‘I’ve never been a rebel’

As “Ugly” suddenly makes its way to theatres, Anurag Kashyap talks about his innovative marketing strategy and why he considers Rajkumar Hirani as the bravest filmmaker of this generation

December 24, 2014 07:01 pm | Updated 07:01 pm IST

'Let the work speak': Anurag Kashyap

'Let the work speak': Anurag Kashyap

After watching the humane side of an alien, it is time to explore the ugly side of us. Hindi films are not known to provide such a stark contrast within a week. But with Anurag Kashyap deciding to release his much delayed Ugly a week after Rajkumar Hirani’s PK has evoked interest in what is considered to be lull period for films “Why not,” asks Anurag sitting in his room at New Delhi’s Le Meridien. “For any healthy society to exist this contrast is important. And actually even in PK you not just see the human side of the alien but also see the ugly side of humans. Of course, in Raju Hirani’s way. What I saw made me realise that people give lot of credit to Dibakar, Vishalji and me but Raju Hirani is the bravest filmmaker of this generation. After Gandhiji in Munnabhai , he has tackled a contentious issue second time in an effective way. We do it in our own way but he reaches out to so many people. I might have cinematic arguments with him but if I am selling an argument to only a set of people who have already bought the idea before watching the film, I am not doing my job. Through PK, he has reached out to people he needs to reach out to. People who are the most gullible, people who are manipulated the most.”

But then, why is he competing with him at a time considered dry for Hindi films, particularly in the Northern belt because of the cold wave?

Ugly is a film that needs to come out. We usually point out the ugly side in others. The film is saying there is ugliness in each one of us. It is not a very expensive film and it needs a cleaner time period and this is the best time. Because of PK not many films are coming. In fact, there is no film scheduled to release next week. There are around 7,000 screens for Hindi films in the country out of which around 4,000 are screening PK but Ugly only needs 400 screens,” reasons Anurag.

He argues that many good films are not getting released because of a notion that their publicity and advertising require four times the amount invested in production. “The market has come to a conclusion that for your film to be visible you need this much money and nobody is questioning it. I am saying, it is time not to just talk about it but to come up with some new ideas. We can minimise this P&A cost. Why should we run the promos on television for three months?” He feels the audience which watches serials is not going to come out and watch Ugly . “Even if it would, it will be my secondary audience which will come on the basis of word of mouth. So if we want to address them, we will do it by putting promos one week before and two weeks after the release. And my primary audience anyway gets fixed when it watches the promo for the first time on the internet. It is not going to increase with four months of promotion. We have to survive on the strength of the content. With Queen we ran a longish campaign but still the film got only an opening of around one crore rupees. It was the word of mouth that brought the audience into theatres. If it works, we will be able to release other such small films as well.”

Ugly got delayed because Anurag had filed a case in the Bombay High Court against the anti-smoking disclaimer that every filmmaker needs to put these days. “I am still angry but then it is the law of the land. As Mahesh Bhatt’s appeal on the same issue is pending in the Supreme Court, the Bombay High Court can’t decide on my petition. Meanwhile, the interest cost on the film is increasing. It is not my money after all. One has to take account of it. We are realising the film but my fight will continue,” he promises.

From a rebel to the poster boy of independent cinema to somebody who compromised his soul by collaborating with Karan Johar, Fox Star studios and Ranbir Kapoor for his ambitious project Bombay Velvet , Anurag has been grappling with labels. “I have never been a rebel. I only fought for my own preservation. It is something I was seen as. My personal fight was made into everybody’s fight. They first called me the poster boy and then dubbed me as a sell-out. I wanted to make Bombay Velvet even then and I have made the film exactly the way I wanted to make it. It doesn’t matter with whom I have made it. If I have made it with a star, it is because the star got me the money to make me realise it to full potential. Eventually, at the end of the day it is my film. Also, until the film comes out my argument doesn’t matter. I would rather let the film speak.”

On his production company Phantom’s collaboration with Karan Johar, Anurag insists that is doesn’t amount to dilution. “Phantom has three more individuals and we want to retain our differences rather than resolving them. If we are making Shandaar and Bombay Velvet, we are also producing Neeraj Ghuyian’s Masaan . We are trying to strike co-existence between people who look at cinema in different ways. I feel one can’t exist without the other. As a filmmaker I exist because of the blockbusters. It is the money made by them that flows to us. I could make Ugly because Gangs of Wasseypur made money. An argument is nothing but words if not practised. Bombay Velvet is practising that argument that we can have a mainstream film that is realistic and believable.”

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