for artistic reasons and don’t try and sell it in the commercial market.
Can we see you doing escapist cinema?
I don’t know how you define escapist cinema. According to me, ‘No Smoking’ is an out and out commercial, escapist cinema
source:NaachGaana
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
'Actors are self obsessed and narcissist'
'Actors are self obsessed and narcissist'
IndiaFM News Bureau
Posted online: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 1301 hours IST
Updated: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 1315 hours IST
Mumbai, September 13: There have been directors who have waited for number of years to get a break in Bollywood. There also have been directors who have waited for long for a movie of theirs to come out of a can. But seldom do you find a director who has been critically acclaimed worldwide but still awaits release of two of his movies (Paanch, Black Friday) stuck for different reasons.
Meet writer-director Anurag Kashyap in a holds-no-bar conversation with this writer who met him at an International Film Festival at PVR, Gurgaon.
Anurag, first and foremost a question that you would have been asked practically every day. What's the status on Black Friday
(Speaks with a wide grin) Yes, Black Friday is not coming in near future. The case is still in court. Earlier the hearing was slated for August but now it has been pushed to December. So I suppose any further updates would be only after December.
So currently what is keeping you busy?
I am working on Gulal and I am highly excited about it. In fact that's my focus now while I have Paanch and Black Friday behind me.
Can you elaborate further on Gulal?
Gulal is set in Rajasthan and is a fictional movie set a few years from now, though it is not too futuristic. It is a love story cum political cum thriller all rolled into one and is the journey of an honest man fighting a corrupt system. There is also a terrorist outfit angle in the movie. The movie was shot for a few days 3.5 years back [February 2002] but staled thereafter due to unavoidable circumstances. But I always wanted to make the movie and so there I am. Jhamu Sugandh is producing the movie. [Smiles] That's all I can elaborate at the moment.
So who all form the starcast of the movie?
My film primarily stars newcomers. Raja Chaudhary, Ayesha Mohan and Abhimanyu Singh play the lead protagonists. While Raja is surely going to be a man to watch out for, I can conveniently tag Ayesha Mohan as the 'female KK'. A bundle of talent, she is surely going to go places. In addition, there are also regulars like Kay Kay Menon and Aditya Srivastava.
How about the music aspect of Gulal?
Music of Gulal would be of the kind that you would have never heard before. It forms an important piece of the movie and is composed by Piyush Mishra, who also writes the lyrics. [Piyush is the same man who acted brilliantly in Maqbool and Matrubhoomi and scripted the recently released Yahaan]
Roughly what's the budget of Gulal?
It's Rs. 4 crores.
Coming back to Black Friday. You must be aware that the pirated CDs of the movie have flooded the market months back.
[Smiles again] Yes, I know. In fact on hearing about this news, initially I was very low and depressed. But then I started getting compliments for the work I have done. Also on watching the movie I realized that the movie was cut short by an astonishing 45 minutes. All key portions of the movie are cut from the print. So when the movie would be out in theatres, people would realize what all they have missed.
But how come the pirated prints came out in open at all?
It's obviously the mischief an insider.
What's your stance on piracy though?
You would be surprised but I am all FOR piracy. See all tall claims of filmmakers fighting against piracy go out of the window when the same people blatantly copy Hollywood films and call them their own. We pirate ideas so what's the big deal? After all isn't it "intellectual piracy"? In that case isn't it better to see your own movie been watched by millions, even if that's on pirated CDs?
What really made the release of Black Friday to be stopped after the case reached High Court? There were also reports of some of the bomb blast accused currently in jail not being happy with the content!
On the contrary it was the other way round. The accused appreciated the film and wanted it to be out. Even the judge praised the film and hailed the effort. But still the court wanted the release of the movie to be delayed for some time.
Do you think that when the movie eventually gets released, it may turn out to be India's nomination for Oscars?
Frankly speaking, I don't care. I only know that the movie has been made with a lot of sweat and blood and would strike a chord.
And how does the future of Paanch look like?
I am hopeful about Paanch getting released as well, though there have been multiple times when the movie came close to a release. With Boney Kapoor acquiring the movie and his No Entry being a major success, chances are higher that he may release Paanch soon as well.
In your low times were there any instances when you thought of venturing into so called mainstream cinema?
Never. Because I just can't relate to the kind of films being made currently. The day I feel that I can, I would join the league, but presently that day doesn't seem in sight. The problem is that even today number of film makers come to me with the DVDs of Hollywood movies and want me to remake them in Hindi. Sorry, but that's not my cup of tea.
So what are the kind of movies you watch?
I see very few movies and in recent times have seen My Wife's Murder, Iqbal and Dansh. Out of these, I liked Iqbal the most because of its honest approach and a great narration. Hats off to Nagesh Kukunoor for coming up with such a brilliant film. I feel he is the most honest director around and deserves all the appreciation. He inspires me as he is a truly independent Indian filmmaker. I liked Dansh too but then I had already seen 'Death and The Maiden' [Dansh's inspiration]. 'My Wife's Murder' was a disappointment mainly due to its harsh background music that just killed the movie.
Talking about Nagesh Kukunoor who got a good platform for his 'Iqbal'. Haven't you ever regretted not getting an opportunity to work with an established production house like Subhash Ghai's'?
It's easier for Nagesh to work with someone like Subhash Ghai due to number of "releases" behind him, but that's not the case with me as I am still without a release [smiles].
But then you have worked with Ram Gopal Verma with writing Satya, Shool and Kaun for him. Haven't you ever thought of directing for his FACTORY?
The thing is that in this case I don't want to work with him. He is a person who involves himself in all aspects of film making while I like to be completely responsible for my work. This leads to inevitable clash of interests.
At one point of time you were even poised to work with Anil Kapoor in Allwyn Kaalicharan. What happened to that?
Anil Kapoor is the most insecure guy I have ever met. One fine day he told me it's a brilliant script and was all excited about the movie. He even did a photo shoot. But just when the movie's shooting was to start, he backed out. I believe actors are the most self obsessed and narcissist as anyone can get.
Tell us something about your background.
I come from a small town called Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. From the very childhood I wanted to be a good human being after I read moral science in my earlier schooling days. I did my graduation from Hansraj College, New Delhi. Even in those days, I didn't have enough pocket money to spend lavishly. That's the reason I could never even go out for a date [laughs]!
A section of media is constantly against you. Any comments?
Everyone has rights to talk about others' movie. Even I criticize movies made by others and hence expect others to do the same for me. Say anything about my movie, I won't mind that [smiles again]!
But even you have been famous for some of the articles written by you?
And what's wrong in that? In fact there has been a piece of mine that never got published. After all what freedom do I have when I cannot speak my mind? Can't I voice my opinion? Can't I say that I am discontent? After all I am not threatening to endanger a subject!
IndiaFM
source:expressindia.com
IndiaFM News Bureau
Posted online: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 1301 hours IST
Updated: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 at 1315 hours IST
Mumbai, September 13: There have been directors who have waited for number of years to get a break in Bollywood. There also have been directors who have waited for long for a movie of theirs to come out of a can. But seldom do you find a director who has been critically acclaimed worldwide but still awaits release of two of his movies (Paanch, Black Friday) stuck for different reasons.
Meet writer-director Anurag Kashyap in a holds-no-bar conversation with this writer who met him at an International Film Festival at PVR, Gurgaon.
Anurag, first and foremost a question that you would have been asked practically every day. What's the status on Black Friday
(Speaks with a wide grin) Yes, Black Friday is not coming in near future. The case is still in court. Earlier the hearing was slated for August but now it has been pushed to December. So I suppose any further updates would be only after December.
So currently what is keeping you busy?
I am working on Gulal and I am highly excited about it. In fact that's my focus now while I have Paanch and Black Friday behind me.
Can you elaborate further on Gulal?
Gulal is set in Rajasthan and is a fictional movie set a few years from now, though it is not too futuristic. It is a love story cum political cum thriller all rolled into one and is the journey of an honest man fighting a corrupt system. There is also a terrorist outfit angle in the movie. The movie was shot for a few days 3.5 years back [February 2002] but staled thereafter due to unavoidable circumstances. But I always wanted to make the movie and so there I am. Jhamu Sugandh is producing the movie. [Smiles] That's all I can elaborate at the moment.
So who all form the starcast of the movie?
My film primarily stars newcomers. Raja Chaudhary, Ayesha Mohan and Abhimanyu Singh play the lead protagonists. While Raja is surely going to be a man to watch out for, I can conveniently tag Ayesha Mohan as the 'female KK'. A bundle of talent, she is surely going to go places. In addition, there are also regulars like Kay Kay Menon and Aditya Srivastava.
How about the music aspect of Gulal?
Music of Gulal would be of the kind that you would have never heard before. It forms an important piece of the movie and is composed by Piyush Mishra, who also writes the lyrics. [Piyush is the same man who acted brilliantly in Maqbool and Matrubhoomi and scripted the recently released Yahaan]
Roughly what's the budget of Gulal?
It's Rs. 4 crores.
Coming back to Black Friday. You must be aware that the pirated CDs of the movie have flooded the market months back.
[Smiles again] Yes, I know. In fact on hearing about this news, initially I was very low and depressed. But then I started getting compliments for the work I have done. Also on watching the movie I realized that the movie was cut short by an astonishing 45 minutes. All key portions of the movie are cut from the print. So when the movie would be out in theatres, people would realize what all they have missed.
But how come the pirated prints came out in open at all?
It's obviously the mischief an insider.
What's your stance on piracy though?
You would be surprised but I am all FOR piracy. See all tall claims of filmmakers fighting against piracy go out of the window when the same people blatantly copy Hollywood films and call them their own. We pirate ideas so what's the big deal? After all isn't it "intellectual piracy"? In that case isn't it better to see your own movie been watched by millions, even if that's on pirated CDs?
What really made the release of Black Friday to be stopped after the case reached High Court? There were also reports of some of the bomb blast accused currently in jail not being happy with the content!
On the contrary it was the other way round. The accused appreciated the film and wanted it to be out. Even the judge praised the film and hailed the effort. But still the court wanted the release of the movie to be delayed for some time.
Do you think that when the movie eventually gets released, it may turn out to be India's nomination for Oscars?
Frankly speaking, I don't care. I only know that the movie has been made with a lot of sweat and blood and would strike a chord.
And how does the future of Paanch look like?
I am hopeful about Paanch getting released as well, though there have been multiple times when the movie came close to a release. With Boney Kapoor acquiring the movie and his No Entry being a major success, chances are higher that he may release Paanch soon as well.
In your low times were there any instances when you thought of venturing into so called mainstream cinema?
Never. Because I just can't relate to the kind of films being made currently. The day I feel that I can, I would join the league, but presently that day doesn't seem in sight. The problem is that even today number of film makers come to me with the DVDs of Hollywood movies and want me to remake them in Hindi. Sorry, but that's not my cup of tea.
So what are the kind of movies you watch?
