Anurag Kashyap On 'Pain' of Being 'Unreleased Filmmaker': 'Big Films Don't Need Me...' | Exclusive

Anurag Kashyap has always been in admiration of Nagraj Manjule and has often talked about being inspired by the latter. In fact, a video of him hugging and kissing Manjule after watching Jhund last year went viral on social media. Needless to say, he was ecstatic about joining forces with him when the opportunity came to present the National Award winning Marathi film, Kastoori. In Kashyap’s words, he reached out to Manjule after watching the Vinod Kamble directorial and told him to jointly ‘try and get this film released’.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Kashyap reveals that he was overjoyed to have collaborated with Manjule and says, “I’ve known Nagraj even before he wanted to make Fandry. He has always been a very passionate and grounded artist and a filmmaker who represents his community and those people we don’t represent in cinema so often. He’s quite a force. He wears many hats as a filmmaker, a producer and an actor. And he makes very good food!”

Recalling the viral video of them post the screening of Amitabh Bachchan starrer Jhund, he tells us, “That was one moment that was captured on camera. But I had the same reaction after I watched Fandry and Sairat. I’ve always looked up to him. He’s a filmmaker we should be proud of.”

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Apart from Manjule, the Kennedy director is known to share a great rapport with many of his peers like Vikramaditya Motwane, Imtiaz Ali and Anubhav Sinha. And despite these friendships, Kashyap confesses that he often feels ‘envious’ when he sees his contemporaries making good films. “There’s no jealousy but maybe creative envy when I see a good film directed by someone else. But it doesn’t stem from the fact that I could have also done it,” he states candidly.

In fact, he further reveals that he considers it his responsibility to back other filmmakers whose stories need to travel wider. “I present those films I really like and to empower a filmmaker. I felt like I wasn’t enough to push a film like Kastoori. I needed Nagraj. I reach out to a lot of filmmakers and help them. For instance, Karan Johar really helped us release The Lunchbox,” he says.

Kashyap adds, “Filmmakers do help out each other. Some do it for commerce, some do it to empower other makers and some do it because they loved a film. We’ve been struggling to release independent films for a very long time. Big films don’t need me. I want to help those that need a push so that they can get some kind of visibility so that more people can watch them.”

For the Bombay Velvet and Manmarziyaan maker, his decision to present smaller films comes from the fact that he had films like Jayate and Paanch unreleased in the beginning of his career and it’s this ‘pain’ that has made him empathic of indie filmmakers who’re unable to get their films see the light of the day.

He remarks, “Kastoori received a National Award but if more people don’t watch it, the film will get lost. There’s a Maithili film that was supported by six-seven filmmakers like Vikramaditya Motwane. Otherwise, how will people watch a Maithili film in theatres? We’ve been unreleased filmmakers and we know the pain.”

For the unversed, Kastoori follows the story of a boy and his journey from the shadows of manual scavenging to the light of knowledge and self-belief. It released theatrically on December 8.