The Director - Anurag Kashyap

It was back in the 1960- 1970’s when the movies spoke about the prevailing conditions of the society and were based on what issues revolved around the population of our country. In a broader perspective the movies reflected what happened in the society. Today a lot of new age directors show the kind of society that one cannot really connect to. But I think apart from healthy entertainment there is also a need to know what is actually happening within/around the society. I have been moved by the works of one such director, who has made a niche in the industry, and is a man who has defined what cinema in modern times should be. The director is Anurag Kashyap, who is considered to be one of the most versatile directors in Bollywood (Hindi Film Industry). DevD, No Smoking, Black Friday, Gulaal and Paanch are the films that he has directed. Being a screenplay writer he is also associated with Satya, Water, and has written the dialogues for Mani Ratnam’s Yuva.

Anurag Kashyap was born in the town of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in September 1972 and was seen to be interested in watching movies since he was five. Strange to know that he liked movies like Aandhi and Kora Kagaz at such a young age. Anurag Kashayap did his schooling from The Scindia School in Gwalior and wanted to be a Zoologist. For college, he enrolled in the Hanraj College in Delhi for Bachelors in Science (zoology) course and later became a part of a theatre group called the “Jana Natya Manch” which was also involved in street plays. Few of his friends asked him to attend the International Film Festival of India, where he ended up watching 55 movies in 10 days. This had a huge impact on his mind and he decided that all he wanted to do in life was to become a director. After graduating in 1993, he came down to Bombay with his dreams and an ample sum of Rs 5000 with him. If you notice it’s the same story with a lot of people who have come to Bollywood to make their name. Less money, a lot of dreams, and the urge to make it big in their life. Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar are the few people who have made it. Staying in a hotel for some time, Kashyap was out of cash and started spending his nights on beaches, streets and was also heard of staying in the boy’s hostel that belonged to the St Xavier’s college. Kashyap wrote a drama which was appreciated across theatres and by various directors too. He was also advised by many to pursue a career in writing. “Auto Narayan” was a docu-drama that was made by Anurag, which impressed on Manoj Bajpai who asked Ram Gopal Varma to watch it. Ram Gopal Varma was one of the very good directors known to people in the late 1990’s and he hired Anurag Kashyap to write a script for him, which later turned out to be the film “Satya”. This film was accepted by the audiences and was also liked by the film critics. One of the film critics, Rajeev Masand rated ‘Satya’ as ‘one of the most influential films’ during that time. Recently even Danny Boyle appreciated the movie & has cited it as an inspiration for his movie Slumdog Millionaire that helped him in the portrayal of the Mumbai underworld. 

Star Plus began showcasing the talent of new writers and producers in 1999 with their series, Star Best Sellers, the people at Star liked Kashyap’s narration of a story and asked him to make a film based on it. ‘Last Train to Mahakali’ a 45 min film was made in a period of 4 days and starred Kay Kay Menon in the lead. Kashyap also won an award for this movie. Finally in 2000 he made the movie Paanch which was not accepted by the Censor Board of India as there was nothing in the movie that people can learn from and is not a healthy entertainer. Kashyap was upset with the board’s decision; he later made a movie that was based on the Bombay Bombing in 1993, Black Friday. This movie post its release was also banned by the Bombay High Court. This left a bad impression of the whole industry and Kashyap started speaking a lot about the industry through his blog.

Late in 2007 Anurag Kashyap’s  No Smoking was released with John Abraham in the lead role. This movie talks on both the sides; it is both anti smoking and is pro smoking at the same time. We can also notice this when we listen to the songs of the movie, the lyrics speak a lot. A Ramados who was the Health Minister of India, had banned the smoking of Cigarettes on screen. The Health Ministry of India facilitated him for his work, as the ministry believed it to be anti smoking and sent a message of ‘No Smoking’ to the audience.

In 2009, came DevD which is a modern adaptation of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya’s Devdas. This movie did really well at the box office and was appreciated by critics too; The Times of India gave five stars to the movie. This movie spoke about the modern “Devdas”, and how ‘Devdas’  is no more confined to a book, but has now become an adjective, it’s in our everyday usage. Today if we see anybody sobbing, we tell him “Don’t be a Devdas”. His idea was to try and explore the adjective that Devdas has become today. Through which he talked about the youth of today which lives in this age of fast cash, fast food, instant gratification and how they look at love, life, & relationships. Abhay Deol who played the role of ‘Dev’ in this movie told a story to Anurag Kashyap about a boy who looked lost sitting in a strip club in Los Angeles. This triggered Kashyap to make an adaptation and thus he worked with his writers to make a movie. 

After DevD came Gulal, which talks about the aristocracy that still exists in states like Rajasthan. It speaks about how politics in college affects the lives of those who are actively involved in it, and also how the politically powerful people use the youth to reach to their desired goals of attaining power in their hands.

Anurag Kashyap has also started his own production company, and  has co produced ‘Udaan’, which is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. Udaan was also selected for the Cannes Film Festival from India. Many talented actors work under his company; I had watched one of their plays called “The Skeleton Woman” which had Kalki Koechlin playing a role. The liveliness that both Kalki and her co star, Prashant Prakash had was reflected in their performance. Seeing the talent they had and the kind of roles they played was really inspiring.

What I have learnt from Anurag Kashyap is the belief he had in himself. Even after being rejected he bounced back and showcased his talent. Another thing that inspires me is the passion he has when it comes to making movies; it is surprising to know that he met Danny Boyle when he was making DevD in London. He met Danny Boyle for lunch and asked for help with the camera, where he could make the camera trip and not the actor. Kashyap was suggested to buy a camera from Holland, which had the ability to shoot at 11 frames per second, the camera was used in a sequence in DevD. Recently at the Venice Film Festival, Kashyap met Quentin Tarantino, director (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs and Inglorious Basterds) who’s work Kashyap admires a lot. Apparently it also happened to be Anurag Kashyaps birthday and he celebrated it in the presence of Quentin Tarantino. Anurag Kashyap sure is an asset for the film industry who reflects and makes an impact on the society he learns from.