I see very few movies and in recent times have seen My Wife's Murder, Iqbal and Dansh. Out of these, I liked Iqbal the most because of its honest approach and a great narration. Hats off to Nagesh Kukunoor for coming up with such a brilliant film. I feel he is the most honest director around and deserves all the appreciation. He inspires me as he is a truly independent Indian filmmaker. I liked Dansh too but then I had already seen 'Death and The Maiden' [Dansh's inspiration]. 'My Wife's Murder' was a disappointment mainly due to its harsh background music that just killed the movie.
Talking about Nagesh Kukunoor who got a good platform for his 'Iqbal'. Haven't you ever regretted not getting an opportunity to work with an established production house like Subhash Ghai's'?
It's easier for Nagesh to work with someone like Subhash Ghai due to number of "releases" behind him, but that's not the case with me as I am still without a release [smiles].
But then you have worked with Ram Gopal Verma with writing Satya, Shool and Kaun for him. Haven't you ever thought of directing for his FACTORY?
The thing is that in this case I don't want to work with him. He is a person who involves himself in all aspects of film making while I like to be completely responsible for my work. This leads to inevitable clash of interests.
At one point of time you were even poised to work with Anil Kapoor in Allwyn Kaalicharan. What happened to that?
Anil Kapoor is the most insecure guy I have ever met. One fine day he told me it's a brilliant script and was all excited about the movie. He even did a photo shoot. But just when the movie's shooting was to start, he backed out. I believe actors are the most self obsessed and narcissist as anyone can get.
Tell us something about your background.
I come from a small town called Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. From the very childhood I wanted to be a good human being after I read moral science in my earlier schooling days. I did my graduation from Hansraj College, New Delhi. Even in those days, I didn't have enough pocket money to spend lavishly. That's the reason I could never even go out for a date [laughs]!
A section of media is constantly against you. Any comments?
Everyone has rights to talk about others' movie. Even I criticize movies made by others and hence expect others to do the same for me. Say anything about my movie, I won't mind that [smiles again]!
But even you have been famous for some of the articles written by you?
And what's wrong in that? In fact there has been a piece of mine that never got published. After all what freedom do I have when I cannot speak my mind? Can't I voice my opinion? Can't I say that I am discontent? After all I am not threatening to endanger a subject!
IndiaFM
source:expressindia.com
Saturday, March 24, 2007
'I’m impressionable as a writer'
'I’m impressionable as a writer'
By: Shraddha Sukumaran
February 9, 2007
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Anurag Kashyap in conversation with Mahesh Bhat
Black Friday’s writer-director Anurag Kashyap says he will come wherever and whenever so that Mahesh Bhatt can interview him ahead of the film’s release (today).
A sunny Tuesday evening rendezvous is finally fixed at 5 pm at Bhatt’s editing studio in Juhu. The two greet each other brusquely – nods, handshakes, brief smiles – so it’s a little surreal when their dialogue begins to bare their history and allows us a rare peek into what goes on in their minds.
Bhatt: On March 12, 1993, I had taken my wife, then heavily pregnant with my daughter, to the doctor. He had just come back after seeing pieces of human flesh as a result of the 1993 bomb blast. That’s what first came to my mind when I saw Black Friday in Bradford. This was a UK post 7/7, a UK which had tasted what we had in 1993.
And suddenly, there was great empathy for this film. Normally, the premiere night of Bite The Mango festival is not well-attended, but here a huge gathering of people chose to stay back and watch the film.
The response was phenomenal. In fact, I’d expressed a desire to interview Anurag even then because I thought it significant to communicate to India the impact Black Friday had in UK.
The pre-dominant Asian community consisted of Muslims who felt more victimised then. The hall got still as the movie unspooled. They watched the film with respect; normally they are very impatient with Asian films. There was a sense of acknowledgement.
For you Anurag, it’s been one hell of a journey from the young boy who stood below my office to get Rs 10,000 because he was in a financial crisis, to a guy who’s being interviewed by me. That too without a single film of his being released! A lot of life has happened to you. Finally, one of your films is going to see the light of day. So...
Bhatt: Why did you decide to make Black Friday? Do you recall the exact moment when the film rook root in you?
Anurag: It was after I finished the first chapter of the book Black Friday by S Hussain Zaidi – it described the day of the blast and the build-up to it. It goes into the back story of how a man tells his wife, ‘Main aa raha hoon’ and passes one site of the blast unhurt.
Then on the second site he goes to Lucky Petrol Pump to get petrol and dies there. That suddenness with which life can be taken away started to give me perspective.
All I knew about the 1993 bomb blasts was what the papers were going on about – Sanjay Dutt — which I felt had five degrees of separation from the blast after reading the book. But the papers decided to print only that because he started selling.
The book gave me a perspective of what actually happened, who officer Rakesh Maria was, what caused the blast and who Badshah Khan was — to me the most important character in the film. Khan was a normal man who became a fanatic, and the book traces his journey even when he turns approver.
B: What was the impulse that said, ‘I want to give a sizeable portion of my life to this film.’
A: When I start reading, I started seeing visuals. I wanted to put that on screen. Also, the book was not out then. I was reading the manuscript.
B: Did any pre-censorship take place and affect Black Friday?
A: Pre-censorship always escapes me. Looking back, maybe I was innocent to just put down what I felt. It was my naiveté that made me get into this. The subject always takes over me. I’ve always written like that. I don’t decide where I’m going – I just follow. Everything was organic, so there was no pre-censorship.
After putting the film together, the first cut was 3 hours 20 minutes long. It was difficult to choose which story to take out. But when it went to the Censor Board, there were just four audio cuts on abuses that didn’t affect the film. Other than that, they let the film be.
B: Do you think the Censor Board has come of age?
A: It is much more mature.
B: So we’re living in freer times?
A: From what I faced with Paanch to Black Friday, there’s been a drastic difference.
B: What separates a true filmmaker from a mere technician is his personal vision?
A: What I strived to get during Black Friday’s making was the need for more tolerance among us. There were many choices in the process of writing and making the film. We could have gone with Rakesh Maria’s story, Badshah Khan’s story or the third point of view (which we chose), which was an objective, detached view. I realised that I’m too impressionable as a writer. So to detach myself and have a bird’s view, to state things as they happened, I decided to go with an objective view.
B: Is there a core philosophy?
A: The whole thing that binds Black Friday is that it began with the blasts and went back to the history of the Babri Masjid demolition. There must be a history beyond that. If I need to kill someone, I’ll find a reason to. But we need to have more tolerance. ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind’ is the film’s statement and the song ‘Arre ruk ja re bandhe’ endorses that. The producers and I didn’t want to vocalise our statement in the film.
B: Would you say that at your age you have rediscovered Gandhi?
A: Yes. That is the statement. I also got a political perspective into my own life during the process of making Black Friday.
B: What was that?
A: I was not an objective person before Black Friday, and that shows in the first draft I wrote of my other film Gulal. I wrote that film before I set out to make Black Friday. I eventually rewrote Gulal’s final draft after Black Friday.
B: So the making of Black Friday changed you?
A: Yes. I still get angry, but I get less angry. Today, I’ve found various channels to vent my anger by writing films or articles for newspapers and magazines. Earlier, I would get physical; go out on the streets and fight.
B: The aftershocks of March 12 are still reverberating. Do you think India will ever be free of the ghosts?
A: I wish it does, but if you ask me I don’t think so. If we want to change society, the responsibility lies with a lot of people. Lots of journalists ask me is, ‘Don’t you think you’re digging up old wounds?’ The whole country wants to live in a comfortable cushioned life. We have to get uncomfortable and ask the right questions. America learned from a blast post 9/11. But India makes itself a vulnerable, soft target because we are not tolerant. Someone will come and incite us and we’ll be incited.
B: Did you meet Rakesh Maria before making the film?
A: Yes, he spoke to me at length. His investigations were covered, but nobody covered how his mind had functioned during those days.
What were those key moments? There’s a scene that’s not there in the book: when the first accused Asgar Mukadam was brought in, two men came with him. One was his father, the other his uncle. Maria told me, ‘The way his uncle was reacting, I knew something was wrong.’
The uncle was actually Asgar’s father’s biological child. Asgar himself had been adopted. So Maria asked the father to leave and kept the uncle in there. Just one threat to the uncle made the guy open up on his own.
That’s what an investigating mind is like, and I respect that a hell of a lot. There’s a lot that Rakesh Maria did that we as outside parties may not understand, like third degree measures, but to me he was a man doing his duty.
He was forced to deliver results, but at the same time he was also a human being. I wanted to highlight three aspects of his investigations: that he was ruthlessly doing his duty but was troubled by things happening around him and would find his own cocoon to let it out.
B: He’s one of the most secular people I have met in my life. I think you’ve brought that dimension terrifically in the film.
A: Yes. He really lived with those policemen in the jail. There’s a definite hierarchy in the force, but there’s a scene where they’re all in that bathroom and the hierarchy has vanished – their uniforms are off and they’re in their banians.
But Rakesh Maria’s personal loss is not there in the film – his mother was suffering from cancer at that time. There were two calls to his child’s school that there was a bomb there and it had to be evacuated.
B: If you had to see Black Friday with the accused, their families and the police, would you feel comfortable?
A: Absolutely. People who see the film in the right frame of mind will see the point I’m trying to make. I’m not afraid.
B: Among your contemporaries, who would you like to show the film to?
A: There are some underrated contemporaries like Mohit (Suri) and Anurag Basu. I go back with Basu a long way. Then Kabir Kaushik (Sehar), Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vishal Bhardwaj, Sriram Raghavan, Sudhir Mishra – these people’s opinions matter to me.
B: How do you think the aristocracy of Bollywood will react to the film?
A: I don’t care. I really don’t. Bhattsaab, vada pav zyaada bikta hain lekin uska matlab yeh nahin ki woh exotic ho jaata hai. People I respect will recieve my respect all the time. Somebody who has more media space or box office clout does not have my respect. I respect people for what they stand for.
B: Who are your heroes? Do you feel the need for them?
A: I do. My heroes are people like Che Guevara, Dylan Thomas, (Franz) Kafka,. Kafka is a big hero because he died without seeing a single work published, and today we celebrate him. My heroes are those who have sought change and fought for it – sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they didn’t.
B: Are you still asking yourself ‘who am I?’ and ‘why am I here?’
A: (Chuckles) I ask myself that all the time.
B: Have you found the answer?
A: No!
The background
Bhatt: A few years ago (‘In 1992,’ says Anurag. ‘We started together. Bhattsaab brought me here.’), this boy was in an economic doldrum. He came to my office and I gave him the money.
Today, I’m interviewing him. His films haven’t released, and yet Anurag is somebody people like. He has audacity, he has irreverence and the capacity to draw ideas. He will be a filmmaker today (Friday) when the movie flickers onto the screen. And yet he creates a furore.
He reminds me of myself. People tell me, ‘Anurag is what you were,’ but I say, ‘No, he’s 1,000 times more talented!’
He has a control of the craft; he’s cinematically brilliant and has a fire in his belly. But what he hasn’t perhaps found is his vision in life. He doesn’t have to arrive at it now, but when he does, he’ll be an exceptional filmmaker.
Black Friday is an unflinching film — it looks at history fearlessly. A creative director makes a decision and is ready to face the consequences. It gave me great joy to see him walk tall. As you grow older, you begin to have faith in younger people. That’s what life is. People like him and me are blessed with thirst. To quench us, is to kill us.
