Anupam Kher on asking Anurag Kashyap for work despite political differences: ‘It doesn’t make you a small person’

More recently, in an interview with The Lallantop, Anupam was asked if political differences have created a divide in Bollywood as well. He said in Hindi, “I haven’t seen that interview, but yes, we keep meeting at our doctor’s office. And I don’t mind asking for work from anybody. It doesn’t make you a small person. I would like to work with him, some of the films he has made are very good films. Gangs of Wasseypur was a good film, so was Black Friday. I haven’t seen his recent work. He is a very fine director, and ideologies shouldn’t get in the way of work.”

Explaining his logic, he continued, “When you go to a doctor, he doesn’t treat you because your ideologies match. And it’s not wrong to have ideologies. One should exercise their rights as independent citizens. Unfortunately, we’ve started looking at this topic differently now. Even before social media, the film industry had people of all ideologies, you just didn’t know about it.”

In his interview with The Lallantop from earlier this year, Anurag was asked how he handles working with actors with ideologies that don’t align with his own. He said that even crew members sometimes have different ideologies, but this shouldn’t matter. “I have a problem with rabid people, hardcore people who impose their ideologies on others,” he said. He added, “I often  run into Anupam Kher at our doctor’s office. He asks me why I don’t work with him, and when we can work together.”

Anupam Kher has worked with scores of prominent people from the film industry, but in recent years, he has developed an off-screen persona that is vocal about politics. This is reflected in his choice of work as well; last year, he appeared in the controversial film The Kashmir Files, which Anurag Kashyap said should not be chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars.