Anurag Kashyap on Leaving Bollywood and Moving to the South
After the release of his Malayalam-language film 'Rifle Club' (2024), Anurag Kashyap has been overwhelmed by the love and respect he received in Kerala
Everybody expects to be treated like a star in Bollywood, and that’s the problem plaguing them today, believes director Anurag Kashyap. In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, the filmmaker talks about wanting to move to the south of the country.
Soon after the release of his latest Malayalam-language film, Rifle Club (2024), he was overwhelmed by the love and respect he received from Kerala, when he attended the International Film Festival of Kerala this December.
Deeming them to be a more ‘discerning’ audience, Kashyap said, “They take influences [from around the world] and localise it so much that it creates a very different language altogether.”
He talks about how films and filmmakers inspire each other. “For example, with Rifle Club, I traced it back to the age-old story of The Most Dangerous Game (1932) a black-and-white silent film,” recalled Kashyap. It has various inspirations like The Hunger Games (2012) and Punishment Park (1971), but “Rifle Club is a totally twisted western take [on it]. It’s about taking a seed of something and making your own fruit, your own tree out of it.”
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Giving an example of Manjummel Boys (2024), Kashyap commended Malayali directors for not being concerned about box-office numbers, or what the rest of the pan-Indian films are doing. “They have a healthy competition with each other… to create newer ideas and push boundaries,” he said.
“The problem with Hindi cinema is that we think we have to create the next big blockbuster,” he added, noting that his biggest takeaway from shooting Rifle Club was watching the way all the actors worked together — lauding their sense of camaraderie. “There were no lines of vanity vans. They thought I was coming from Mumbai, so they got a small van for me, but I hated it! I would rather spend time with them.."
This is how he used to shoot once upon a time in the Hindi film industry, where there was one resting van for everybody. “That got lost and instead of focusing on making the film, we started focusing on being treated like stars,” he recalled, revealing that it started with the advent of streaming platforms — when they brought with them the American way of working.
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While Malayali directors were inspired by Kashyap’s earlier work — like Dev.D (2009), Black Friday (2004) and Gulaal (2009) — today, he is the one inspired by them. “I envy them because they're still working the way we used to.”
He added, “It’s difficult for me to experiment now because it comes at a cost and that makes my producer think about profits. Before we make a film, it's all about how we sell it. The joy of filmmaking is sucked out.”
Kashyap explained that while Hindi producers would never make a film as experimental as
Manjummel Boys, once they see it perform well, they’d want to remake it.
“And that’s why I want to move out. Next year, I’m moving out of Bombay. I'm going to the South!” he said, signing off.