Anurag Singh Kashyap is an Indian film producer, director, actor, editor, and writer who primarily works in the Indian film industry. He is known to be a seminal director and has won several awards, including one National Film Award.
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Early Life and Education
Anurag was born on 10th Sep, 1972 in the city of Gorakhpur, UP, India. Sri Prakash Singh, his father, used to work at the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited as a Chief Engineer. He has one brother Abhinav Kashyap, a film director, and one sister Anubhuti Kashyap who helps Anurag in his productions.
Anurag attended Green School in Dehradun and later went to the Scindia School located in Gwalior. He wanted to become a scientist. Hence after finishing school he enrolled at University of Delhi’s Hans Raj College for a course in zoology. He passed out from college in 1939.
After college, Kashyap joined the Jana Natya Manch and participated in several street plays. During this period he went to the International Film Festival of India and watched 55 movies over a period of 10 days. This was where he watched Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica for the very first time. He was so profoundly influenced by the film that he decided to change career paths and become a filmmaker. Subsequently in 1993, he packed his bags and landed in Mumbai with around INR 5000 in his pocket.
Career
After coming to Mumbai, Kashyap struggled to find a job in the creative field. He eventually found some work at the Prithvi Theater, but the director passed away and his first play was never showcased. Anurag then wrote the scripts for Auto Narayan, a TV show, and ‘Jayate’ a movie by Hansal Mehta. Both did not see the light of day.
In 1998, he co-wrote the script for superhit gangster flick Satya. His name was suggested to director/producer Ram Gopal Varma by Manoj Bajpayee. Varma took him as a writer after being impressed with Auto Narayan. Kashyap then directed his first film ‘Paanch’; it faced censor problems and even got certified in 2001. The film is still unreleased due to issues of the movie’s producer. Kashyap continued writing for movies such as Yuva, Main Aisa Hi Hoon, Water, and Mixed Doubles. He also worked on the script Black Friday, a movie based on the 1993 Mumbai riots and on a book of the same name by Hussain Zaidi. The film’s release was delayed by the court and it eventually released to widespread critical acclaim in 2009.
Kashyap then directed films like No Smoking, animation movie Return of Hanuman, critical and commercial success Dev.D, award winning political drama Gulaal, anthology movie Mumbai Cutting, and That Girl in Yellow Boots. In 2012, Anurag directed film ‘Gangs of Wasseypur, Part 1’ was released. The crime saga was critically praised and appreciated by the audiences, locally as well as internationally. The second part was also a hit, both with viewers and critics. This was the film that launched actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui into stardom. He then directed short-film That Day After Everyday, anthology movie Bombay Talkies, and thriller Ugly.
In 2015, Kashyap directed big budget 1960s period flick Bombay Velvet starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. It bombed at the box office and was ripped apart by critics. Anurag was distraught at the box office performace and wanted to leave the country as he felt that the local audiences did not comprehend his style of making movies. He later realized that he had mismanaged the budget.
Kashyap came back with Raman Raghav 2.0 in 2016. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival. The critics liked it. He then directed critically praised boxing drama Mukkabaaz and the 2018 anthology movie Lust Stories. He co-directed ‘Sacred Games’ a series on Netflix which released in July 2018. It stars Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles. The first season consisted of 8 episodes. It has been lauded by the critics for its mastery over every department of filmmaking.
As of July 2018, Kashyap is directing the romantic drama Manmarziyaan. It stars Vicky Kaushal, Abhishek Bachchan, and Taapsee Pannu. It is slated to released on 7th September 2018.
Kashyap has done small roles in films like Black Friday, Luck by Chance, No Smoking, Tera Kya Hoga Johnny, Dev.D, Soundtrack, Gulaal, Trishna, Happy New Year, Bhoothnath Returns, Chhuri, and I Am. He played the role of the main antagonist in Tigmanshu Dhulia directed flick Shagird and Sonakshi Sinha starring Akira. He is slated to appear as the villain in Tamil movie Imaikkaa Nodigal.
Kashyap has two production companies, Anurag Kashyap Films which he launched in 2009 and Phantom Films which was started in collaboration with Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl, and Madhu Mantena in 2011. As a producer, Kashyap has done films like Udaan, Shaitan, Michael, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, Aiyyaa, Chittagong, The Last Act, Shorts, Monsoon Shootout, critically acclaimed The Lunchbox, Peddlers, biographical drama Shahid, Lootera, Hasee Toh Phasee, the blockbuster Queen, NH10, Shaandaar, Hunterrr, the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and FIPRESCI Awards winner Masaan, Udta Punjab, and Gujarati film Wrong Side Raju.
Anurag Kashyap – Ex –Wives
Anurag married movie editor Aarti Bajaj in 2003. The couple has one daughter Aaliya Kashyap. They divorced in the year 2009.
He married actress Kalki Koechlin in 2011. They divorced in 2015.
Anurag Kashyap – Daughter
The director is known to be a doting dad to his daughter, Aaliyah Kashyap. Born in 2001, she is known to be individualistic and humble at the same time. Aaliyah is known to have a huge following on Instagram, because of her style sense. She is known to endorse a few youth-friendly brands on Instagram.
Trivia
- In 2016, the Uttar Pradesh Government awarded him the Yash Bharti Award for his contribution to cinema.
- He is an atheist and considers cinema to be his only religion.
- In May 2013, the French government honored him with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) title.
- He is a board member at Aangan, an NGO based in Mumbai. It is involved in helping vulnerable children in the country.
- He has served as a jury member at different international film festivals like Venice Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Marrakech Film Festival.
Anurag Kashyap – Girlfriend
Kashyap is currently in a relationship with 23-year old Shubhra Shetty. She works as an associate at his production house Phantom Films.
Directing Style
Anurag Kashyap is a big fan of realistic cinema, he likes to direct movies that are peppered with cuss words and dark humor. As a producer, he is all for cinema of any genre, as long as it is content-rich.
As a director, Kashyap loves to shoot on real locations and even experiment with hidden cameras as a part of guerilla-filmmaking. Most of his characters in his films are struggling with personal guilt, se*ual tension, rage, pride and arrogance. While female characters may not have an extended play in his cinema most of the time, they manage to create an impact of sorts with their brief appearances.
While most of his movies reflect on real incidents, Anurag Kashyap doesn’t believe in making biopics of people who are already well known. His style of filmmaking has been an inspiration to filmmakers like Danny Boyle, who says that the opening sequence in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was based on the popular chase scene in ‘Black Friday’.
