At a recent session in Delhi, directors Anurag Kashyap and Sudhir Mishra discussed their filmmaking process and how the audience decides the kind of films that are made.

While the audience often criticizes the film industry for not making “good” films, makers say that when offbeat films are made, they don’t get audience support.

During the session, Anurag said that when the audience doesn’t turn up in cinemas and wait for a good film to come to them (on OTT/TV) then it affects those films. “Those films that you don’t go to theatres to watch thinking that these will come to us anyway (on OTT), they are taken off theatres after poor performance in the first three days. Aapko jo chahiye, aapko uske liye vote daalna parega. Film ki ticket khareedna bhi vote daalna hai. Jo cheez aap khareedoge, wohi banegi aur wohi bikegi,” he said.

At the session, Sudhir Mishra and Anurag Kashyap recalled their first meeting and what they like about each other’s work. Sudhir shared, “I’m really proud of Anurag Kashyap. In these 20 years, he has done more for Indian cinema than perhaps the National Film Development Corporation. Look at the list of films he has produced.”

Anurag added, “Jab Sudhir film banata hai, to woh patthar ki lakeer nahi hoti; woh film badalti rehti hai. Inki sabse khoobsurat baat yeh hai ki yeh patthar se bhi acting karwa lete hain. It is important. OG yehi hain, jo seekha inhi se.”

Anurag and Sudhir discussed how not saying “cut” can result in good performances. Sudhir recalled, “Jab maine Kareena Kapoor ke saath Chameli ki, toh main cut kehna bhool gaya aur usne kuch aisa kiya jo maine kaha nahi tha. Toh maine cut kehna hi chhor diya.” Anurag shared that he also doesn’t say cut on his set. “Main film banane jata hoon toh main film dhundhne jata hoon. Aur mil bhi jati hai film.”

The two also discussed the importance of dialect when planning characters. Sudhir said, “Characters speak like the background they come from. Language also depends on the kind of film you are making. For instance, in Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi, all characters speak differently; a south Delhi person will talk differently from a character from Bihar.”

Anurag added that at present, Hindi movie scripts are written in English. Elucidating on it, he said, “Kirdar se kahani aati hai aur jis mahaul mein woh kahani hai bhasha usi hisaab se badalti jati hai. Lekin ab aap Urdu ki baat chhodiye, Hindi khoti ja rahi hai. Aaj kal hamara jo Hindi cinema hai wahan log sochte bhi angrezi mein hain aur likhte bhi angrezi mein hain. Script bhi Roman mein likhi ja rahi hai. Toh bhasha toh pata nahi kahan ja rahi hai. Jaise hamara jo regional cinema hai woh (filmmakers) aaj bhi apni hi bhasha mein likhte hain, sochte hain. Hamare yahan hum log shehar ke angrezi mahaul mein reh kar Hindi filmein bana rahe hain.”

Anurag recalled, “When we were shooting Gangs Of Wasseypur, all our actors were from villages – Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui. And everyone was sharing their stories. Kis ko kahan ishq hua tha sab bata rahe thay, aur usmein kisi ne ek baat kahi thi, aur maine socha, ‘Ye toh bahut achha hai, isko scene banate hain.’ Phir humne Huma (Quereshi) ko bola, ‘Jaldi se aa jao, scene shoot karna hai.’ Kagaz pe sirf Mohsina (Huma’s character) ka naam likha tha. Huma ne pucha, ‘Mujhe kya karna hai?’ Toh maine kaha, ‘Aa jao, hum scene (set pe) jakar banayenge.’”

Talking about his dialogue-writing process, Anurag shared that most of his dialogues are not written on paper but are decided on the set. For instance, there’s a dialogue from Gulaal: “Is mulk ne har ek shaqs ko jo kaam saunpa tha, uss shaqs ne uss kaam ki maachis jala ke chhod di.” Sharing that this line was spoken by Piyush Mishra, Anurag added, “Unko yaad bhi nahi hoga. Main aise churata rehta hoon.” He paused and added, “I don’t think people were able to understand Gulaal.”

At the event, Anurag shared an anecdote about the song Kallu Mama from Satya. A line from the song – ‘Gham ke neeche bomb laga kar gham uda de’ – was changed to the now famous line ‘Goli maar bheje mein’ by Gulzar, the film’s lyricist. Anurag shared that Vishal Bhardwaj (the music composer) and Ram Gopal Verma (the director) both wanted to use the original line, so they pushed Anurag to convince Gulzar.

Anurag recalled, “Main 22 saal ka tha. Main pahunch gaya Gulzar sahab ke paas aur maine kaha, ‘Pehli wali line bahut achhi hai – Gum ke neeche bomb laga kar gum uda de.’ Unhonne kaha, ‘Gum nahi hai, gham hai. Ye gond (glue) nahi hai. Wahan ja kar baitho aur chai peeyo.’ Uske baad kisi ne iss baare mein baat nahi ki.”