Anurag Kashyap dejected by Shankar comparing Game Changer to Instagram Reels: ‘Filmmakers were chefs, now they are caterers’

After the colossal failure of his latest film Indian 2, featuring Kamal Haasan in the lead role, renowned filmmaker S Shankar is gearing up for a comeback with his much-anticipated Ram Charan-starrer Game Changer, which will hit the screens on January 10. Prior to the movie’s worldwide premiere, the makers had organised a pre-release event in Dallas a few days ago. The event was attended by both Charan and Shankar. Meanwhile, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has now stepped forward expressing his view on a comment Shankar reportedly made during the event.

At the Dallas gathering, Shankar purportedly commented on the audience’s perceived diminishing attention spans, revealing that Game Changer has been crafted to reflect this shift, likening its structure to a series of Reels pieced together. Reacting to this, Kashyap noted that filmmakers today are moving away from being creators to becoming mere caterers. “I was recently reading this statement by Shankar sir saying ‘Today’s audience’s (attention) span has become very short. They watch Reels. So, we have kept that in mind while doing Game Changer.’ I don’t know what that means and we’ll only know when we see the film. A lot of filmmakers are talking in this language like, ‘My film is just like Reels put together because that’s what the audience wants to watch.’ Filmmakers who, at one point, were like chefs for me, creating things, are becoming caterers,” he pointed out during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter India.

Watch Game Changer teaser here:

“The moment you start thinking in terms of what the audience wants, that’s when the decline begins. The audience is not a one-organ person; it’s a massive sea of people. I still go by the old dictum of what filmmakers used to say, ‘audience will see what we put on screen with conviction, passion and love.’ That’s how you create a new thing. If you’re trying to guess what audience wants to watch, then you are literally destroying yourself… limiting yourself,” he added.

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Also read – Anurag Kashyap opens up about why Kennedy wasn’t released, says he has lost the energy to fight: ‘Five of my films are lying unreleased’

Also starring Kiara Advani, Anjali, Samuthirakani, SJ Suryah, Srikanth and Sunil in key roles, Game Changer marks Shankar’s first directorial in Telugu in his 32-year career. The film’s cinematography is handled by Tirru, with editing by Shameer Muhammed and Antony Ruben, and music composed by S Thaman. Game Changer’s story line is contributed by Karthik Subbaraj and its story has been written by Vivek, with dialogues crafted by Sai Madhav Burra. While Avinash Kolla, Rama Krishna and Monika are the art directors, Anbariv has choreographed the action sequences.