As the trailer for Anurag Kashyap’s Nishaanchi dropped earlier this month, fans couldn’t help but notice that it carried the tone of some of his best work, from Gangs of Wasseypur to Mukkabaaz. Set in Kanpur, Nishaanchi is a crime drama peppered with Kashyap’s signature dark humour and oodles of violence and rustic music. Ahead of the film’s release, the maverick filmmaker speaks with Hindustan Times on the film and his career so far.
‘I have got my due’
The comment section of Nishaanchi trailer on YouTube reads like the logbook of an Anurag Kashyap fan club. One common sentiment is fans wishing the director ‘finally gets his due’. Anurag does not agree with them. “I have got more than my due,” he tells us, adding, “The fans think box office is the due. Had the box office been the parameter, I would not have had such a long career. Among my contemporaries, nobody has made as many films as I have in the last 20 years. So, I have no complaints.”
In a 20-year-long career, Anurag says the freedom to do work his own way is a testament to him getting his due. “I have the opportunity to make my films my own way. A lot of directors don’t have that because a lot of their films are so star-dependent. They don’t know how to make films in the cost that I can,” he shares.
‘Will never make mass action films’
Even though Nishaanchi, like Gangs of Wasseypur, ventures into the action film territory, the action here is rustic and grounded, far removed from the mass action trending these days in Bollywood. “I can’t make those films,” Anurag says, “I don’t understand them. Har scene me hero ki entry hoti hai. Aadha time to hero ki entry hi shoot karte raho (Every scene is just the hero’s entry. You spend half the time shooting the hero’s entry). Jabse Phantom camera aaya hai that shoots in such high speed that you can capture dust flying in slow motion. There are 50000 shots before the hero even does something. I will never do something like that.”
His aversion to mass films is part of the reason why he has vowed never to work with superstars. The other is the freedom it takes away. Anurag explains, “With stars, you have to cater to their fans. Everybody starts second-guessing themselves. It’s not just the director who is second-guessing what the audience wants; the star is also second-guessing. Then, they are catering because everybody wants to stay relevant. It’s not like how it used to be, that I am making a film because I respond to things or I have a story to tell. I want to continue like that. But people’s expectations are different.”
‘Nishaanchi was written to stop questions about Wasseypur 3’
Anurag adds that he has faced this burden of expectations as well, largely because of the cult following his 2012 film, Gangs of Wasseypur, has acquired over the years. “It has now gotten out of hand,” he says with a laugh, “Had we known it would become so big, we wouldn’t have made it for free. I have to face those consequences that whatever film I make, people complain it’s not Gangs of Wasseypur. I am tired of it. People keep asking when Part 3 is coming out. Nishaanchi was written so that people would stop asking that question. There is much more that can be done in this North Indian space.”
Nishaanchi stars Aaishvary Thackeray in a dual role, along with Monika Panwar and Vedika Pinto. The film also stars Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Kumud Mishra in pivotal roles. Produced by Amazon MGM Studios and JAR Pictures, in association with Flip Films, Nishaanchi will release in theatres on 19 September.