(Anurag nods, laughing).
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I just can't be politically correct: Anurag Kashyap
I just can't be politically correct: Anurag Kashyap
Hiren Kotwani
Mumbai, February 8, 2007
First heard of as the co-writer of Satya, he went on to write more, gravitated towards film direction only to land himself in a hot soup of sort: Paanch still has to reach the ‘plexes. Allwyn Kalicharan was junked. Gulal produced by Jhamu Sugandh was stymied mid-production.
Okay, most movie trackers know that, and they also know that his Black Friday – banned – is at long last up for release tomorrow.
Over to Anurag Kashyap..
Any pre-release jitters?
I’m just waiting for it to release finally I’m . hoping nothing goes wrong at the last minute again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, praying that I will now have something to show, that I have it in me to make a film. Friends and others from the industry who , have seen Black Friday and Paanch, have appreciated them. But at the end of the day, a director makes film for the audience.. and certainly not my drawing room.
When you’re stonewalled, what happens? Do you get emotionally detached from your films?
I’m very emotional and possessive about all my films.
Do you feel strongly about your subjects the way you did when you started on them?
In the case of Black Friday, I started out to make a documentary which would be true to the book is based on. The idea was to reach the truth behind the bomb blasts.The accused felt it would influence the judgment against them, they appealed for a stay on the film’s release. I’m sure many must have seen the film already on pirated VCDs, they know it is not judgmental at all.
Do you feel vindicated today?
Yes. It’s not essential that the audience should react strongly to the film..even if the leave the show in silence, I’ll be happy that the film has made an impact, that it has connected to them.
There are references to Mr L K Advani and Mr Balasaheb Thackeray. Do you anticipate any trouble?
There are references to several people. I don’t think there should be any problem. Their names come up only when a character talks about them.
You’ve been around for over 10 years now. Has it been difficult?
I’ve faced very difficult times. The going still isn’t easy for me. I had to wait eight years before the script of No Smoking could be made into a film. I’m glad to have producers like Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Mangat backing this kind of a subject.
Shouldn’t you be making more commercial cinema?
What makes you think Black Friday isn’t commercial? Paanch and No Smoking also have all the commercial ingredients.
You’ve often been much too frank and brusque. Why?
If I’m asked for an opinion, I give an honest one. I can’t be politically correct. It has taken a lot out of me to be cynical, to speak my mind against the system.
How come a pucca commercial film producer like Kumar Mangat is backing No Smoking?
Kumar Mangat enjoyed making Omkara, which may not appear to be a commercial subject initially But he enjoyed making it . and he’s enjoying making No Smoking too.
Why haven’t you given up smoking?
By making a film called No Smoking, I’m doing a service to society. (Laughs) So I should be allowed to continue smoking.
The final shape of Mani Ratnam’s Guru wasn’t what you wrote originally. Did you feel let down?
There was no cause to feel let down. Mani gave me the option of making changes in the story but I was going to Los Angeles. I had issues with the changes actually.. because the story I’d written was about man’s rise to fame and glory It didn’t have . much scope for a love story, something which Mani incorporated to a large extent.
You mean the original Guru story was entirely about the rise of Dhirbhai Ambani?
I’m not in a position to comment on that. But yes, the story I’d written was more about the man and his journey from being a villager to an achiever. I don’t have any issues with Mani, he’s a brilliant filmmaker, he’s entitled to make his film according to his vision.
Will Paanch ever see the light of day?
Things are being worked out. I’ll have at least three releases this year.. Black Friday, Paanch and No Smoking.
And what’s the take on Gulal?
It’s being revived, Shomu Ganguly from Kolkata is backing it now.
Have you changed through the years in showbiz?
I’ve become a lot more tolerant, I think before I talk. I can take a lot now. I don’t get as angry as I used to. Whenever I do, I channelise may anger into my work.
What else is happening on the work front?
I’ve written Shunya and The Pool. I’ve done the dialogues for Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Chaar Rasta and Shakalaka Boom Boom. Hopefully I should get more films to direct now.
Lastly, there’s the buzz that you’ve changed so much that you’re splitting from your wife Aarti?
(Coolly) Nothing like that. There’s no problem in my marriage at all. Aarti and I are fine together.. thank you.
Hiren Kotwani
Mumbai, February 8, 2007
First heard of as the co-writer of Satya, he went on to write more, gravitated towards film direction only to land himself in a hot soup of sort: Paanch still has to reach the ‘plexes. Allwyn Kalicharan was junked. Gulal produced by Jhamu Sugandh was stymied mid-production.
Okay, most movie trackers know that, and they also know that his Black Friday – banned – is at long last up for release tomorrow.
Over to Anurag Kashyap..
Any pre-release jitters?
I’m just waiting for it to release finally I’m . hoping nothing goes wrong at the last minute again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, praying that I will now have something to show, that I have it in me to make a film. Friends and others from the industry who , have seen Black Friday and Paanch, have appreciated them. But at the end of the day, a director makes film for the audience.. and certainly not my drawing room.
When you’re stonewalled, what happens? Do you get emotionally detached from your films?
I’m very emotional and possessive about all my films.
Do you feel strongly about your subjects the way you did when you started on them?
In the case of Black Friday, I started out to make a documentary which would be true to the book is based on. The idea was to reach the truth behind the bomb blasts.The accused felt it would influence the judgment against them, they appealed for a stay on the film’s release. I’m sure many must have seen the film already on pirated VCDs, they know it is not judgmental at all.
Do you feel vindicated today?
Yes. It’s not essential that the audience should react strongly to the film..even if the leave the show in silence, I’ll be happy that the film has made an impact, that it has connected to them.
There are references to Mr L K Advani and Mr Balasaheb Thackeray. Do you anticipate any trouble?
There are references to several people. I don’t think there should be any problem. Their names come up only when a character talks about them.
You’ve been around for over 10 years now. Has it been difficult?
I’ve faced very difficult times. The going still isn’t easy for me. I had to wait eight years before the script of No Smoking could be made into a film. I’m glad to have producers like Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Mangat backing this kind of a subject.
Shouldn’t you be making more commercial cinema?
What makes you think Black Friday isn’t commercial? Paanch and No Smoking also have all the commercial ingredients.
You’ve often been much too frank and brusque. Why?
If I’m asked for an opinion, I give an honest one. I can’t be politically correct. It has taken a lot out of me to be cynical, to speak my mind against the system.
How come a pucca commercial film producer like Kumar Mangat is backing No Smoking?
Kumar Mangat enjoyed making Omkara, which may not appear to be a commercial subject initially But he enjoyed making it . and he’s enjoying making No Smoking too.
Why haven’t you given up smoking?
By making a film called No Smoking, I’m doing a service to society. (Laughs) So I should be allowed to continue smoking.
The final shape of Mani Ratnam’s Guru wasn’t what you wrote originally. Did you feel let down?
There was no cause to feel let down. Mani gave me the option of making changes in the story but I was going to Los Angeles. I had issues with the changes actually.. because the story I’d written was about man’s rise to fame and glory It didn’t have . much scope for a love story, something which Mani incorporated to a large extent.
You mean the original Guru story was entirely about the rise of Dhirbhai Ambani?
I’m not in a position to comment on that. But yes, the story I’d written was more about the man and his journey from being a villager to an achiever. I don’t have any issues with Mani, he’s a brilliant filmmaker, he’s entitled to make his film according to his vision.
Will Paanch ever see the light of day?
Things are being worked out. I’ll have at least three releases this year.. Black Friday, Paanch and No Smoking.
And what’s the take on Gulal?
It’s being revived, Shomu Ganguly from Kolkata is backing it now.
Have you changed through the years in showbiz?
I’ve become a lot more tolerant, I think before I talk. I can take a lot now. I don’t get as angry as I used to. Whenever I do, I channelise may anger into my work.
What else is happening on the work front?
I’ve written Shunya and The Pool. I’ve done the dialogues for Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Chaar Rasta and Shakalaka Boom Boom. Hopefully I should get more films to direct now.
Lastly, there’s the buzz that you’ve changed so much that you’re splitting from your wife Aarti?
(Coolly) Nothing like that. There’s no problem in my marriage at all. Aarti and I are fine together.. thank you.
'Black Friday is a bigger film than me'
Friday March 12, 12:08 PM
'Black Friday is a bigger film than me'
By Udita Jhunjhunwala
Anurag Kashyap is an ‘outsider’. When the serial blasts happened in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, he was in Delhi. Yet, Kashyap feels at one with the victims of the blasts — enough to write the screenplay and direct the film.
The result: Black Friday. The film takes the viewer through the events that lead up to that fateful Friday, 11 years ago.
Based on the book by S Hussain Zaidi, presented by Jhamu Sughand, Black Friday is co-funded by Mid Day Multimedia Ltd. Mid Day speaks to Anurag Kashyap. Excerpts.
How did you get involved in Black Friday?
Aditya Bhattacharya called me one day and introduced me to the people from Mid Day. They told me that they wanted to do a film based on the book Black Friday by Hussain Zaidi. When I started reading it, I felt emotionally involved. I truly wondered what drove people to commit such heinous acts. I also stopped being judgmental. After I read the book not only did I want to write the screenplay, I wanted to direct it too.
Apart from the book, what other research did you do?
We had a research team that looked at all the documents, press clippings, photographs and other reference material. We had to redefine the time because we had to include 270 characters in the film. After we put things into perspective, we came up with the structure of the film.
And what is that structure?
We could have made it linear following the story and ended with the blasts. But then many links might have been missed out. So we start the film somewhere in the middle and the film ends where the investigation ends. That’s also where the conspiracy is established — just before the court case starts.
How did you recreate 1993?
That was very difficult because it was pre-liberalisation. There was no Coke, Pepsi, cell phones, or the number of foreign cars you see today. Esteem was the new car then. There were no hoardings of Star or Orange. In that sense, yes, this is a period film. That’s why you’ll see lots of top angles and straight shots. We had to go wide to bring in the city.
You are not from Mumbai, so could you empathise with the story and the victims?
I am from Delhi yes, but I wrote Satya, which was also about Mumbai. That was a film made by outsiders. Every time an outsider makes a film, they see things others can’t see. They bring in objectivity. You have to have a journalistic approach to something like this; you can’t take sides.
Was it difficult shooting Black Friday?
The camera went to places it hasn’t been before. We used 140 locations, shot for 70 days over four-and-a-half months. We shot in 10 cities in four countries with a cast of 270 characters.
We’ve shot in Dongri, the Bombay Stock Exchange, airport, the Air-India building and other blast sites in the city. We’ve also shot in Delhi, Tonk, Jaipur and Dubai. We shot some portions with hidden cameras because we did not want to stage-manage the locations.
We recreated the Worli and Bombay Stock Exchange blasts, complete with bomb squads and fire engines. We have used some special effects for the blast scenes, which are being done by Digital Arts and Media (Koi Mil Gaya, Devdas).
What kind of support did you receive from the producers?
Jhamu Sughand and Mid Day are big names and they’ve trusted and supported me. One pat on the back from Jhamuji after a scene means a lot.
