Anurag Kashyap: "People who don't understand cinema want to micro-manage things"

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is set to have his release rolling this week in the form of Nishaanchi, which stars debutants Aaishvary Thackeray and Vedika Pinto. The film has the quintessential Kashyap flavor you usually associate him with and still seemingly has a gritty story to work towards.

In an exclusive conversation with India Forums, we asked Mr. Kashyap some tough questions including if he ever feels irked that he still needs to deal with people who don't necessarily understand the soul and the story as opposed to data and numbers.

Q. The most fascinating thing to me is that when you have this dilemma on one side your films are very you know everybody is loving it. People are talking about it which is often critical acclaimed, goes to festivals, all this stuff. Right? What I want to know from you is even today 27 years later, all these films later do you feel irked that even today when a film which according to you has a particular story brings a particular kind of story its treatment will be of one kind but to make the buyer understand that brother what I am saying makes sense whether it is commercial or not, but do you get irked?

There are many people who don’t understand but they still micro manage things. We want to do this. Then there is a problem.

- Anurag Kashyap (as told to India Forums)

Anurag said, "See, there was a time when people would mortgage their houses to make films. And then came the studio system. Then in the beginning, the studio system also had the same people who had come from film. Slowly, it changes. The time comes when all these people come who follow data, who follow all this. There are some people in that too who love cinema and some who are only interested in mathematics. So when people who love cinema meet it feels good.

He added, "But the rest when the system is in place then I can make them understand, now what do you mean, you can’t explain it either, they will understand it automatically or they trust someone but there are many people who don’t understand but they still micro manage things. We want to do this. Then there is a problem. It happens many times. People don’t understand how to market something or how to push something but then they trust someone who knows it, who understands it.

He then talked about working on Nishaanchi, "So when we as filmmakers have a dilemma that we are doing a double role in a film, there is a particular way they work with. Here, we are doing such a double role that idea also came from my team. It came from my cameraman, came from my second union director that we will not shoot like twin brothers the way we have been shooting till date."

He also said, "Now we will change them a lot, they will look different. When they look the same in the beginning, then there is a difference in height, then slowly they grow, then all the things. How will we do it? But we… But that when Sylvester is there or Red Chillies’ Carry and the team said, 'Sir you focus on your creative aspect, leave the rest of the technicalities to us, we will take care of it.' So we have to do that, I left the technicalities to them, right and my focus was only on performance. So if that trust comes into this industry then what will happen."

Anurag's take speaks volumes about how industry operates usually, and how there are exceptions but only a select few ones at times. His upcoming film, Nishaanchi is up for release on 19th September 2025.