Cinema has always resonated with the times it is made in, and today, the debate around ‘propaganda’ termed as a genre, is louder than ever. For Anurag Kashyap, the filmmaker, known for pushing boundaries with films like Gangs of Wasseypur, Dev D and Ugly – this growing conversation around propaganda in cinema is not new. “Propaganda has always existed in cinema. If one film is propaganda, the opposing film becomes counter-propaganda,” he says at the Raihan Vadra-led Bengaluru Art Weekend festival, pointing to the discussion around Dhurandhar 2 starring Ranveer Singh. “The real issue is that films presenting facts as facts are not being made. Films that hold up a mirror are too troubling,” adds the filmmaker, who recently shifted base to ooru.
That discomfort, in a way, he believes, is built into the system itself, as he comments on the current filmmaking climate. “Today, the first person reading your script is a lawyer, not producer,” he laughs, indicating that the result is a shrinking space for risk, provocation, and finally for honesty in filmmaking. “I’ve put filmmaking on the back burner because I’m unable to make honest films. There is no point making a film if it doesn’t reach people,” he emphasises.
But Kashyap’s concerns extend beyond the industry – he sees a larger cultural shift changing both cinema and its audiences. “Prejudice has always existed, but now it has been empowered. It is a peculiar time to live in,” he says. The idea of perception over authenticity also plays out in today’s digital culture. Referring to the scrutiny faced by creators from non-urban backgrounds, stirring debates around figures like Pujarini Pradhan of ‘Life of Puja’ – Kashyap underlines the class bias. “Just because someone comes from a certain background, people discredit them. This bias comes from looking down on people from smaller towns. I still feel like an outsider. I don’t fit into what is expected,” says Kashyap, who hails from a small town near Varanasi. “If you want to do the work, you can do it from anywhere,” he says. But aspiration complicates things, he notes, stating, “If you want to be a star, then networking, access and privilege come into play.”
He shares that the distinction between wanting to create and wanting to be seen as a ‘star’ sits at the heart of his understanding of storytelling. “If your need to make a film is greater than your need to be called a filmmaker, writing becomes easier. Finish your script before you read it,” he says. His process, too, resists structure. ‘I don’t rely completely on the script. I tell actors the situation, not the lines. I don’t say ‘cut’. I let the scene go on. I tell each actor something different… and then I pick what I need from it,” he laughs.
His most defining films emerged merely from instinct and chance – majorly from personal upheaval. “Everything that I intentionally did was a bomb. This was the one that just happened,” he says, referring to the origins of No Smoking. “I said ‘yes’ to a film when I had no story. Between saying ‘yes’ and reaching the meeting, I had to come up with something. At that time, I was going through a divorce. I couldn’t see my daughter. So I wrote a story of a man who loses everything and tries to get it back. That idea didn’t stick, so I just told John Abraham another story about a man trying to quit smoking.” Ideas spark from anywhere, as he remembers the same personal intensity fed into Ugly. “That film came from an angry place; it wouldn’t have been that film if I wasn’t in that state,” he shares.
Even as new technologies enter the space, Kashyap is sceptical of their creative impact in the next five years. “AI cannot feel empathy – that’s where artistes will always matter,” he says.
For now, Kashyap is stepping back to return to writing. “I believe making people uncomfortable is one of the purposes of art,” he says, hinting at a transition. “I act because I need a source of income. I’m not making films right now. Now I’ve started writing, so I don’t have to make films out of compulsion.”