He’s one of the biggest and most powerful producers the industry (Bombay, Lagaan, Rangeela, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) and if he is ‘presenting’ Black Friday I know he’ll draw in crowds. And Mid Day’s understanding of the city and the city’s trust for the paper helped a great deal.
What is the status of the film now?
We’ve finished editing and are now doing the sound design and the background score. The film has been completed on schedule because of the artists and the crew. I think it’s been a great partnership. They have worked in difficult conditions.
They’ve worked when the sea was rough; they’ve trekked uphill for 45 minutes, run up a hill with the wind lambasting them… I think this was possible because we had no stars, but a strong ensemble of actors like Kay Kay, Pawan Malhotra and Aditya Srivastava.
You’ve made Paanch and Gulaal, but Black Friday will probably be your first release. What do you feel?
Black Friday is a bigger film than me. It’s a Mid Day, Jhamu Sughand film, not an Anurag Kashyap film. And it’s a great way to begin.
source:mid day
'Black Friday is a bigger film than me'
By Udita Jhunjhunwala
Anurag Kashyap is an ‘outsider’. When the serial blasts happened in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, he was in Delhi. Yet, Kashyap feels at one with the victims of the blasts — enough to write the screenplay and direct the film.
The result: Black Friday. The film takes the viewer through the events that lead up to that fateful Friday, 11 years ago.
Based on the book by S Hussain Zaidi, presented by Jhamu Sughand, Black Friday is co-funded by Mid Day Multimedia Ltd. Mid Day speaks to Anurag Kashyap. Excerpts.
How did you get involved in Black Friday?
Aditya Bhattacharya called me one day and introduced me to the people from Mid Day. They told me that they wanted to do a film based on the book Black Friday by Hussain Zaidi. When I started reading it, I felt emotionally involved. I truly wondered what drove people to commit such heinous acts. I also stopped being judgmental. After I read the book not only did I want to write the screenplay, I wanted to direct it too.
Apart from the book, what other research did you do?
We had a research team that looked at all the documents, press clippings, photographs and other reference material. We had to redefine the time because we had to include 270 characters in the film. After we put things into perspective, we came up with the structure of the film.
And what is that structure?
We could have made it linear following the story and ended with the blasts. But then many links might have been missed out. So we start the film somewhere in the middle and the film ends where the investigation ends. That’s also where the conspiracy is established — just before the court case starts.
How did you recreate 1993?
That was very difficult because it was pre-liberalisation. There was no Coke, Pepsi, cell phones, or the number of foreign cars you see today. Esteem was the new car then. There were no hoardings of Star or Orange. In that sense, yes, this is a period film. That’s why you’ll see lots of top angles and straight shots. We had to go wide to bring in the city.
You are not from Mumbai, so could you empathise with the story and the victims?
I am from Delhi yes, but I wrote Satya, which was also about Mumbai. That was a film made by outsiders. Every time an outsider makes a film, they see things others can’t see. They bring in objectivity. You have to have a journalistic approach to something like this; you can’t take sides.
Was it difficult shooting Black Friday?
The camera went to places it hasn’t been before. We used 140 locations, shot for 70 days over four-and-a-half months. We shot in 10 cities in four countries with a cast of 270 characters.
We’ve shot in Dongri, the Bombay Stock Exchange, airport, the Air-India building and other blast sites in the city. We’ve also shot in Delhi, Tonk, Jaipur and Dubai. We shot some portions with hidden cameras because we did not want to stage-manage the locations.
We recreated the Worli and Bombay Stock Exchange blasts, complete with bomb squads and fire engines. We have used some special effects for the blast scenes, which are being done by Digital Arts and Media (Koi Mil Gaya, Devdas).
What kind of support did you receive from the producers?
Jhamu Sughand and Mid Day are big names and they’ve trusted and supported me. One pat on the back from Jhamuji after a scene means a lot.
He’s one of the biggest and most powerful producers the industry (Bombay, Lagaan, Rangeela, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) and if he is ‘presenting’ Black Friday I know he’ll draw in crowds. And Mid Day’s understanding of the city and the city’s trust for the paper helped a great deal.
What is the status of the film now?
We’ve finished editing and are now doing the sound design and the background score. The film has been completed on schedule because of the artists and the crew. I think it’s been a great partnership. They have worked in difficult conditions.
They’ve worked when the sea was rough; they’ve trekked uphill for 45 minutes, run up a hill with the wind lambasting them… I think this was possible because we had no stars, but a strong ensemble of actors like Kay Kay, Pawan Malhotra and Aditya Srivastava.
You’ve made Paanch and Gulaal, but Black Friday will probably be your first release. What do you feel?
Black Friday is a bigger film than me. It’s a Mid Day, Jhamu Sughand film, not an Anurag Kashyap film. And it’s a great way to begin.
source:mid day
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Anurag Kashyap: “I suffered a lot because of Anil Kapoor and I will not forget it!”
Anurag Kashyap: “I suffered a lot because of Anil Kapoor and I will not forget it!”
“I moved out of Ramu’s camp as I wanted to make different cinema and we have different views.”
Guess what’s common between Satya, Shool, Yuva and Water? The contribution of one man, Anurag Kashyap, the talented script writer. Though he’s one of Bollywood’s ace scriptwriters, he is also considered a jinxed filmmaker. Reason? All his films Pannch, Black Friday and Gulal are lying in the cans. But Lady Luck is finally smiling on him and his Black Friday (based on the infamous Bombay bomb blasts) hits the theatres this Friday. A jubilant Anurag spoke to us about his trails and tribulations....
“Except for a few producers there’s a dearth of producers who understand original writing.”
You’ve finally broken the ‘jinx’ with Black Friday.
“(Sighs) I’m still jittery and it will continue till Black Friday releases this Friday. Initially when industry people called me a jinxed filmmaker, I used to laugh, but latter it played on my mind.”
It’s been a long struggle with both your films Paanch and Black Friday getting stuck.
“Yes, it was. It affected my health and I also put on weight due to stress. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing after this.”
“I have some issues with Guru but I don’t want to discuss it in the media.”
Will you attempt another controversial film now?
“Black Friday is not controversial. We started this film after sorting out all the legal issues. It’s a film based on facts. Everyone knows what happened in Mumbai and we are simply putting in on the big screen. Basically the film is about the police investigation, how the Mumbai police cracked and solved the case. When we started the film our battery of lawyers made sure that everything is legal and within the framework of the law, but then too it ran into endless trouble.”
Besides your films getting stuck, you are constantly at loggerheads with your producers; be it Ram Gopal Varma, TuTu Sharma or Deepa Mehta?
“I moved out of Ramu’s camp as I wanted to make different cinema and we have different views. And I’m still friends with TuTu and Deepa Mehta.”
You wrote the script for Deepa Mehta’s Water which got shelved. Eventually she made the film without you?
“I wrote the dialogues in the old film and even in the new Water.”
Another of your films Allwyn Kallicharan too has been stuck?
“Allwyn Kalicharan got shelved because the hero Anil Kapoor developed cold feet at the last minute. First he said he loved the script, but latter got insecure about the other actor’s role. And he didn’t have the guts to come and tell me that. He just kept postponing it and at the end I understood his game plan and decided to abandon the project altogether. I suffered a lot because of Anil Kapoor and I will not forget it.”
Are you saying that you will never work with him again?
“I don’t think I will ever work with him. I tried to get in touch with him, but there was no response from him.”
Do you agree when filmmakers says there’s a serious dearth of original writers in Bollywood?
“No, why blame the writers? I think except for a few producers there’s a dearth of producers who understand original writing.”
Have you ever copied from a Hollywood movie?
“I have copied dialogues, because some of my producers wanted me to do that. And I had to do that to survive. But I haven’t blatantly copied the entire film.”
Wasn’t Guru another bitter experience? We heard that Mani Ratnam changed your story in the final draft?
“I had written two drafts, and Mani Sir wanted to change certain things, but I couldn’t work on it as I had to go to the US. Mani Sir took over and made some changes. I have no issues with that. But yes, I would have loved to make the changes myself.”
So are you happy with the end result?
“I have some issues with Guru but I don’t want to discuss it in the media; it will be blown out of proportion. And I have the highest regard possible for Mani Sir. I will do anything for him.”
- Gautam Buragohain
Thursday, March 1, 2007
“The Industry is laughing at Bachchans,” says Anurag Kashyap
“The Industry is laughing at Bachchans,” says Anurag Kashyap
[Interview by Faridoon Shahryar]
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
What is ‘No Smoking’ all about?
‘No Smoking’ is a strange movie. It is ‘Eternal Sunshine’ meets ‘Kafka meets something else. It’s a film without a reference point. It is difficult to define it. It’s very difficult to explain. After it comes out people will say that this film is like ‘No Smoking’.
How did you opt for John Abraham?
I didn’t zero in on John Abraham just like that. I went to a lot of people. John was the first guy who completely understood my script and said yes there and then.
The title ‘No Smoking’ is very censor friendly….
No, it’s not just censor friendly. That has to be the title of the film. Either ‘No Smoking’ or Cigarette smoking is injurious to health or smoking kills. That has to be the title of the film.
I saw you act very well in the play ‘Sir Sir Sarla Part 111’…Why not films?
Its different acting on stage and very different from acting in films. I can do anything on stage but I can’t pose for a still camera, forget a moviecam.
What kind of directors have appealed to you?
Many yaar. Scorcese, Fellini, David Fincher, Ram Gopal Verma, Mani Rathnam, Guru Dutt, Bala from South, Bharathan…There’s a wide variety.
How much you learnt from RGV and Mani Rathnam?
I learnt a lot from both of them. I call Mani Sir Mani Sir. Ramu is a great support.
What was your role in Guru?
I started working in Guru. We did something, locked the thing. When Mani went to shoot in Turkey, he decided to change a few things. I was not there. I had to go to US. I couldn’t have postponed my trip, so I decided to back out.
What do you think about ‘Guru’ now?
I think Mani has done a great job with the film. But there could have been more. And that’s a creative difference. He thinks its right and it is his prerogative.
What were the differences?
I felt that there should have been more of ‘Guru’s life rather than the love story while Mani felt there should be more of love story than Guru’s life. So, these are two different point of views. It’s a discussion that we will have.
What about Ram Gopal Verma?
Ram Gopal Verma is a genius. I’ve learnt so much from him. It’s just sad that what he is doing now. I don’t like it at all. I haven’t liked his last three four films. Last film that I liked was ‘Company’. I know what he is capable of. I know he is a man who can come back any time. I am hoping a lot from ‘Nishabd’ That’s a film I have high hopes from.
You want to work with Mr Bachchan but he doesn’t wish to work with you?
I want to work with him but he wouldn’t work with me. He won’t experiment with me.
What about actors like SRK, Aamir Khan?
I want to work with all these people. I don’t have a problem working with Shahrukh. He had the script of ‘No Smoking’ for quite some time but then he didn’t have time. I keep talking to Aamir for projects. Till something work out, it’s a wish list.
Was ‘Lallan’ your idea in ‘Yuva’?
