Anurag Kashyap, known for films like Gangs of Wasseypur and Gulaal, recently made a shocking announcement that he is moving out of Mumbai. Kashyap said in a recent interview that the joy of filmmaking has been "sucked out".
He noted that he is aggrieved due to the rising costs of filmmaking and the increased focus on profitability instead of creativity.
"Now it is difficult for me to go out and experiment as it comes at a cost, which makes my producers think about profit and margins. Right from the beginning, before the film starts, it becomes about how to sell it. So, the joy of filmmaking is sucked out," Kashyap said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India.
Kashyap, who also wrote the screenplay for Ram Gopal Verma's 1998 hit Satya, said that he is inclined to relocate to the South, where he believes there is more stimulation for creativity in films. "Otherwise, I will die as an old man. I am so disappointed and disgusted by my own industry. I am disgusted by the mindset."
Not only this, the filmmaker-writer, also seen in the 2024 Tamil film Maharaja, accused talent management agencies of exploiting young actors for profits and prioritising stardom instead of talent development. He also said that first-generation actors and the really entitled stars are "very painful to deal with."
So, how does this work? In the words of Kashyap: "The onus of finding talent is on you -- you have to take a risk and firefight with 50 people. And when the film is made, the agency grabs them and turns them into a star. They will brainwash them and tell them what they need to do to become a star. They won't send them to workshops but to the gym - it's all glam-glam because they have to be massive stars."
Furthermore, he accused talent management agencies of creating a gap between actors and filmmakers. He recounted an incident wherein an actor disappeared on his agency's advice only to later return to Kashyap for career guidance after being dumped by the same agency.
“This is what the agency does—they just make money off you. They aren’t invested in building new careers.” Besides, he was also disappointed with actors he previously considered friends.
Kashyap said that the actors, he thought of as friends, ghosted him because they wanted him to be a certain way. He said that this is not the case in Malayalam cinema. Anurag Kashyap recently made his acting debut in the Malayalam film Rifle Club, opposite rapper Hanumankind.