Bollywood is insecure, creatively bankrupt, steals ideas from South, says Nawazuddin Siddiqui: ‘Anurag Kashyap was forced to quit’

He devised the word ‘creativeruptcy’ to highlight how the film industry has been bankrupt of creative ideas. He said, “Kahin na kahin jaise bankruptcy hoti hai, vaise yeh creativeruptcy hogaya. Kangaliyat hai bohut zayada (It’s creative bankruptcy, just like financial bankruptcy. There’s a lot of creative poverty).”

The Serious Men actor outrightly called the film industry folks thieves for stealing ideas from South films. He said, “Ab jo chor hote hain, voh kahan se creative ho sakte hain. Humne south se churaya, kabhi yahan se churaya, kabhi wahan se churaya. Even some cult-films which became hits, unke scenes bhi chori kare hue hain. Isko itna normalise kardiya gaya ki chori hai toh kya hua? (Now, how can thieves be creative? We’ve stolen from the South, sometimes from here, sometimes from there. Even some cult films that became hits have scenes that were copied. This has been so normalised that it’s like — so what if it’s stolen?).”

Nawaz also pointed out a disturbing norm in the Hindi film industry — where makers would hand over the video of a film and directly ask someone to replicate it. “What can you expect from an industry like this? What kind of actors will come in? They’ll be of the same kind,” he said.

He also took the opportunity to mention how filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was forced to quit the Hindi film industry because of this very culture. “And then actors and directors start quitting — like Anurag Kashyap, who was bringing in good work,” he said.

Earlier, Anurag had shared that he had moved out of Mumbai and is now taking more interest in South cinema, as Bollywood has become ‘toxic.’ Speaking to The Hindu, he said, “I’ve left Mumbai. I want to stay away from film people. The industry has become too toxic. Everyone is chasing unrealistic targets, trying to make the next Rs 500 or Rs 800 crore film.”