Anurag Kashyap talks about the creative crisis in the Hindi film industry

MUMBAI: Anurag Kashyap always gives his unabashed opinions on changing trends in storytelling and the challenges faced by filmmakers and artists. In a recent interview with Humans of Cinema, he reflected on the creative crisis in Hindi film industry since everyone wants to earn ₹500-800 crore.

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The filmmaker pointed out how commercial success impacts creativity and opined, “I have often seen that success destroys more than it breeds. When Sairat made Rs. 100 crore, I told Nagraj Manjule, who is my friend, that Marathi cinema is now finished. Because now no one will want to tell stories, they would want to earn ₹100 crore.”

He also said, “The problem with our Hindi film industry is that they now want to earn Rs. 500 to 800 crore, not make films. For that, you have to first dumb down your films, sacrifice your story. And it’s not like it is an original voice; all follow a formula and copy each other. Now everyone is imitating the pan-India trend. If you watch 10 pan-India films, all will look the same. This never benefits the health of the industry as the films then start to bomb in huge numbers. One or two will work, then everyone will copy, and then everything will flop.”

Anurag has directed numerous Bollywood films and web shows. Some of his notable works include Black Friday, Dev D, No Smoking, Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur, Mukkabaaz, Sacred Games, and Manmarziyaan. His upcoming film Kennedy was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. This neo-noir thriller stars Rahul Bhat, Sunny Leone, Abhilash Thapliyal, Mohit Takalkar, and others in pivotal roles. The filmmaker had spoken about the Cannes experience in an interview with Film Companion and told, “It’s always special to show your film to the world at Cannes and it’s a lifetime moment to play at the Grand Theatre Lumiere. Kennedy is a very special film to me and extremely personal too. We have put our heart and soul into making this film. 7 mins long standing ovation from the audience has made me full of gratitude. I am very grateful and excited at the same time.”

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Anurag will next be seen in a negative role in Vijay Sethupathi's Tamil crime action-thriller Maharaja.

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Credits - Hindustan Times