Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap cannot seem to keep quiet or stay away from controversy. The latest in a series of internet-diving, debate-inducing ‘hot takes’ is Kashyap putting a price tag on his mentoring/consulting services for newcomers in Bollywood. Not one to mince his words, Kashyap wrote that his time would be worth Rs one lakh for 15 minutes, Rs two lakh for half an hour, and a whopping Rs 5 lakhs for an hour. And it has people up in arms.
But Kashyap’s rant is not unfounded.
Bollywood, which reveres its ‘nepo babies’, is not exactly a shining example when it comes to rolling out the welcome mat for outsiders. And Kashyap would have probably experienced this when he arrived in Mumbai with a few thousand rupees and slept under a water tank in Andheri.
His own journey in Bollywood has inspired many ‘outsiders’. And young hopeful directors, actors and screenwriters hoping to make a name for themselves are more likely to turn to him than a Karan Johar, who prefers giving chances to the already well-connected.
The corollary to his story then is that he owes it to them—it is an expected ‘duty’ of him. Except, he really does not owe people–strangers—his time or energy for free.
Kashyap, by his own admission, has been fairly accessible to newcomers and it has not yielded great results. Based on his personal experiences, his misgivings are justified. His daughter, content creator Aaliyah Kashyap commented under the post, ” Forwarding this to everyone in my DMs and email who keep sending me scripts to forward to you.”
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Drawing a boundary
Kashyap was mentored by filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma and went on to make the two-part Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). It was a turning point not just in Kashyap’s own career, but nearly every actor associated with it. Richa Chaddha, Huma Qureshi, Manoj Bajpayee all received praise for their respective performances and went on to do even bigger projects.
Since then, he has been promoting new talent be it by giving them breaks in his films, or even being a ‘presenter’ of films like Bhaskar Hazarika’s Assamese-language film, Aamis (2019).
He even shared his praise and reviews of the Malayalam films Bramayugam and Manjummel Boys, which have earned commercial and critical success.
But he is not really ‘answerable’ to people. He doesn’t want to play guru to the shiksha. Kashyap just drew a boundary.
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Done with crowd-pleasing
Over the last year, Anurag Kashyap has not endeared himself to his fan base or his peers and seems to be drawn to controversies like a moth to a flame.
He supported Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film, Animal, which has been heavily criticised for its misogyny. In an Instagram post, he even called Vanga the “most misunderstood, judged and reviled filmmaker”, while insisting that Animal is the biggest game changer of Hindi cinema.
Filmmakers Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grover even registered their distaste for Kashyap’s stance, in the comment section. Ghaywan wrote ‘cringe’. While Grover simply wrote ‘no’ in the comments.
Then at the first Kolkata French Film Festival earlier this year, he called Bengali cinema “ghatiya” (trashy)—that its golden phase with filmmakers like Ritwik Ghatak, and Satyajit Ray is long gone.
It’s almost as if Kashyap has decided that he will no longer play the game of crowd-pleasing flattery. He is well within his rights to choose the nature and extent of compensation for his talent and guidance.
If people do not like it, too bad. He does not care.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)