The basic character was from Mani Rathnam. But when the character became North Indian, then I took over. I did my own things, gave him a name, his background. Whenever there’s a character from North India, I have a lot of fun.
I read one of your features where you talked about how star children like Abhishek Bachchan have things on a platter. Then you reinvented him in ‘Yuva’.
Film industry is a strange place. Everybody used to run down Abhishek Bachchan. I had a lot of faith in him then. I used to say that he is good. After ‘Yuva’ suddenly everybody made Abhishek Bachchan into a great actor which also he is not. He is not as great as an actor as he is being made out to be. He was never a bad actor as they put him down.
What about Mr Bachchan saying that Abhishek is better than him?
That’s a desperate cry. The industry is laughing at them behind the backs. Everybody is laughing at them. That kind of hypocrisy is prevalent in the industry. It’s up to him if he can’t separate hypocrisy from honesty. That’s his problem. That poster where he said that ‘I will watch ‘Guru’ 100 times’ was a joke. Amitabh Bachchan doesn’t need to do that. He is worshipped in this country. It’s a shame these things have happened.
[Interview by Faridoon Shahryar]
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
What is ‘No Smoking’ all about?
‘No Smoking’ is a strange movie. It is ‘Eternal Sunshine’ meets ‘Kafka meets something else. It’s a film without a reference point. It is difficult to define it. It’s very difficult to explain. After it comes out people will say that this film is like ‘No Smoking’.
How did you opt for John Abraham?
I didn’t zero in on John Abraham just like that. I went to a lot of people. John was the first guy who completely understood my script and said yes there and then.
The title ‘No Smoking’ is very censor friendly….
No, it’s not just censor friendly. That has to be the title of the film. Either ‘No Smoking’ or Cigarette smoking is injurious to health or smoking kills. That has to be the title of the film.
I saw you act very well in the play ‘Sir Sir Sarla Part 111’…Why not films?
Its different acting on stage and very different from acting in films. I can do anything on stage but I can’t pose for a still camera, forget a moviecam.
What kind of directors have appealed to you?
Many yaar. Scorcese, Fellini, David Fincher, Ram Gopal Verma, Mani Rathnam, Guru Dutt, Bala from South, Bharathan…There’s a wide variety.
How much you learnt from RGV and Mani Rathnam?
I learnt a lot from both of them. I call Mani Sir Mani Sir. Ramu is a great support.
What was your role in Guru?
I started working in Guru. We did something, locked the thing. When Mani went to shoot in Turkey, he decided to change a few things. I was not there. I had to go to US. I couldn’t have postponed my trip, so I decided to back out.
What do you think about ‘Guru’ now?
I think Mani has done a great job with the film. But there could have been more. And that’s a creative difference. He thinks its right and it is his prerogative.
What were the differences?
I felt that there should have been more of ‘Guru’s life rather than the love story while Mani felt there should be more of love story than Guru’s life. So, these are two different point of views. It’s a discussion that we will have.
What about Ram Gopal Verma?
Ram Gopal Verma is a genius. I’ve learnt so much from him. It’s just sad that what he is doing now. I don’t like it at all. I haven’t liked his last three four films. Last film that I liked was ‘Company’. I know what he is capable of. I know he is a man who can come back any time. I am hoping a lot from ‘Nishabd’ That’s a film I have high hopes from.
You want to work with Mr Bachchan but he doesn’t wish to work with you?
I want to work with him but he wouldn’t work with me. He won’t experiment with me.
What about actors like SRK, Aamir Khan?
I want to work with all these people. I don’t have a problem working with Shahrukh. He had the script of ‘No Smoking’ for quite some time but then he didn’t have time. I keep talking to Aamir for projects. Till something work out, it’s a wish list.
Was ‘Lallan’ your idea in ‘Yuva’?
The basic character was from Mani Rathnam. But when the character became North Indian, then I took over. I did my own things, gave him a name, his background. Whenever there’s a character from North India, I have a lot of fun.
I read one of your features where you talked about how star children like Abhishek Bachchan have things on a platter. Then you reinvented him in ‘Yuva’.
Film industry is a strange place. Everybody used to run down Abhishek Bachchan. I had a lot of faith in him then. I used to say that he is good. After ‘Yuva’ suddenly everybody made Abhishek Bachchan into a great actor which also he is not. He is not as great as an actor as he is being made out to be. He was never a bad actor as they put him down.
What about Mr Bachchan saying that Abhishek is better than him?
That’s a desperate cry. The industry is laughing at them behind the backs. Everybody is laughing at them. That kind of hypocrisy is prevalent in the industry. It’s up to him if he can’t separate hypocrisy from honesty. That’s his problem. That poster where he said that ‘I will watch ‘Guru’ 100 times’ was a joke. Amitabh Bachchan doesn’t need to do that. He is worshipped in this country. It’s a shame these things have happened.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
In Conversation with Anurag Kashyap
In Conversation with Anurag Kashyap
April 23, 2006 @ 9:33 pm · Filed under Bollywood, Superhit Posts · Podcast
Film festivals can be exhausting. They can also be rewarding. Extremely rewarding. I’ve never been to a film festival before. Yesterday was my first. And I realized what I had been missing.
If you are a movie fanatic who’s attended film festivals, you’ll quite surely know what my experience may have been. It’s like stepping in a whole new world. Your world. People around engaged in conversations about movies, movies and movies. You are home. You are at peace. You are free to be you, simply you.
[Anurag Kashyap. He was walking in for the screening of “Paanch”, ran into him at the door, we started chatting, shocked that he reads Desi Train movie reviews… took this pic. This morning I check the pic and realized how awful I look. Cut myself out… I was on the right]
After an aggressive round of documentaries earlier during the day, you walk towards the cafe, for some rest. The first round of Newcastle relaxes you. The place is buzzing with energy, with activity. A bunch of volunteers are sprinkled all over the place. Names of Famous film and theater personalities are making the rounds in the open air cafe. Then theater director Firoz Khan (not to be mixed with Fardeen Khan’s father) walks into the cafe with Sabu Cyril (I may be wrong here).
Its almost time for the event of the day. The screening of Anurag Kashyap’s “Paanch”. His first as a director.
I got to meet Anurag Kashyap while hanging around the aisles of the screening hall. As mentioned in the last post, I mentioned to him that I had awarded him the unluckiest genius in Bollywood, and he shot back asking if I was from Desi Train (I had not mentioned the site name to him as yet). It was fun and well… honestly, an ego booster to know that Kashyap reads the movie reviews and opinions at the Desi Train, courtesy a famous Bollywood actress who introduced him to my blog. Don’t know who that actress is. Whoever you are, if you are reading this, Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for leading Anurag to this blog. (Guys - I can be sensitive too)
We spent a few minutes before the movie and after movie ended, where I got to speak to him one on one. There was also a question answer session after the movie “Paanch”
Following is a mix of Anurag’s interaction with the audience and his one on one discussion with me. I had to leave some stuff out purely because the speed at which I was taking notes made my handwriting fairly illegible.
On the making of Paanch
Paanch was written about 12 years ago, but he could not find anyone to finance the movie. The original version of Paanch, had Kay Kay’s character to be an imaginary one. None of those who read it, actually understood it. Then “Fight Club” (Brad Pitt) was released where Tyler Durden was an imaginary character in the movie. That’s the time when producers grasped what Kay Kay’s character was about.
But now Anurag did not want to make it. It would seem like a copy. (hear hear!!!) So Paanch was rewritten by him.
Now all the producers he went to found the ending very bleak. So Anurag rewrote it again. It took about 4 -5 rewrites before Tutu Sharma (Padmini Kolhapure’s husband and brother is law of Tejaswini Kolhapure who acts in Paanch) decided to back Anurag and produce the movie.
Somewhere around the time before Tutu Sharma picked up Paanch, Ram Gopal Varma was supposed to produce Paanch for Kashyap. On one condition : Write Satya for RGV after which he’ll produce Paanch for Anurag. So Anurag went about writing Satya which was made and released. Unfortunately RGV’s plan to make Paanch after Satya “fizzled out”.
The opening sequences while the titles are played have a jerky, vibrating and an energetic feel. About 4000 to 5000 stills of various parts of Bombay were taken and they were run one after another to achieve the desired effect.
The sets of Paanch were lit up by normal bulbs and tubelights to give it a realistic effect.
On the problems faced while making Paanch
Paanch’s shooting started 7 years after Anurag first wrote the script. But things weren’t smooth even after the shooting started. The financers objected to the bleak and depressing nature of the house where much of the movie was shot in. They objected to the depressing environment, the muriels on the walls, and other things. Flow of cash stopped and the movie shoot had to take a break till fresh flow of finance was turned on.
Then Tutu Sharma, the producer, left Paanch aside, and went on to make other bigger commercial movies. That resulted in more stoppages in shooting Paanch.
In the end, Paach was ready for release in the year 2000.
On songs in Paanch
The one prime condition set by financers to back this movie was : it should have songs.
Since the movie is based on a rock band, it was bound to have songs. Anurag had initially planned to have short snippets of songs (a couple of lines and cut to the next scene). But when the financers put in the condition of having complete songs in the movie, Anurag out of pure frustration pumped in five songs right in the beginning of the movie to satisfy the financers. The five songs later got reduced to three.
The last song in the movie was not directed by Anurag. According to him, the whole movie was made for an amount of One Crore and Twenty Lakhs (Rupees). When the producers decided to add another song towards the end of the movie, nine months after the movie was completed, they hired someone else to direct it. The money spent on just the last song was Seventy Lakhs.
On the cast and crew of Paanch
Most of them were first timers. Anurag was a theater actor before he came into movies. In Anurag’s own words “Kay Kay Menon, was my guru/teacher in theater. Kay Kay went through a lot of shit before reaching where he is today”. According to Anurag, Kay Kay would have been “in a completely different position in Bollywood” had Paanch released on time, even though he is now well known because of movies like Sarkar and other commercial hits.
The cinematographer of Parineeta began his movie career with Paanch.
Other actors too have moved on and now have featured in various projects in movies and television.
On the reasons why the Censors banned Paanch
It may sound very strange but following are the reasons the Censor Board of India gave Anurag, on why they could not pass Paanch.
- Too much hate in the movie. It is too stark. Not good to show to an Indian audience.
- Drug usage shown in the movie. The Indian public does not do drugs. Not good to show it.
- You can’t shoot in such a dim light. Its bad for the viewers’ eyes.
- This movie has no entertainment value.
Before Paanch
There was desperation and frustration with Bollywood. Anurag wanted to make movies but no one was interested in a non-entity. His desperation to make movies and earn an income led to him making various compromises courtesy the producers and financers.
On his other projects
Among the recent releases, he has written “Water” and “Mixed Doubles”.
Most of his time is spent doing films for people who are new and have no money (his own words).
On the other hand he’s offered obscene amounts of money by producers who approach him with Hollywood and Asian DVDs. They simply want Anurag to write copies of the originals.
Two of the copies he wrote for producers was “Main Aisa He Hoon” and “Kaante”
On the need for original writers in Bollywood
Bollywood does have many original writers. There is no shortage of talent. The problem is they have no “backing” and no financers who want to invest in new comers.
