New Delhi: Anurag Kashyap is a happy man with his three films being screened at the ongoing Cannes film festival in different sections but the director says his two-part revenge saga “Gangs of Wasseypur” almost did not get made as no one believed in the script initially. “Gangs of wasseypur is a film that people did not believe in.
I have been wanting to make this film for quite sometime. People asked me why I wanted to work on this film and not something like “Dev D” which was a success. So it almost did not get made.
“I don't understand the concept of re-doing the same thing. But then Viacom 18 people came forward knowing that it had no big star cast, it was in two parts and was too long,” Anurag told PTI in an interview.
Kashyap, who is already in Cannes, says he is awaiting the screening of two part “Wasseypur” and home production “Peddlers” with a lot of nervousness.
“We have to deliver first. I have not seen the films so I will watch them with the audience but I am scared about their response to the films,” says the director, who is keen to take his films beyond the Indian diaspora.
Kashyap's films have been recognised worldwide for their unique approach in storytelling, which is often bereft of the usual Bollywood cliches.
The director says he wants to continue reaching out to new audiences. “I had a dark period from 2007 to 2009. That was the time when my biggest support was outside India. Because I am getting to make movies here I can't abandon them. For me that market is very important as it kept me alive as a filmmaker when I had no support here.
“The audience defines your longevity in this business. My audience is non-diaspora. It was hard for Indians to digest a film like ‘Yellow Boots', the diaspora is more conservative.
But there is a different audience which is interested in my films and I want to explore that,” said Kashyap. “Wasseypur”, Kashyap's most ambitious project till now, tells the story of revenge set in the world of coal mafia. The film stars Manoj Bajpayee, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Huma Qureshi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Reema Sen and others.
