Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently admitted during an interview that he can no longer enjoy the theatre experience in India, citing that unnecessary interruption and mandatory warnings have “destroyed” his movie-watching experience. In a recent chat, while attending the Berlin Film Festival for the showing of his production Vaghachipani (Tiger’s Pond), Kashyap said that he prefers to catch films during film festivals.
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In a conversation with Forbes India, when asked about the future of independent cinema, he said, "I have stopped trying to look into the future, I’m not Nostradamus. I can talk about the problems that I face, or that other filmmakers face, I can talk about solutions that I can figure out... but I don’t know the future. I don’t understand a lot of new things, like short-formats... For me, I wanted to be a filmmaker because I loved watching films on the big screen. I catch films at festivals because I hate interruptions caused by intervals back home, and everyone posturing about ‘this is bad for health, this is bad for mind’. It destroys my movie-watching experience.”
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“I want to enjoy watching movies, I want to enjoy making films, and I leave it to people who know and understand and can navigate better. Fifteen years back, I would have said this is what we need to do. Today, I don’t understand. This world has changed a lot, and I am back to finding my place in it,” he continued.
Kashyap has been outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the Bollywood film industry. In an earlier interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he expressed being “disappointed” and “disgusted” with the “God-like egos” of Bollywood actors. After the release of the 2024 Telugu film Pushpa 2: The Rule, he stated that Bollywood can never make a film like that.
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Kashyap is best known for his works The Lunchbox and Gangs of Wasseypur. More recently, he played a major role in Aashiq Abu’s 2024 Malayalam directorial Rifle Club.
