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When Ram Gopal Varma made Satya in 1998, it became a defining film for an entire generation, one that changed the face of Hindi cinema forever. More than a decade later, Anurag Kashyap did the same with Gangs of Wasseypur, a film that was equally ground-breaking and seminal in more ways than one. On one hand, the film revived Manoj Bajpayee’s career; on the other, it put Nawazuddin Siddiqui firmly on the map. It also gave Anurag Kashyap the long-awaited recognition he had sought throughout his career. At the same time, it launched the careers of newcomers like Rajkummar Rao, Huma Qureshi, and Richa Chadha.
The film also bore fruit for many others behind the scenes: lyricist Varun Grover, who went on to become a celebrated screenwriter, casting director Mukesh Chhabra, whose career transformed overnight; and music composer Sneha Khanwalkar, whose songs from the film remain chartbusters even today. Even the assistant directors on the project, Vicky Kaushal and Neeraj Ghaywan, are now acclaimed artists in their own right. Yet, amid all its cinematic glory, one question continues to intrigue fans: what was the real story of Wasseypur that inspired such an epic two-part saga?
The film chronicles three generations across three powerful families, the butcher Sultan Qureshi (Pankaj Tripathi), the mafia don-turned-politician Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia), and the Pathan pehalwan Shahid Khan (Jaideep Ahlawat). It’s a tale of revenge and blood feuds set against the backdrop of Dhanbad’s coal mines and its turbulent political history. However, in reality, the story didn’t begin with Shahid Khan (as portrayed by Jaideep Ahlawat), but with his on-screen son, Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee), whose real-life counterpart was a man named Shafiq Khan.
The saga of vengeance began when Shafiq Khan was assassinated by a killer hired by the narrator’s grand-uncle, Hanif. He was shot dead in a manner eerily similar to Sardar Khan’s death scene in the film’s first part, brutally gunned down at a petrol pump. That single event sparked a violent cycle of revenge in Dhanbad’s underworld. In reality, though, the gang wars were far less elaborate than their cinematic portrayal. Shafiq’s son, Faheem Khan (depicted in the film as Faizal Khan, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui), took up arms to avenge his father’s death and eventually killed the assassin. He was later arrested.
Parallel to this personal feud was the world of the coal mafia, a crucial thread in Wasseypur’s real history. Here enters Suraj Deo Singh, a powerful politician and businessman who inspired the character of Ramadhir Singh in the film. The mix of familial rivalry and the coal mafia’s political nexus formed the foundation of the story that fascinated Anurag Kashyap. Another real-life figure, a businessman named Shabir, is believed to have loosely inspired Rajkummar Rao’s character, Shamshad Alam. Shabir was reportedly threatened by Faheem Khan, and in retaliation, Faheem’s mother, Nazma Khatoon (portrayed as Nagma Khatoon by Richa Chadha), was killed. Interestingly, one of the most iconic moments in the film, when Sardar Khan openly threatens Ramadhir Singh to return an abducted girl, didn’t happen that way in reality. It was actually Ramadhir Singh (Suraj Deo Singh in real life) who issued that threat.
The story was brought to Anurag Kashyap by writer Zeishan Quadri, who was recently seen on Bigg Boss. Hailing from Wasseypur himself, Zeishan was inspired after watching the Brazilian classic City of God. He decided to write about the violence and politics he had witnessed growing up in his hometown. In a conversation with Josh Talks, Zeishan recalled, “First I approached Hansal Mehta for the film. He even liked it, but was unable to find any producers to back it up, so the project fell apart.” Later, he met Anurag Kashyap at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre during a play screening, and Anurag was instantly drawn to the story.
Speaking to NDTV about what motivated him to make the film, Anurag said, “The film was giving me a scope to tell how the nature of crime has evolved over decades, how it started with coal smuggling, then moved into iron, and how government auctions were rigged, how the mafia manipulated elections. All these were things that were never shown in Hindi cinema. My aim was to tell a story that touches upon these themes. So what we did was take a real-life story and build on it to see where we end up.”
The film was made on a budget of Rs 16.5 crore, the most expensive project Anurag had attempted at the time. Yet, the actors have often revealed that they were paid modestly. Huma Qureshi told Mid-Day India, “There was one little contract for which they paid me Rs 65,000. That is what I got for both parts.” She also fondly recalled Manoj Bajpayee’s generosity on set: “The only star on that film was Manoj sir, who was staying at the Ramada. He was very nice to us because every once in a while, he would invite all the kids and say, ‘Come, I’ll get you lunch.’ So we would go to eat like five-star food.”
Even Zeishan Quadri recently revealed to Siddharth Kannan that he was paid just Rs 5 lakh for writing the film. He was promised separate payment for the second part, but when the production house funding the film backed out a week before shooting, there was no money left. Since the release of the two films in 2012, Anurag Kashyap has claimed that he and his team were “cheated” by the studio. In an interview with Pinkvilla, he said, “The two films were made on a combined budget of Rs 16.5 crore, and the studio claims that they suffered a loss of Rs 8 crore. Nobody got any money from that film. One studio earned so much money. They ask us, ‘Extend our rights, let’s do a spin-off.’ I asked them, ‘Why do you want to make a sequel of a flop film?’ The studio has cheated its creators and the actors, and everybody involved with the film.”
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Despite the financial disputes, Gangs of Wasseypur remains a modern classic. It premiered at the 2012 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, one of the few Hindi-language films ever to do so, and was later screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013. Over the years, the film’s legacy has only grown stronger. Reflecting on its impact, Huma Qureshi recently said, “Now when you look back, it’s been what, 13 years? One doesn’t realise all these guys became big only after. Like look at Rajkummar Rao. It’s incredible how many people, how many directors, Neeraj Ghaywan, Ritesh Batra, started with that film.”
Anurag has often spoken about how the towering legacy of the film continues to haunt him. Over the years, he has said that audiences and critics alike expect him to recreate the same magic in every film, constantly comparing his new work to the heights of Wasseypur. Speaking to Digital Commentary, he admitted, “I have a deep hatred for Wasseypur. Whenever someone calls me ‘the Wasseypur guy,’ I feel like taking off my shoe and hitting them.”
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