In an exclusive chat, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, whose daughter was threatened with rape, opens up about the aftermath of the Modi electoral win
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 31, 2019)

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was one of the 600 artistes who had signed a letter in April, urging people to "vote BJP and its allies out of power". His critique came at a price — soon after results, Kashyap's daughter was threatened with rape on social media by someone who seems to be a Modi supporter.

"I felt vulnerable. I am answerable to my family for what they go through because of my opinions. She got the rough end of the stick because of me. She came and told me, 'Papa, look what kind of things people are telling me.' I still have that message on my phone," recounts Kashyap, opening up on the episode for the first time. The director had promptly brought the issue to Modi's attention upon his win and filed a police complaint.

Soon enough, he found the support of several BJP members. In mid-day's exclusive report on May 26, several party members condemned the threat, while distancing themselves from such objectionable behaviour. Kashyap says he was relieved to see the outrage against the perpetrator. "I read that story later, but it makes me glad that so many people spoke up. People from the party reached out to me saying that they don't endorse trolls and haters. It made me believe that democracy isn't dead yet."

Addressing the nation last week after being re-elected as prime minister, Modi spoke about unity while decrying divisive politics. Though he admits that the speech was "full of hope," Kashyap knows better than to take things at face value. "I wish Modi implements what he said. The problem isn't just with the man at the top, but at multiple levels beneath him. People convolute his ideas to serve their interests. Religion can't be used as an excuse to settle a personal score. There is a culture of hate, and only the PM can take that away. He has to not just say it in a speech, but take active measures to eradicate it. Stern measures have to pass down the hierarchy against prejudices."

While dissent is a natural right in a democracy, the last few years have seen an increasing clampdown on free speech. Question him if the government has little tolerance for an anti-establishment view, and he says, "The atmosphere is unhealthy. It comes from the hero worshipping. Why do we need to worship a leader? When I ask a question, it's seen as an attack. In counter to my question, one is actually attacked [referring to his daughter]. When the PM is tagged on a social media post [and questioned], people retaliate by saying, 'How is he answerable?' The PM is answerable for everything; he is in charge of the system that has to function equally for every citizen."

Making a stronger case for free speech, he adds, "As a citizen, I have expectations from the government, and when they are not met, I would want to question, talk and debate. We have to learn to agree to disagree; dissent is sacrosanct. This atmosphere needs to be curtailed where a citizen is afraid of wearing his ideology on his sleeve. I come from a family that abides by the [Ram Manohar] Lohia school of thought. For me, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a great PM, but unfortunately, I don't see the same promise anymore."

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; May 26, 2014)

What made you present the documentary, The World Before Her?
I had to come on board and present this film because it wasn’t getting a release in India. The film draws parallels between a beauty pageant and a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls, highlighting the opportunities for women in contemporary India. It is an extremely powerful film and it is so non-judgmental. The film is about how two girls manage to live in the world with dignity and respect that they seek. That’s when you feel that instead of judging people, you should try and give them opportunities. In any case, documentaries are more interesting than fiction films these days.

Does this mean that you will soon make a documentary?
My home is full of documentaries. If you look at it most of the films that I do, you will realise that the idea for these films come from real-life stories. I am interested in them because that’s how I learn and grow. I have tried to make documentaries, it but it needs too much travelling. I like to sit, let my team do the research and then I write it like a film and shoot it. But yes, I would want to make one some day, before that I need to find a good subject.

This documentary deals with the contrasting lives of two girls and you are a father to a teenaged girl, so tell us about your equation with her.
My daughter is 13-years-old and she is my very good friend. I talk about everything with her. There is nothing we hide between us; she asks me a question and I answer it. I don’t hesitate even if the question is about sexuality.

Your personal life is under constant public scrutiny…
I have switched on this phone after two months. I have simply stayed away from the media because it is unnecessarily obsessed with people’s personal lives and I am a free-spirited person, who lives his life very openly. There are no secrets, but the media insists on creating stories out of nowhere. Kalki and I are not together now; it’s a matter of the past. But she is still my best friend; we continue to discuss everything. So it’s for her to know what’s happening in my personal life and for her to tell me if she wants to tell me about hers. We are two independent people and we live like friends who have their own separate lives now.

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; February 6, 2014)

Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap may look from different planets to an outsider, but they feel they could have been conjoined twins, who would make even more successful filmmakers together. Ahead of their joint production Hasee Toh Phasee, in a first-of-its-kind interview, they spoke to Bombay Times together. While we carried the conversation with Karan Johar yesterday, we bring you the conversation with the other brilliant man in the jodi, Anurag Kashyap. Excerpts:
 
Karan Johar and you are extremely different people. What brings you together?
A lot of things bring us together. I used to be a very opinionated person and used to always resent Karan for the fact that he was privileged and the fact that he comes from a big filmi family. How he just gets away with anything and we slog our asses off and don’t even get our releases. I felt that this industry doesn’t support me and was very anti-industry, and just thought of making good cinema. But after meeting Karan, I realised that I am more opinionated about the industry than the industry is about me. I understood that everything I had in my head about people was in my head only. It was not my attitude that I did not want to work with stars. It was me not knowing them and having the fear whether I would be able to retain my own identity if I worked with them. All the fear was unfounded and I found that actors actually want to experiment with themselves. Whenever I have angst, Karan teaches me how to throw it away and laugh at it. I have understood why you need these blockbusters as money circulates. Those 200 crores is what comes to us so that we can make these kind of films. He was the first man I met who was laughing at himself and I learnt the ability to be able to laugh at yourself from him. It was always my own complexes as an outsider that got enhanced. I realised later that everything that happened with me was for the good. But, at that time, I blamed the industry for all the consequences.
 