On where he learnt writing and directing
His main source for learning writing and directing was… movies and Batman comics. He did mention a few illustrators of comics, but I could not catch their names.
Anurag may have the largest personal DVD collection in India.
On how to write and direct movies
There is no definite structure he follows. “Just write” is his advice to writers.
He is a painter and he plays with space on the sets. He does not follow and adhere to any formal shot division planning.
On the observation that acting is of the highest quality in his directed movies, in Anurag’s own words “Instead of the actor performing for the camera, I let the camera capture the people…”
Well, that’s all I have on Anurag Kashyap. There were a few other things he talked about in the one on one discussion I had with him, but they were his very personal views and I would like to avoid putting them up here.
I was planning to write a review on Paanch after this, but am in a bind. I’m not sure if I should review an unreleased movie. It may not be right towards Anurag and the producers of Paanch to have my views out in the open on an unreleased product. What do you think …?
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Author : oz 4258 Views Email this post Home : Recent Posts 13 Comments » [ Post your comments ]
DesiPundit » In Conversation with Anurag Kashyap Said,
April 23, 2006 @ 10:07 pm
[…] Oz at Desi Train bumps into Anurag Kashyap at a film festival and strikes up a conversation about his directorial debut, Paanch. […]
Abhishek Said,
April 23, 2006 @ 10:16 pm
Dear Oz….
Convince Anurag to direct “The MBA Gang” for you…..
Here’s my cast….
J - Kay Kay
Neha - Sonali Kulkarni
MK - Aditya Srivastava
Atanu - Sushant Singh
Sumanth - Atul Kulkarni
Add in Shiney Ahuja, Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Bajpai and all the other guys who get cast in straight-jacketed roles…
Ok…The Censors will have a problem…Don’t Worry….Packi in an “Item Song” with Emraan Hashmi and sung by Himesh…That will work wonder…
By the way…keep up the good work…
I’m lovin’ it….
Pranshu Said,
April 23, 2006 @ 11:02 pm
AK had said in an interview that he had initially planned to makd Paanch with manoj bajpai & ravina tandon as the leads! Anyways, so whats the latest on paanch-any chance it being released, ever?! And what about black friday? Didnt AK say anythin about any new projects like Gulel…
Ravi Said,
April 23, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
About reviewing paanch? Nope, i want to watch the film first. I don’t know whether it ll happen anytime soon but i am a game to pursue for a copy for as long as it takes.
But i really want to read how you felt after watching it. Not the specific’s but the general reaction.
Also, wat abt ur choice of cast for the MBA gang?
Nirav Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 12:28 am
Hey Oz…
Did you get any dope on Gulal and Allwyn Kallicharan, and if they are going to see the light of day?
And given that even celebrities frequent your site p) it makes sense to not review the movie… seriously… good decision
Have been trying to get a DVD copy of Paanch in Sydney for a long time now… but to no avail.
Umrao Jaan Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 12:56 am
The reasons banning Paanch by the censors - FUCKING LAME…….can somebody beat up these guys please and help us relieve some scum from the earth!!!
My favorite was “…….the Indian public does not do drugs”. Surely, the censors must be smoking something illegal to come up with such lame excuses.
And kudos to the actress that reads your blog…..there is hope yet in Bollywood
Kim Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 7:22 am
Anurag is a brilliant Actor, Director, Script writer & Dialogue Writer. The man is a Creative Genius !
Had a wonderful workshop with him about a month ago. The guy’s knowledge on all things related to the film world whether Hungarian or Guatamalan is astounding. Also saw a preview of his unedited next movie. Read it up at http://whazzupmumbai.blogspot.com/2006/03/anurag-kashyaps-workshop-gulal.html
Haven’t been able to watch either Paanch or Black Friday yet, since they are both banned in India. Might just have to revisit the US, just to attend a Film Festival & watch these 2 movies : )
oz Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 7:48 am
- Abhishek, Thanks buddy. But me thinks Anurag has too many fine scripts of his own to even think about the MBA Gang…. Song by Himesh in the MBA Gang?
- Pranshu, I didn’t know that (Bajpai and Tandon)… Oh yeah I somehow missed telling you guys this -
Paanch has been cleared by the Censors. And will most probably be released in June. Anurag also expects Black Friday to release around the same time.
His new project (assuming it is Gulel) is again stuck. This time the producers have run out of finance.
- Ravi, Gottcha. Usually I avoid revealing anything in my reviews unless the movie is so shitty that one doesn’t care.
About my take on the cast of the MBA Gang… (ahem) lets say I want each of you guys to remember who you wanted to cast. When I reach the last chapter you can then review whom you had first selected. My selecting the cast at this time may give away many things in the plot that are about to unfold.
- Nirav, I think Allwyn Kallicharan is a closed chapter. It was supposed to be done with Anil Kapoor in the lead. But he walked away and Anurag simply closed the doors on this project. Gulel is stuck due to lack of finance.
- Umrao Jaan, It is good material for a standup. At the same time it is tragic to see how lives of real geniuses are destroyed by a handful of stuffy collars. Thank You, yes there is hope and there will always be hope.
- Kim, You are more luckier than us here in the US. You got to attend a workshop that had Kashyap and other talented artists! Liked the post very much.
George Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 9:26 am
awesome. As far as paid Dhaaps are concerned, did he mention Sanjay Gupta’s JUNG? That flick was bouncing from one controversy to another (star tantrums, screenwriting credits), and it turned out that even though Anurag K was credited, his brother had worked on the screenplay.
also, did he have anything more to say about MIXED DOUBLES?
yoyo Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 1:01 pm
ya no review bfore release pls.
hey what happened to ur hair?
Zero Said,
April 24, 2006 @ 10:28 pm
Oz,
Absolutely great.
Paanch is going to come in June? Fantastic!
I read this post yesterday, but coming back to leave this comment.
oz Said,
April 25, 2006 @ 6:26 am
- George, He didn’t speak about Jung. That piece of what he was asked to copy was given to me in the personal discussion I had with him. Nothing more on Mixed Doubles, he mentioned that name to a question on what his recent projects were.
- Yoyo, Review coming up sorry. can’t resist. I’ve carried the shaved look for the past few months.
- Zero, Thanks! Yeah that’s what he mentioned. Paanch has been cleared by the censors. Infact we got to see the censor certificate (A) during the screening. Black Friday according to him too should be out around June/July. But then, that’s what he had mentioned last year, same time. I think Sahara has picked up one of the two movies. Well lets hope this time we do get to see atleast one if not both.
HoliDevil Said,
April 25, 2006 @ 8:17 am
Oz, U r in the list of Bollywood actresses nw
BTW did Anurag mentioned nethng abt the release of Paanch and Black Friday in India
TC
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Does realism in film sell
Does realism in film sell? Until we try, how would we know?
Anurag Kashyap and Rahul Dholakia at the EXPRESS
Posted online: Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST
After having done fiery street theatre with the Jan Natya Manch in Delhi, Anurag Kashyap went off to make movies in Mumbai. He lived on the streets, picked up the lingo, and landed the screenplay and dialogues of Ram Gopal Varma’s mob classic Satya — the iconic Bhiku Mhatre, played by Manoj Bajpai, is as much Anurag’s creation as it is Varma’s. After years of writing, and doing what he calls “additional dialogues” for other directors, Kashyap made his first film, Paanch, which ran smack into censor trouble for being “too violent”. His second, Black Friday, a stark, uncompromising docu-drama on how the Mumbai blasts were planned, has taken over two years to release.
Rahul Dholakia’s first movie, a forgettable romantic comedy, bombed, but that did not deter him from a second coming. He was in the US when the Gujarat riots happened, and the images which leapt off the TV screens post-Godhra, shook him. So did the news that the young son of his friends, the Modys in Ahmedabad, had gone missing. The tragedy of those days is brought alive in his searing Parzania, which released after a relentless struggle over one and a half years to get it to theatres. It is still not playing in Gujarat, where it all happened.
Two very different filmmakers, united in the courage of their conviction. And in telling stories which need to be told. Both met the Express team over lunch this week. Some excerpts from the conversation.
Anurag: I was in Delhi in 1993. I saw films at the IFFI film festival, packed my bags and left for Mumbai. Mumbai was strange, it was a kind of city that I had never seen before. I lived on the streets, did theatre for Prithvi, started writing and the break came pretty soon, since I wrote a play that became a cult hit that somebody saw and gave me a short film to write. It was for Shyom Nayar, who eventually ended up directing Ahista Ahista. I wrote that short film on Auto Shankar. That got recognised and Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma)saw it and gave me Satya.
Shubhra Gupta: Ram Gopal Varma keeps saying that he doesn’t give people breaks but I think he actually does and only for his own good. So, what happened after Satya.
Anurag: Things kept happening after Satya. I wrote Kaun, Shool, started doing dialogues as pretty early I realised that when you write a script, it doesn’t remain the same when it goes onto the screen. To avoid that heartbreak I started writing only dialogues. I said I’ll only do dialogues and whatever else I had to do and to detach myself from the film. Then I was working on Water and Mission Kashmir simultaneously. There was a problem with Mission Kashmir. I disagreed with the whole politics of the film and I walked out . Then I did Water and there was some problem with it. It was a frustrating time.,
Rahul: I was into advertising, making documentaries, made a film called Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar. While I was doing this the riots happened in Gujarat, where a friend of mine friend lost his son. I thought it was time for me to make a statement. After five years it has been released.
Unni Rajen Shanker: How old is your friendship with Dara Mody, whose missing son Parzania is based on ?
Rahul: In 1996-97 we used to hangout together in the US, he was a projectionist. He came to India for extension of his H-1. Every year, all friends would get together for flying kites in January. That January in 2002 he was there too. One month later the riots happened, and the next festival he was there, his son wasn’t.
Shailaja Bajpai: Both your films deal with question of violence. Do you feel that violence is the best way to express communal and social tensions or conflicts?
Anurag : Paanch was banned on grounds of excessive violence. My contention remains that sometimes violence is unexplained , unprovoked, sudden and very brutal. Unflinching violence when you see it on screen puts you off. Violence in Last Temptation of Christ puts you off. I have got the chance to put it out and see whether it has the same impact.
Rahul: We haven’t shown blood, just the whole sequence of riots. We wanted to make feel as if you were part of it and how they were feeling. After the film is over, people don’t come out angry, or wanting to take revenge they ask why. Then it becomes effective, it’s not glamourised.
Seema Chishti: Both of you have made very political films, rooted in recent, real life incidents. But how do you look at films like Babel, that play very tangentially on things. How do you compare both kinds of films?
Rahul : I didn’t set out for it to be a political film, it was straight from the heart. Of course, we were making a statement about the riot. The whole film is so much more about what pain people are going through. It had to do with, ‘Even though they were Parsis, they were attacked.’ It wasn’t the politics but the family story.
Anurag: Babel is completely different from what we trying to do film. One thing that was clear was that the film will stick to that statement by Mahatma Gandhi: “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” We wanted to remain factual, most of the incidents didn’t have a balance, they were one dimensional.
Shubhra: Did you ever think of doing Parzania in Hindi?
