Anurag Kashyap says it’s a ‘tragedy’ that one needs courage to speak the truth today: ‘Mann ki baat karne ka haq…’

Anurag Kashyap has often also mentioned how he says his truth through his films. With many believing that movies are for entertainment purposes, does he get questioned about including his politics and beliefs in films? “There can be entertainment in truth also. I try to find humour in the mundane. What was the entertainment in Oppenheimer? Your engagement! There is engagement. So I am saying the job of any kind of an art form is to engage the audience. If I engage you, be it emotional, be it dark, be it anything, it’s a thriller… it is entertainment. Engagement is entertainment.”

Anurag Kashyap on Haddi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and more

Haddi director Akshat Ajay Sharma chimed in, “At the end of the day, you are telling a story. You can’t be a preacher and bhashan de do (give sermons). It has to be a film, it has to be something that people take and absorb, and they enjoy… and then make some sense out of it. If you are trying to force a thought or a teaching or something, it loses its charm. So I think you should let the story do its work.”

The Manmarziyaan director added, “Mann ki baat karne ke liye himmat nahi chaiye honi chaiye. Har kisi ko ek barabar mann ki baat karne ka haq hona chaiye (Everyone deserves to talk their mind and heart. You shouldn’t have to find the courage for it).”

Referring to the film’s title, we asked Anurag Kashyap what or who is the ‘haddi’ in a filmmaker’s life. “My biggest haddi is the expectations as a filmmaker. I have a big problem with people expecting me to make the same kind of film. I want to say this before every film – ‘This is not Gangs of Wasseypur’, that’s why it’s not called Gangs of Wasseypur. Ok bye,” he quipped.

Haddi is streaming on ZEE5.