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Legendary Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is currently basking in the success of his latest acting venture, director Aashiq Abu’s Malayalam action thriller Rifle Club, which marks the former’s debut as a performer in the regional industry. Interestingly, it wasn’t the makers of Rifle Club who first approached him to be a part of the film, but rather the other way around.
“When they announced the movie, I went to Aashiq Abu’s Instagram page and wrote, ‘Do you want a Hindi-speaking actor?’ on his post. That’s how it all started,” Anurag revealed during a chat with Gulf News. “I thought Rifle Club sounded so cool. I knew Aashiq and Syam, and I thought, ‘Something good will come out of this,'” he added. Penned by Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Karunakaran and Suhas, Rifle Club also stars Vijayaraghavan, Dileesh Pothan, Vani Viswanath, Surabhi Lakshmi, Darshana Rajendran, Suresh Krishna, Vineeth Kumar, Unnimaya Prasad and rapper-songwriter Hanumankind in key roles.
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Lauding the Malayalam film industry for its spirit of collaboration, Anurag also contrasted it with Bollywood’s ego-driven star system. “The working ethics (in Malayalam) are phenomenal! There’s no star system, no massive vanity vans. Everyone’s together. Compare that to Bollywood, where actors are isolated, with entourages and vanity. That camaraderie reflects in the film. Hindi cinema could never make a Rifle Club. They’d rather remake it,” he remarked, taking a jab at the Hindi film industry.
“It’s all about money — obsession with box-office crores (in Bollywood). Everything is a formula. Filmmakers can’t sell originals without a reference point,” he said, recalling how Bollywood eagerly sought the rights to remake the Malayalam film Manjummel Boys after it emerged as a blockbuster. “Honestly, I feel more at home in South India, where I’ve found my tribe… Here storytelling trumps all.”
When jokingly asked if he is considering relocating to Kochi altogether, Anurag laughed but didn’t dismiss the idea. “I’d love to. Kochi feels like a place where I can truly write. The people, the environment—everything fits,” he said, describing the city as an ideal space for creative work.
In his review of the movie, SCREEN’s Avinash Ramachandran wrote, “This Aashiq Abu film is like a Varathan on steroids, and it helps that the team didn’t rely on someone with a superstar stature to be at the centre of things, and allows every actor to play a superstar character.”
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