I want to retire on a yacht & go diving before the world is destroyed: Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap breaks into laughter — a gasping, throaty laugh— at the idea that he’s regarded as a trendsetter.

“People look out for a leader. In my case, I didn’t want to be one. It’s not like I have made films that no one has ever made before. It’s just that I have huge energy levels. I never stopped. Also, I wasn’t invested in a lifestyle, so I put my money into helping other people make films,” he says, leaning forward on his desk at the bungalow office of Phantom Films, the production house Kashyap co-founded.

Kashyap may be self-deprecating, but he’s changed Indian cinema — right from the path-breaking ' Satya' he wrote in 1998, to the eerie 'Raman Raghav 2' that he directed this year. Amongst his 17-odd films, there has been the guns and glory of ' Gangs of Wasseypur 1&2', the gritty 'Black Friday', the trippy 'Dev. D'. He’s also produced 'Udaan', 'Queen', 'The Lunchbox' and ' Udta Punjab'. Here Kashyap reveals what stokes his passion:

Which are the trends that influence you?
I’m highly impressionable. I get excited quickly. I travel to festivals and seek out films. I saw this impossible African film called 'Lamb'. How do people with no resources make a film like that? Then there are these three boys from the National Institute of Design (NID) who went
6,000 feet up in the mountain, lost so much weight, developed amazing calf muscles and made a film. They took half-a-day to set up one shot — put sheep on one half of the mountain, then went the other way to shoot it. These things inspire me.


Anurag has changed Indian cinema — right from 'Satya' to 'Raman Raghav 2'. (Image: BCCL)

Who would you call trendsetters?
The young Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese changed the studio system in the ’70s and the book Easy Riders, Raging Bull by Peter Biskind inspired me.

What are the best insights you’ve gathered along the way?
The biggest lesson is that no one owes you anything. I’ll write my script and I’ll make my film. I face the consequences of my decisions. I won’t sit and envy other people. The one advice I have for aspiring filmmakers is: Never buy anything on EMI. Loans dictate your choices.

What are your goals?
Me? I want to be a diver. I want to retire on a yacht, go diving before the world destroys itself. And I want to be a filmmaker who can get up and make the film he wants to.

Awe-inspiring art
“The books and documentaries that I recommend: 'Hearts Of Darkness' (1991), Eleanor Coppola’s documentary on the making of Apocalypse Now.

Books like Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes (John Pierson), the amazing Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut, Conversations with Billy Wilder by
Cameron Crowe and (Akira) Kurosawa’s biography. Watching how people put together cinema when it was so difficult teaches you that you have no right to complain. You can shoot films on your iPhone today.”