Anurag Kashyap reflects on challenges faced by his films and morality questions

Mumbai: Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, known for his impactful movies like Gangs Of Wasseypur, Dev D, and Raman Raghav 2.0, has shared insights into his cinematic journey, discussing his unreleased film Paanch and the challenges he faced in getting his films to cinemas.

Kashyap revealed that people often questioned his morality after watching his films.

In a candid conversation with Cyrus Broacha on the podcast "Cyrus Says," Kashyap opened up about the film Paanch, which never made it to theaters due to censorship issues. When asked about the film's availability on YouTube and whether he made any money from it, Kashyap replied, "No, I never would have made money on it because I was not the producer. Even if the film would've made money, I wouldn't have because as a debut director, I was just grateful that my film got made. But the film never came out. And it's not in my hand. Producers have to release it."

Cyrus pointed out that many of Kashyap's films that couldn't be released in theaters eventually appeared on piracy websites. Kashyap agreed, stating, "That’s the story of my life."

He further acknowledged that he earned only a fraction of what he should have due to most of his films being leaked on piracy websites. Kashyap recounted a time when his morality and character were questioned by people after they watched his films, citing the release of "That Girl In Yellow Boots" as an example. He explained, "They used to question my morality and my character after watching my films. At that time, the critics used to be like, 'what kind of a guy is this?' when Yellow Boots came out."

Kashyap also humorously shared an incident where people approached him, saying, "maine aapki film dekhi" (I have watched your film), to which he would inquire, "Kaha dekhi?" (Where did you watch it?). He humorously noted that he often associated such comments with people watching his films secretly.

"That Girl In Yellow Boots," released in 2011, is a thriller directed by Anurag Kashyap, starring Kalki Koechlin, Naseeruddin Shah, Gulshan Devaiah, among others. His unreleased directorial debut, "Paanch," featured Kay Kay Menon, Aditya Srivastava, Vijay Maurya, Joy Fernandes, and Tejaswini Kolhapure.