Anurag Kashyap turned 45 on Sunday. This name is synonymous to a series of extraordinary and avant-garde films, which no other filmmaker in the industry often dares to make. Anurag Kashyap is prominent for his tussles with the Censor Baord, but his movies are worth the fight he takes on. My first encounter with an Anurag-Kashyap film was when I watched Udaan, which released in 2010.
The film is said to be based roughly on the life of Kashyap itself. Though, it was not a commercial success on box office, but the film is still regarded as a cult classic in Indian cinema. Ever since then, my penchant for Anurag Kashyap films bloomed exponentially. Today, let's spare a moment to contemplate at Anurag Kashyap's filmography.
Udaan (2010)
If you’re a lover of coming-of-age films, then you shouldn’t miss out on Udaan. One of the best performances by Ronit Roy and the best works of Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap. The film immediately received critical acclaim on its release.A simple and straight-forward film doesn’t need star power or humongous sets to be a success, and Udaan proved it. If you still haven’t watched Udaan yet, watch the trailer here.
Black Friday (2004)
You haven’t witness the real taste of Indian cinema, if you missed out on this movie. It is based on the book Black Friday – The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts, a book by Hussain Zaidi about 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. For this film, Anurag Kashyap was at loggerheads with the Censor board for the release of this film. It took three years for the film to release after Supreme Court of India allowed it after the verdict in 1993 Bombay Bomb Blast.
Ugly (2014)
If you’re a faint-hearted person, you should keep your hands off this film. Anurag Kashyap has brought the sheer reality in the most brutal form on the silverscreen. Packed with twisted human mentalities, thriller and naked human emotions, this film left a mark on everyone’s heart for a long time. Just like the rest of his movie, Ugly too fought a long war with Censor Board for the release. For those who love art in its most raw form, Ugly is the ‘ugliest’ film you can ever get in Indian cinema.
Gulaal (2009)
With Gulaal, Anurag Kashyap forayed into the murky world of student politics. It’s not the regular rival-tale which Bollywood helms every now and then. It is as real as it can get. The film shows the college kids with the most potty-mouth. It is a gut-wrenching saga of thirst for success, fame and power.
Gangs of Wasseypur
Then arrived the film which broke the glass ceiling in Indian cinema with a out of the ordinary topic. Anurag Kashyap’s mafia safa resonated pretty well with the Indian audience, and thus, it remains to be the cult-favourite of many cinema connoisseurs. The coal mines and the hamlets of Jharkhand are as close to reality as it can get. That’s the beauty of Anurag Kashyap films, he doesn’t need a sumptuous set to helm his movies. When art is your motivation, the entire city becomes your set.
Udta Punjab (2016)
We’ve seen a number of stellar performances of Shahid Kapoor before the film, but Udta Punjab took him to a whole new level. Same happened with Alia Bhatt. Though the actress established herself as a powerful and malleable actress of Indian cinema, but it was after Udta Punjab that the actress shone like never before. Showing the nooks and corners of Punjab in the most pragmatic manner, Anurag Kashyap stole our hearts yet again with a cinematic masterpiece.
