Director Anurag Kashyap and actor Abhay Deol had a contentious relationship while working together on the film Dev D. Even years later, the actor continues to criticise Kashyap in interviews, describing the filmmaker as 'manipulative' and 'toxic'. The feud began when Kashyap was quoted in a HuffPost interview as saying that Deol displayed starry airs on the set of Dev D, and demanded better accommodation. He has since repeatedly apologised for his comments, and said that he shouldn't have made them publicly. In a recent chat with Mashable's The Bombay Journey, writer and actor Piyush Mishra, who knows both the artistes well, was asked about his opinion on the Kashyap-Deol fallout. Stating that it would be foolish to make a statement about Anurag Kashyap, Mishra said, "Arey Abhay Deol ki alag baat hai, Anurag ke bhi har bande se sambandh alag alag hai. Main dono ko jaanta hun, Anurag ko samjhna bada mushkil hai. Uske baare me statement de dena ekdum se zara bewakoofi hogi (I know both Abhay and Anurag well, and it can be difficult to understand Anurag, but just putting out a statement against him would be a little unwise)." "Aur Abahy ko main jaanta hun ki bada organised banda hai. Sab cheez naap tol ke karta hai, and apne stardom ka usko bada khayal hai. Uska ye hai ki main apne naak par makhi nahi baithne dunga. Dev D ke waqt kuch hua hoga inka. Kuch pange hue honge, Anurag ke ho jaate hai (Abhay is a very organised person. He is very careful about his stardom and image. Something must have happened between the two while filming Dev D)." Anurag Kashyap has since apologised to Abhay Deol, and has praised his work in the recently released Netflix series Trial by Fire, based on the Uphaar Cinema tragedy in 1997.