Rahul: I was disgusted with my last Hindi film. Parzania was made was made during BJP rule, so the issue of censorship was already there, we thought it would never get past the Indian Censor Board. Also, I felt that an international issue needed to be addressed. For me, what Bush was doing was no different. But I am trying to dub it in Gujarati and Hindi. I didn’t start making the movie on film, some footage of the riots was taken from TV stations, but gradually the film became bigger and bigger.
Manini: Anurag, how did your years in Jan Natya Manch (an overtly left-leaning theatre group) that makes no bones about being political, impact on you as a filmmaker?
Anurag: I am very apolitical and the Jan Natya Manch had no impact. I have been very confused and still am. I read a lot of books. Films like Bicycle Thief, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow have impressed me a lot.
Manini: Both your films are political, and in Rahul’s case of the chosen family for Parzania, the latest issue of the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, asks why not a film on the plight of a kar sevak or a Kashmiri Pandit family. Why do you both fight shy of being called ‘political’ filmmakers? Is it for reasons of art or commerce?
Rahul: I didn’t care about commerce, as far as art is concerned it was to the point of making the film..I am not afraid of being political, but I am not political! When making the film, nothing came in between. It was simply the passion of making the film.
Anurag: When you making a film and it’s remotely realistic, there’s a problem, it has to be step by step. We had no patrons, we were asked to change names. It was more on the side of humanity, I am very apolitical. Every party has its own agenda. Ideologies do not define political parties today. The film was more on human carnage, about the foot soldiers of the ideology of political parties who are left high and dry, who pay a price.
Aman Sharma (to Kashyap): Your film was banned on the grounds that it might affect the judgment of the case. Now that the judgment is out, do you think your film could have impacted the judgment?
Anurag: I don’t think so. If it does then we need to question the judiciary. The judiciary has to be objective. In the Nithari killings, everyone including the media has formed an opinion already. When news channels can dramatise and portray it, why can’t I portray it on film? In the US, they made a film called Death of a President, on the fictional assassination of President Bush...that’s freedom of expression.
Aman : Why didn’t you touch on Sanjay Dutt in the film?
Anurag: Sanjay Dutt was not part of conspiracy, the celebrity took focus took attention away from real issue. The idea wasn’t not to distract the audience. Sanjay Dutt was a peripheral issue.
Vasundhara Koshy: Your movie hasn’t been screened in Gujarat. Any comments ?
Rahul: The state government is scared of the Bajrang Dal. In spite of police protection they don’t want to screen a film that they think will create riots. Cinema is always the effect of riots and not the cause of riots. We need to question whether we have any freedom.
Coomi Kapoor: You are one of the new breed of filmmakers whose works are based on stark realism, do you think such films can be part of commercial cinema?
Anurag: It can be part of the industry, if you look at history of films world over, the films that defined cinema — in Korea films like Silmido, the Brazilian City of God, which were realistic and yet made money at the box office. The French cinema of the ‘50s and ‘60s defined and changed the way of living after that. Until and unless we try, how would we know? Cost recovery is possible.
Rahul: The notion of Friday deciding the fate of a film is not true. These kind of films need time. There are various avenues to make money — theatrical release, world rights, DVD rights. Parzania is going into fourth week and they have recovered the print publicity cost already.
Sonu Jain: The problem is, when we watch films like these, sometimes we aren’t able to differentiate whether everything that you show is based on facts or fiction.
Anurag: It’s realistic, not real. For examples, the chase sequence in Black Friday was done to cut the repetitiveness of the 139 arrests. It became a metaphor for what everyone had gone through. Badshah Khan was a fictitious name given as he was a police witness. What transpired in that room with Tiger Memon wasn’t known to anyone, no one spoke about it. Based on an interview with this man caught in Algeria and the references he made, I wrote this whole sequence of how it must have happened. The police brutality was also not the official story, it was from a book called Voices. We spoke to people and got their side of the story.
Unni Rajen Shanker: When you made the film did you think it would ever be shown in Gujarat?
Rahul: I didn’t think Parzania would ever be shown in India. The censor board in India isn’t the audience here. Luckily, now we have liberal people on board.
Namita Kohli: How do you react to the criticism that Parzania was made in English because you had one eye on the international awards scene and other on the so called local anti-Hindu activists?
Rahul: People do call me pseudo-secular, but I ask them what have you done for the other communities like Kashmiri Pandits, have you even put in dollar for them? When I started the film, I was working on 35mm, where does the question of international awards arise?
Anurag: One makes films that are close to your heart. Rahul isn’t in the business of making films on people of various parts of India. I have been asked questions like if I think Indian communalism is marketable abroad?
Shubhra Gupta: What films are you working on next?
Rahul: I am working on Navratri: Nine Days, Nine Lives, based in Gujarat.
Anurag: I am working on No Smoking, about a smoking addict who is emotionally cornered into joining a rehabilitation centre run by a quack called Babu Bengali. It’s a comic film about how he loses touch with what’s real and what’s not at the centre. I am also working on Gulal, a film which is set in neon light futuristic Rajasthan. Hanuman Returns, an animation film will come out by Diwali this year.
Kavita Chowdhury: Do you feel that films like yours point to the new wave of parallel cinema?
Anurag: I try to take the most serious issues and turn them into entertaining films. More than a new wave, I feel we are wanting to find our own platforms. For me, elements like humour and cynicism are important. That signifies my style which hopefully in sometime both actors and people will associate with.
Rahul: I am not trying to create any new wave, if there’s song then I would put it in. This is just the way I would express myself.
Shiv Aroor: What do you think of the Fahrenheit 9 /11 and Bowling for Columbine format?
Anurag: Fahrenheit 9/11 was released in India but Final Solution was not. Documentaries are very important and they should be screened in theatres for they will have a huge impact.
Rahul: In fact, we have already formed an Independent Films Association in Mumbai to try and screen such kind of cinema like the UGC cinema chains in the UK.
Abhay Mishra: Many books, movies etc have been banned in the past on the pretext that they pose a threat to law and order. What contents do you think that violate that freedom of expression? Do you think it was okay for the Danish cartoonist to sketch Prophet Mohammed?
Anurag: The cartoons were made in faraway Denmark, you would need to Google to get the cartoons...I feel the first person who raises a voice against a work of art, calling it ‘inflammatory’ needs to be immediately investigated — as he has something to hide or is himself a troublemaker. People who stand up and ask for bans are uncomfortable with those issues themselves. And that’s where the government should come in, but they don’t want to lose their vote bank. Content doesn’t originate from thin air, they come from somewhere. Sometimes the objections can be baseless also.
Unni Rajen Shanker: As a Gujarati Hindu yourself, Rahul, making a film on the riots, how did you observe the riots? What was the response to the film from your community?
Rahul: When the riots happened, I was in Mumbai. Besides TV footage, I met people, went to relief camps. When I was making the film, my immediate family was anti-me. But after watching the film, they said that maybe their attitude may not be appropriate and insensitive. Majority of the Gujaratis who were pro-Modi’s agenda come from a literate background but have a lot of hate within them. Though they accept that it is without a cause. The film is somehow making them question things.
Shubhra Gupta: Both of you are men of the moment, who got their movie out after so much struggle, but do you feel filmmakers like you are now gaining acceptance?
Anurag: A resounding yes. In the last five days many producers are more than willing to do films with me. Things are changing.
Rahul: We are still the same, our styles are the same. But there’s a change in their attitudes.
Anurag Kashyap and Rahul Dholakia at the EXPRESS
Posted online: Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST
After having done fiery street theatre with the Jan Natya Manch in Delhi, Anurag Kashyap went off to make movies in Mumbai. He lived on the streets, picked up the lingo, and landed the screenplay and dialogues of Ram Gopal Varma’s mob classic Satya — the iconic Bhiku Mhatre, played by Manoj Bajpai, is as much Anurag’s creation as it is Varma’s. After years of writing, and doing what he calls “additional dialogues” for other directors, Kashyap made his first film, Paanch, which ran smack into censor trouble for being “too violent”. His second, Black Friday, a stark, uncompromising docu-drama on how the Mumbai blasts were planned, has taken over two years to release.
Rahul Dholakia’s first movie, a forgettable romantic comedy, bombed, but that did not deter him from a second coming. He was in the US when the Gujarat riots happened, and the images which leapt off the TV screens post-Godhra, shook him. So did the news that the young son of his friends, the Modys in Ahmedabad, had gone missing. The tragedy of those days is brought alive in his searing Parzania, which released after a relentless struggle over one and a half years to get it to theatres. It is still not playing in Gujarat, where it all happened.
Two very different filmmakers, united in the courage of their conviction. And in telling stories which need to be told. Both met the Express team over lunch this week. Some excerpts from the conversation.
Anurag: I was in Delhi in 1993. I saw films at the IFFI film festival, packed my bags and left for Mumbai. Mumbai was strange, it was a kind of city that I had never seen before. I lived on the streets, did theatre for Prithvi, started writing and the break came pretty soon, since I wrote a play that became a cult hit that somebody saw and gave me a short film to write. It was for Shyom Nayar, who eventually ended up directing Ahista Ahista. I wrote that short film on Auto Shankar. That got recognised and Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma)saw it and gave me Satya.
Shubhra Gupta: Ram Gopal Varma keeps saying that he doesn’t give people breaks but I think he actually does and only for his own good. So, what happened after Satya.
Anurag: Things kept happening after Satya. I wrote Kaun, Shool, started doing dialogues as pretty early I realised that when you write a script, it doesn’t remain the same when it goes onto the screen. To avoid that heartbreak I started writing only dialogues. I said I’ll only do dialogues and whatever else I had to do and to detach myself from the film. Then I was working on Water and Mission Kashmir simultaneously. There was a problem with Mission Kashmir. I disagreed with the whole politics of the film and I walked out . Then I did Water and there was some problem with it. It was a frustrating time.,
Rahul: I was into advertising, making documentaries, made a film called Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar. While I was doing this the riots happened in Gujarat, where a friend of mine friend lost his son. I thought it was time for me to make a statement. After five years it has been released.
Unni Rajen Shanker: How old is your friendship with Dara Mody, whose missing son Parzania is based on ?
Rahul: In 1996-97 we used to hangout together in the US, he was a projectionist. He came to India for extension of his H-1. Every year, all friends would get together for flying kites in January. That January in 2002 he was there too. One month later the riots happened, and the next festival he was there, his son wasn’t.
Shailaja Bajpai: Both your films deal with question of violence. Do you feel that violence is the best way to express communal and social tensions or conflicts?
Anurag : Paanch was banned on grounds of excessive violence. My contention remains that sometimes violence is unexplained , unprovoked, sudden and very brutal. Unflinching violence when you see it on screen puts you off. Violence in Last Temptation of Christ puts you off. I have got the chance to put it out and see whether it has the same impact.
Rahul: We haven’t shown blood, just the whole sequence of riots. We wanted to make feel as if you were part of it and how they were feeling. After the film is over, people don’t come out angry, or wanting to take revenge they ask why. Then it becomes effective, it’s not glamourised.
Seema Chishti: Both of you have made very political films, rooted in recent, real life incidents. But how do you look at films like Babel, that play very tangentially on things. How do you compare both kinds of films?
