The Indian director, who releases Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat in February, talks about making a film that speaks to the younger generation and why he doesn’t want to make another one. wasseypur gang
Indian film director Anurag Kashyap, known for cult films such as Development D. (2009), wasseypur gang (2012), Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016) returns to the big screen with his new film DJ Mohabbat and almost Pyaar Gen Z romance has two different storylines running in parallel: one revolves around a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl living in Himachal Pradesh, India; Another story set in London focuses on an Indian boy and a Pakistani girl, and DJ Mohabbat’s famous character connects these two stories in his podcast.
In an exclusive interview, Anurag Kashyap talks about his experiences with Gen Z expression, how his anger turns to sarcasm and humor, the importance of commercial success, and why he doesn’t want to make another one. wasseypur gang.
Edited excerpt from the interview:
you are ready DJ Mohabbat and almost PyaarThe only thing about this musical love story that feels like an ‘Anurag Kashyap movie’ is the tagline, ‘Mohabbat se hi to kraanti aayegi’ (Love Brings Revolution). What is this revolution you are talking about?
Revolution is about the world we live in, a world full of bigotry, hatred and intolerance. need to change that. we need to change ourselves. We have to learn to love and accept.
Oh! So where is Anurag Kashyap’s anger…against parenting, patriarchy and society?
When he was asked about “angry youth”, Javed Akhtar once said that anger gradually turns to sarcasm, and sarcasm is replaced by humor. I guess I’m somewhere in between… trying to put sarcasm and humor into my rage.
But you have said many times that you have nothing to do with love stories made in Bollywood. Why is this a love story?
i have nothing to do with them (smile)But I always wanted to work on relationships. The movie is his Gen Z-driven, but it’s also real. It’s about the times we live in. It is our problem that we see through our children. It’s about how we are the invisible villains in the lives of children who can’t accept conditioning, prejudice, ingrained patriarchy, and interpersonal incomprehensibility. On the one hand, it’s actually about our problem.
Will this movie reveal Anurag Kashyap 3.0?
This is the new me. But this movie is not a romantic musical. This movie has a lot more. The message is love is the only way this world will survive.
The story has two different time zones… Two different stories run together (same actors — Araya F and Karan Mehta).
You look like Imtiaz Ali i love aj kal (2009). Is the structure and shape similar to that movie?
This is not a zone like Love Aaj Kal. Imtiaz helped me a lot with this movie. There were stories of the past and the present. In my movie he has two different stories.
Do any characters in this Generation Z love story think or talk like you?
This movie features a character who speaks and thinks like Vishal Bhadwaj (laughs). I stole a lot from him in this movie.he helped me DJ Mohabbat and almost PyaarWhen I asked DJ Mohabbat how he speaks, he said: He stole whatever he remembered and put it in the movie.
You don’t belong to Gen Z. The world view, words, and expressions are completely different. How did you get the Gen Z perspective?
It all started when my daughter said, “Mom doesn’t understand me, and you don’t understand me either,” and I said, “Let’s talk.” she started a conversation. Then there are the children of friends who have similar problems.
I feel fine and my parents are very successful (as parents). But a Gen Z kid said your struggle was to make something of yourself, to make a name for yourself in this world, to pursue your dreams. My friends kids live my life as who I am, navigating this social media world, wanting to belong to my people, find their own tribe so hard And this ‘my tribe’, ‘my atmosphere’… these are not the words we used.
Literally it started with my daughter. She was a bounce-back board every step of the way in the film. She found the actor Karan Mehta for me. Karan is a millennial and Alaya is his Gen Z. Casting them helped me a lot in terms of finding the language of the film.
In the words of this musical, it’s a cool-sounding album. It has lyrics like Netflix & Chill and Ghanghor Connection. Were you sure about such lyrics?
Sherry (lyricist) was a Punjabi poet, his poet Manmaruja yarn (2018). In this film, he had to dismantle the poet within him (laughs). He started interacting with my daughter. We had to understand the language of this generation. I affirmed that the words in a song must belong to this generation before it can be deep, poignant and profound. Amit Trivedi (music composer) found his tone and melody pretty fast, but it made no sense. We spent a long time finding the true words.
i was at the screening of your last movie dover (2022) London Indian Film Festival.Post a screening when someone introduces you as a maker wasseypur gang (2012), you snapped that you didn’t want to talk about the film. Is being known for a cult film a curse or a blessing?
It’s a curse! Everything you do is compared to past works, and the more people expect that particular kind of gangster movie from me, the more I run away from it. It’s also a blessing in a way. It’s not as difficult for me to make that movie as it is for other people, but it’s very difficult to keep making new kinds of movies. And there are people who want to make such a movie. Let’s make a gangster movie, let’s make Dev.D, let’s make Ugly. You are done. Now let me find something else.
are you going to make wasseypur gang What about the sequel?
i don’t know that As long as Viacom (the studio) is sitting there, no way. But at the moment, I have a lot of different ideas I’m working on.
Audiences these days only go to theaters for movies that are ‘spectacle-driven’ or have a big star cast.
Nothing guarantees success these days. My movie doesn’t have an opening. So it’s not me who is sitting and worrying. What I’m looking forward to is people’s reaction to this movie and whether it grows by the second or third day. I made a Gen Z movie. An aspiring Gen Z movie? what is it really? Until and unless it comes out, I won’t know.
It is often said that I am only interested in making medium-budget films.
Because I want to make my own movies my own way. For me, Almost Pyaar… is possible because it was made on a constant budget. Once the film crosses that line, I lose control because it’s recovery and market pressure. There are still models for worst case scenario recovery. Once in my life, I crossed that limit and experienced great suffering. Not everyone is a Rajamouli who has a grander vision, takes a grander budget and spends his time. You must be stubborn and brave. I don’t think I have it.
That’s your honesty.you’re talking about a bad experience with obviously bombay velvet (2015). But that failure was long ago. Post a lot of the movies you made that went well too.
yes. I’ve noticed a lot of big movies aren’t working these days. Had Bombay Velvet released it now, I would have gotten lost in the crowd. But when it happened in 2015, it was a big movie (and it didn’t work).
How important is commercial success to you?
It’s important that no one loses out in my films. As (Ingmar) Bergman said, “Every movie should cost a penny more than you spent.” It’s like making a movie, it has to lead to the next movie . I have already finished shooting the next movie.
Usman is a film commentator and author
wknd@khaleejtimes.com
