‘You don’t like making money’: What Javed Akhtar told Anurag Kashyap after watching Mukkabaaz, said it could have been a hit if…

Javed Akhtar once pointed out how Anurag Kashyap's preference for open-ended films prevents him from making money at the box office.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | April 1, 2025 04:06 PM IST

3 min read

Anurag Kashyap recalls his interaction with Javed Akhtar. (Pic: Express Archive)

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently spoke about his love for open-ended films and how iconic writer Javed Akhtar once pointed out that this preference prevents him from making money at the box office. In a recent interaction, Anurag recalled Akhtar telling him that if he had shown his character winning at the end of Mukkabaaz, the film would have been a hit.

Speaking at Annapurna College of Film and Media, Anurag said “Javed sahaab is such a senior filmmaker. He saw Mukkabaaz and he liked it very much. He told me, ‘You have a problem. You don’t like making money.’ I asked him ‘Why?’ He said, ‘What would you have lost if you had made your character win in the end?’ I told him then I wouldn’t have made the film.”

Anurag went on to explain. “The purpose of the film was to show how bad our sports world is and how hypocritical we are. I like things open-ended because the moment I close it, the film is over for you. Then all you do is talk about whether it is a good or bad film or whether you enjoyed it or not. The discussion is over for you at that point but an open ended film stays with you. They bother you because it could have been very simple but it isn’t, they make you think, they aren’t giving a solution.”

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Mukkabaaz starred Vineet Kumar Singh in the lead role. The film wasn’t a major box office success but received widespread critical acclaim. In an earlier interaction, Anurag had declared that he moved out of Mumbai because the film industry had turned ‘toxic.’ “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. The creative atmosphere is gone,” he said during a chat with The Hindu. Anurag made his acting debut in Malayalam cinema with Rifle Club (2024), where he played the role of an antagonist.

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