Why do you have so much angst in you?  
I am a mush bag but have this incredible struggle with myself. I have angst, but it is transformed. Earlier, my angst was with the industry, now it is with the media. I feel there is such a desperation for news bytes that everything and anything is becoming news and, sometimes, I find myself at the receiving end of it. For instance, for a long time, I kept ignoring stories about my personal life but when you start writing it, you land up creating it. First, it was Huma and Kalki and they laughed about it thinking it would die down. And when we are having other kinds of issues, Huma was dragged into it to the extent that she being a friend of the both of us, she one day actually broke down. Kalki tweeted, I gave a statement but, of course, it didn’t help. Huma and I went to Kalki’s birthday party from where we went to a screening. Kalki could not come as she was the host at her party. Media asked Huma and me to pose together and we posed as it hardly matters, but they created a story around it. It affects her. Why create stories when we have given a statement that Kalki and I have separated? I deal with my angst by calling Karan now.  

Talk about your friendship with Karan?
I am unfortunate that I did not discover Karan earlier as I would have got rid of a lot of things. I have a serious communication issue. I also understood a sense of responsibility from him as a filmmaker as someone is paying for your love of making films. I used to earlier shrug that responsibility in the name of making good cinema. Being cost-conscious, when you have no money to begin with, is no virtue. It’s about being conscious when you have been given the money. Karan is a generous human being and is generous about everything in his life. The amount of opportunities he gives people, the way he treats people, the way he gives. He mentors you. My most favourite image is Karan Johar doing the hair of my daughter at Cannes Film Festival. My daughter was very worried, but he made her look good. For the next two months, she was telling her friends, ‘You know Karan Johar dressed me up and did my hair.’ No father can be given a bigger gift than that. He does these things impulsively without even thinking. He makes me emotional. I have a gush of love for him and need to hug him. I like to listen to him and watch him with wonder on how he makes you laugh. He has done so much good to me emotionally, internally. I can ask him things and am not afraid to admit things I don’t know. I have no sense of dressing. I can call him and he will help me. He will sit honestly and give me feedback about my films. He is so straightforward and honest. We know how he is so self-deprecating. You see him not feeling bad about a lot of things. He is also a human being and may feel hurt, but the way he puts it out, it makes the person hurting him feel bad as he just laughs out at it. All these qualities are rare and that is why he is the common person loved by everyone, despite all camps, and is evolving at a pace in his life that none of us are.
 
Your advice to Karan?
He is now spending less time on his creativity and needs to do that now as he is doing so much for everyone. Why does he do these TV shows? He is constantly worried, arey Gori Tere Pyaar Mein has not worked, I need to make money for my company so that the other projects he has started with new boys don’t get interrupted. That is what is incredible. He should spend more time on himself. In many ways, what Dibakar said, about his short film in Bombay Talkies being his debut, is correct. He can make a commercially successful film at the back of his hand, but he has not put himself up on screen. There is so much world-view inside him. He has it but the expectations from him are so different, the fact that he is running a company that is giving a chance to so many people that he takes that responsibility so much that it affects his personal, emotional and professional life.

Karan told me, ‘I have made a lot of movies to know where a camera is positioned, but I just couldn’t see it on Anurag’s Bombay Velvet. I asked Ranbir, and he said, ‘It’s there.’ Anurag, actors like Karan who have worked with you talk about your brilliance as a director in allowing your actors to be. While you are a large-hearted director, why are you not like that as a person?
I love actors. My way of telling an actor when he or she does a good shot is kiss them. I actually dance on the set when I get a good shot. I have done theatre when I was 21. I actually dabbled with acting and hated myself on screen as I realised that I hated myself, as I was so conscious even though I was a fearless actor on stage. I realised that directors restrict and that is why I developed this style that for actors to breathe I need to not lock the camera.
 
Are you missing being on Twitter?
The good thing about going off Twitter is I have discovered diving and a lot of time that I can spend on creativity. In the last three months, I have found myself a boat in the Andaman islands. I stay there myself and dive. I have gone there multiple times. I read and write there. I disappear to different parts of the world. A year back, I too felt that I could not get out as I was doing these multiple cottage industry movies, but I paid a big price for it. One of the key issues between Kalki and me was that we did not just spend enough time with each other. She felt that it is better to have you as a neighbour than living in the same house with you and that is why we have actually become neighbours now.