I am still where I started. I am still struggling. In fact, the struggle has only got bigger. I always try to go beyond my means, and this where the struggle comes in.
Anurag Kashyap
In 'Gangs of Wasseypur,' I wanted to take violence forward and play it up.
Entertainment's definition has been reduced to making people happy.
The lower the cost of the film, the more you can experiment.
Through movies, I have met nearly everyone I have wanted to, except Woody Allen.
I didn't ask anyone to make me a poster boy, because poster boys always end up on dart boards.
It was only in the early 1990s - during my student years as an aspiring scientist at Delhi University - that I discovered the world of cinema.
My cards and flowers always got rejected on Valentines Day.
Cinema is an art form.
I'm a huge Coppola fan. But more of 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Conversation.' 'The Godfather' for me is, like, number three or four on the list.
I am a straight talker. I am not politically correct or diplomatic.
I shoot reality-based movies, and in actual locations, shooting them with a star is next to impossible.
I think I had more freedom when I began making films. I did not know what could not be done. I was naive. I did what I wanted to. As you gain awareness, you start losing freedom.
The West sometimes doesn't understand Bollywood, but they can definitely understand how Bollywood influences people.
Films are like oxygen for me.
I think about my films for a long time, maybe years, but I write them in days.
For me, any kind of thing that has stood for 100 years tells me of the health of that thing. So, cinema completing a hundred years in India just says that it is very healthy.
I love the digital camera because it makes shooting easier and economical. I shoot fast, and I can shoot a lot. I shoot rehearsal; I just keep on shooting nonstop.
'Aiyyaa' is a very quirky film.
I used to spend a lot of time cutting out film posters from papers and putting them up on the wall in my room.
Politicians need a film appreciation course.
It is very good to bridge the gaps between Indian and international cinema.
Politicians take something out of context to create problems.
'Bombay Velvet' is my first film in a trilogy about Bombay, before it became a metropolis.
When violence is real and you flinch away from it, violence does not push people to try and imitate that. Often, we shun the violence that makes us flinch, because it disturbs us. And what makes us uncomfortable and disturbs us is not often bad. What disturbs us will not make us imitate that.
When you are very idealistic, but caught in a world which is all about business, it creates anguish.
Every film has an origin. It is made under certain circumstances, and that is a very important point that should be kept in mind during a review.
Chennai is the birthplace of a new language in cinema. The audiences here are the most evolved moviegoers to be found anywhere in India.
I guess short films have a bright future... The advantage is budget.
One must go for a film with an open mind; a film best impacts you when your mind is a blank page to the film.
Fans are your greatest enemies because they tend to bracket you. And the moment someone expects I should do something, I break out. I often tell fans who say, 'Make a 'Gulal 2' or 'Gangs 3,' that I am living my dream, not theirs.
There is more to Indian cinema than just Bollywood. I think regional cinema, especially Tamil and Marathi cinema, are exploring some really bold themes.
When I'm making a film, I don't want my producer to be on the sets. So when I'm producing a film, I don't want to be on the sets!
Independent graphic novelists have already achieved good work in terms of design, but all these great minds are writing in English. There is a need for people to write in Hindi.
Conventional Indian cinema is about people falling in love. They sing, they dance.
I'm very emotional and possessive about all my films.
Cinema is much more than heroes and villains.
The censor boards are mere redundant forces conspiring to keep the 'bold' films out of reach of the audience.
India needs better producers than screenwriters. No producer wants to invest in out-of-the way scripts.
There shouldn't be any censorship on making a film.
To get noticed, I had to take my films in a space which was much more democratic in terms of cinema - the international film festivals.
In India, there is a psychological problem that movies going to film festivals are boring. It is a problem with exhibitors.
Indian films have this obsession with hygienic clean spaces, even though the country's not so clean. They're either shot in the studios or shot in London, in America, in Switzerland - clean places. Everywhere except India.
All those pseudo-Hollywood movies set nowhere, with everybody good looking and having great physique - that's not working any more.
People always accuse me of making these dark, depressing movies. 'Why do you have to pick up on real issues? People are so exhausted and miserable.'
Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.
I love Back Stage. I have lots of theater friends and actors who depend on Back Stage.
We need to stop objectifying our women in what we call our second religion... Our films. And our TV shows.
The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.
I think the perspective that small-town directors bring to films is very different.