Rahul : I didn’t set out for it to be a political film, it was straight from the heart. Of course, we were making a statement about the riot. The whole film is so much more about what pain people are going through. It had to do with, ‘Even though they were Parsis, they were attacked.’ It wasn’t the politics but the family story.
Anurag: Babel is completely different from what we trying to do film. One thing that was clear was that the film will stick to that statement by Mahatma Gandhi: “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” We wanted to remain factual, most of the incidents didn’t have a balance, they were one dimensional.
Shubhra: Did you ever think of doing Parzania in Hindi?
Rahul: I was disgusted with my last Hindi film. Parzania was made was made during BJP rule, so the issue of censorship was already there, we thought it would never get past the Indian Censor Board. Also, I felt that an international issue needed to be addressed. For me, what Bush was doing was no different. But I am trying to dub it in Gujarati and Hindi. I didn’t start making the movie on film, some footage of the riots was taken from TV stations, but gradually the film became bigger and bigger.
Manini: Anurag, how did your years in Jan Natya Manch (an overtly left-leaning theatre group) that makes no bones about being political, impact on you as a filmmaker?
Anurag: I am very apolitical and the Jan Natya Manch had no impact. I have been very confused and still am. I read a lot of books. Films like Bicycle Thief, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow have impressed me a lot.
Manini: Both your films are political, and in Rahul’s case of the chosen family for Parzania, the latest issue of the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, asks why not a film on the plight of a kar sevak or a Kashmiri Pandit family. Why do you both fight shy of being called ‘political’ filmmakers? Is it for reasons of art or commerce?
Rahul: I didn’t care about commerce, as far as art is concerned it was to the point of making the film..I am not afraid of being political, but I am not political! When making the film, nothing came in between. It was simply the passion of making the film.
Anurag: When you making a film and it’s remotely realistic, there’s a problem, it has to be step by step. We had no patrons, we were asked to change names. It was more on the side of humanity, I am very apolitical. Every party has its own agenda. Ideologies do not define political parties today. The film was more on human carnage, about the foot soldiers of the ideology of political parties who are left high and dry, who pay a price.
Aman Sharma (to Kashyap): Your film was banned on the grounds that it might affect the judgment of the case. Now that the judgment is out, do you think your film could have impacted the judgment?
Anurag: I don’t think so. If it does then we need to question the judiciary. The judiciary has to be objective. In the Nithari killings, everyone including the media has formed an opinion already. When news channels can dramatise and portray it, why can’t I portray it on film? In the US, they made a film called Death of a President, on the fictional assassination of President Bush...that’s freedom of expression.
Aman : Why didn’t you touch on Sanjay Dutt in the film?
Anurag: Sanjay Dutt was not part of conspiracy, the celebrity took focus took attention away from real issue. The idea wasn’t not to distract the audience. Sanjay Dutt was a peripheral issue.
Vasundhara Koshy: Your movie hasn’t been screened in Gujarat. Any comments ?
Rahul: The state government is scared of the Bajrang Dal. In spite of police protection they don’t want to screen a film that they think will create riots. Cinema is always the effect of riots and not the cause of riots. We need to question whether we have any freedom.
Coomi Kapoor: You are one of the new breed of filmmakers whose works are based on stark realism, do you think such films can be part of commercial cinema?
Anurag: It can be part of the industry, if you look at history of films world over, the films that defined cinema — in Korea films like Silmido, the Brazilian City of God, which were realistic and yet made money at the box office. The French cinema of the ‘50s and ‘60s defined and changed the way of living after that. Until and unless we try, how would we know? Cost recovery is possible.
Rahul: The notion of Friday deciding the fate of a film is not true. These kind of films need time. There are various avenues to make money — theatrical release, world rights, DVD rights. Parzania is going into fourth week and they have recovered the print publicity cost already.
Sonu Jain: The problem is, when we watch films like these, sometimes we aren’t able to differentiate whether everything that you show is based on facts or fiction.
Anurag: It’s realistic, not real. For examples, the chase sequence in Black Friday was done to cut the repetitiveness of the 139 arrests. It became a metaphor for what everyone had gone through. Badshah Khan was a fictitious name given as he was a police witness. What transpired in that room with Tiger Memon wasn’t known to anyone, no one spoke about it. Based on an interview with this man caught in Algeria and the references he made, I wrote this whole sequence of how it must have happened. The police brutality was also not the official story, it was from a book called Voices. We spoke to people and got their side of the story.
Unni Rajen Shanker: When you made the film did you think it would ever be shown in Gujarat?
Rahul: I didn’t think Parzania would ever be shown in India. The censor board in India isn’t the audience here. Luckily, now we have liberal people on board.
Namita Kohli: How do you react to the criticism that Parzania was made in English because you had one eye on the international awards scene and other on the so called local anti-Hindu activists?
Rahul: People do call me pseudo-secular, but I ask them what have you done for the other communities like Kashmiri Pandits, have you even put in dollar for them? When I started the film, I was working on 35mm, where does the question of international awards arise?
Anurag: One makes films that are close to your heart. Rahul isn’t in the business of making films on people of various parts of India. I have been asked questions like if I think Indian communalism is marketable abroad?
Shubhra Gupta: What films are you working on next?
Rahul: I am working on Navratri: Nine Days, Nine Lives, based in Gujarat.
Anurag: I am working on No Smoking, about a smoking addict who is emotionally cornered into joining a rehabilitation centre run by a quack called Babu Bengali. It’s a comic film about how he loses touch with what’s real and what’s not at the centre. I am also working on Gulal, a film which is set in neon light futuristic Rajasthan. Hanuman Returns, an animation film will come out by Diwali this year.
Kavita Chowdhury: Do you feel that films like yours point to the new wave of parallel cinema?
Anurag: I try to take the most serious issues and turn them into entertaining films. More than a new wave, I feel we are wanting to find our own platforms. For me, elements like humour and cynicism are important. That signifies my style which hopefully in sometime both actors and people will associate with.
Rahul: I am not trying to create any new wave, if there’s song then I would put it in. This is just the way I would express myself.
Shiv Aroor: What do you think of the Fahrenheit 9 /11 and Bowling for Columbine format?
Anurag: Fahrenheit 9/11 was released in India but Final Solution was not. Documentaries are very important and they should be screened in theatres for they will have a huge impact.
Rahul: In fact, we have already formed an Independent Films Association in Mumbai to try and screen such kind of cinema like the UGC cinema chains in the UK.
Abhay Mishra: Many books, movies etc have been banned in the past on the pretext that they pose a threat to law and order. What contents do you think that violate that freedom of expression? Do you think it was okay for the Danish cartoonist to sketch Prophet Mohammed?
Anurag: The cartoons were made in faraway Denmark, you would need to Google to get the cartoons...I feel the first person who raises a voice against a work of art, calling it ‘inflammatory’ needs to be immediately investigated — as he has something to hide or is himself a troublemaker. People who stand up and ask for bans are uncomfortable with those issues themselves. And that’s where the government should come in, but they don’t want to lose their vote bank. Content doesn’t originate from thin air, they come from somewhere. Sometimes the objections can be baseless also.
Unni Rajen Shanker: As a Gujarati Hindu yourself, Rahul, making a film on the riots, how did you observe the riots? What was the response to the film from your community?
Rahul: When the riots happened, I was in Mumbai. Besides TV footage, I met people, went to relief camps. When I was making the film, my immediate family was anti-me. But after watching the film, they said that maybe their attitude may not be appropriate and insensitive. Majority of the Gujaratis who were pro-Modi’s agenda come from a literate background but have a lot of hate within them. Though they accept that it is without a cause. The film is somehow making them question things.
Shubhra Gupta: Both of you are men of the moment, who got their movie out after so much struggle, but do you feel filmmakers like you are now gaining acceptance?
Anurag: A resounding yes. In the last five days many producers are more than willing to do films with me. Things are changing.
Rahul: We are still the same, our styles are the same. But there’s a change in their attitudes.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Thank God it's Black Friday!
Thank God it's Black Friday!
Anurag Kashyap talks about the insecurities he's feeling now that Black Friday is finally releasing on February 9
Posted On Thursday, February 01, 2007
Sonia Chopra
A still from Black Friday
• Has it sunk in that Black Friday is finally releasing?
No, it's still sinking in. I know it's releasing for sure. But I am feeling very insecure. The insecurities are beyond whether the film will do well or not. I've seen how the world functions. People trying to pull you down; people using the film to their advantage... It started with Water, where I was the dialogue consultant.
• Are you referring to the protests that lead to the ban on Water?
What protest? The entire fracas with Water happened because of one single person called Rakesh Manjul who was asked to leave the film. He was the cultural representative of the government so he used his position – he took things out of context and got them published in the papers. The political party that protested against Water did not exist a day before it all happened. The party Kashi Sanskriti Raksha Sangharsh Samiti (KSRSS) was formed overnight. There were only 20 people protesting the entire time, and they got the film banned. We ended up being the targets.
• What happened with Black Friday?
A case was filed against us by the accused. They charged us with judging them before the verdict was actually out. So our film was not banned, it was postponed. Now the verdict is out, and the accused have been found guilty. We sent an appeal to the Supreme Court, so the film could be released. The film got cleared on October 29.
• What did you do when all your films from Paanch to Black Friday to Gulal got stuck one after the other, and people started calling you unfortunate and jinxed?
Either you get depressed, or you fight back, or you start afresh. I didn't fight back; I first got depressed and then started afresh (laughs). I had three anxiety attacks in three months and had to be hospitalised. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. But I am a survivor. The more the adverse the circumstances, the stronger I emerge. I became like that in my late teens. I've been abused as a child. I've had a tough life.
• But the money must have got stuck too?
Yes, that's when I started taking up projects for money. Now, I do one film for money. Like Main Aisa Hi Hoon, and now Shaka Laka Boom Boom. Others I do for myself – like Water, The Pool, Mixed Doubles, Meridian, and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. I don't even discuss money for these films. To compensate, I work very hard.
• In a way aren't you glad Black Friday is releasing now as opposed to 2004. The audience has changed now, and there is a sense of activism post Rang De Basanti.
I am just happy that Black Friday is releasing. But it should have released when it was made. I feel the audience would have accepted Black Friday even then. Yes, the activism fervor started with RDB, but it could have started with Black Friday.
• Is it true that Black Friday is being made into a TV series?
Yes, there is a plan. But it's not concrete as yet.
• You're editing No Smoking these days. How's it turning out?
It has turned out to be my most stylish film. The film is very much in the territory of Charles Kaufman. No one has ever attempted this kind of a script in this country. It seriously screws around with the audiences' mind.
Anurag Kashyap
• Is it on the lines of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
Absolutely, it's completely in that genre. But No Smoking is a thriller/comedy. It's a state of mind.
• 2007 will be a very important year for you.
Yes, this will be the year of clearing my backlogs. Most of my stuck films will be releasing this year; and in 2008 I want to start afresh. About 19 films that I have been involved in will release this year, including Paanch and Gulal! I am the writer and creative director for Hanuman Returns – that is also something I am looking forward to as I think this film will take animation to the next level.
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