‘They think Manoj Bajpayee is a gaonwala, they see Nawazuddin Siddiqui only as a dark-skinned man’: Anurag Kashyap says people ignore their talent

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap revealed what happened on the day he decided to share a post on social media, saying that he will not entertain unsolicited pitches or requests for counselling. The filmmaker had written that he will charge money for consultations henceforth, and has since said that he isn’t in the right state of mind to offer guidance to aspiring actors and filmmakers, even though he once used to. In an interview, Anurag said that there is often a queue outside his building, because people desperately want to meet him and show them their work.

But, he said, these people are living in the misconception that he is a star-maker, whereas everybody who has succeeded after working with him has done so on the strength of their own talent. “This industry doesn’t respect people. They think that Nawazuddin is dark-skinned, Pankaj Tripathi is normal, Manoj Bajpayee is a ‘gaonwala’… That’s how they view people. They think if these people can become stars, so can they. They think that I can make anybody a star; I can’t. They don’t realise that these actors are genuinely talented artists. I’ve only made films with them; I haven’t made their life.”

Also read – ‘You’ll be shocked how Christopher Nolan was treated by Indian authorities’: Anurag Kashyap says Indians have no interest in empowering cinema

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Anurag said that on the day he shared the angry post on Instagram, a man entered his house without permission and asked him to watch a film they’d made ‘for Cannes’. He told them that he is no condition to watch anybody’s film, and that he didn’t give them the permission to come to his house in the first place. The filmmaker tried to tell Anurag that he was going through a difficult time emotionally, but Anurag said that he doesn’t ‘care’ because he needs to prioritise himself. The filmmaker said he has been unwell for years now and needs to ‘fix himself’.

In recent interviews, Anurag has spoken about his struggles with mental health, and the measures that he is taking to care for himself. He also has a wedding to plan, with his daughter Aaliyah set to tie the knot with her boyfriend, Shane Gregoire. Anurag is still awaiting the release of his 2023 film Kennedy, and was most recently seen as an actor in the series Bad Cop and the Tamil film Maharaja.