Wiki/Biography
Anurag Kashyap was born on 10 September 1972 (Age: 48 years old, as of 2020) in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. His father, Prakash Singh was a Chief Engineer of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited. Kashyap received his primary education from Green School, Dehradun. When she was 8 years old, he was admitted to Scindia School in Gwalior.
Childhood photo of Anurag KashyapHe wanted to become a scientist. To pursue his dream of becoming a scientist, he enrolled at Hans Raj College at the University of Delhi. He completed his graduation in 1993 with a degree in Zoology. After graduation, he did many street plays. In 1993, he arrived in Mumbai with Rs. 5000 in the pocket. When the whole money was spent, he passed several days on the streets and slept on beaches. Sometimes, he stayed at St. Xavier’s boys’ hostel. Somehow, he managed to find works at Prithvi Theatre but his first play remained incomplete due to the death of the director.
Physical Appearance
- Height (approx.): 178 cm or 5’11”
- Eye Colour: Black
- Hair Colour: Black
Career
In 1995, he met a person named Pankaj Titoria by chance. Pankaj Titoria introduced him to film director and editor, Shivam Nair. At Shivam Nair’s home, Kashyap watched ‘Taxi Driver’ and got enchanted with the film. In 1997, he wrote the screenplay of the first film of Hansal Mehta’s first film, ‘Jayate’ which could not be released in the theatre. In 1998, actor, Manoj Bajpayee suggested his name to the director, Ram Gopal Verma to write a film.
Anurag Kashyap and Manoj BajpayeeRam Gopal Verma hired him after being impressed by his work of ‘Auto Narayan.’ At that time, he wrote the script of ‘Satya’ along with Saurabh Shukla. Satya was a successful film and it is regarded as one of the best films in Indian Cinema. In 1999, he also wrote the script of ‘Kaun’ and wrote the dialogues for ‘Shool.’ The same year, he made a short film, ‘Last Train to Mahakali’ for Television.
Kashyap made his directorial debut in 2002 with the film, ‘Paanch.’ The film was related to Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders that took place in 1976. Initially, the film faced trouble with the Central Board of Film Certification. Meanwhile, Kashyap wrote the dialogues for many films such as Paisa Vasool (2004), Yuva (2004), a Canadian film, Water (2005), Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), etc. However, later, the film, ‘Paanch’ was cleared by the board and was released in 2002 at many film festivals. In 2007, he worked on film ‘Black Friday’ which was based on Hussain Zaidi’s book of the same name and was related to the 1993 Bombay Bombings. However,
the Bombay High Court put a stay on its release until the judgment in the bomb blast case was made. The same year, he made a remake of Stephen King’s short story “Quitters” as ‘No Smoking.’ In 2009, he founded his own production company, Anurag Kashyap Films. He made his debut in production from a critical hit, ‘Udaan.’ Kashyap has also produced many films including Shaitan (2011), Chittagong (2012), and Aiyyaa (2012), etc. In 2011, he directed and co-wrote ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots with Kalki Koechlin. The film was screened at many international film festivals. A famous American film critic, Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4. In 2012, Kashyap’s film Gangs of Wasseypur did the rounds and screened at the 2012 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, London Indian Film Festival, and Toronto Film Festival.
In 2016, Kashyap directed Raman Raghav 2.0 starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui which met with a positive response. In 2018, he worked on ‘Lust Stories’ collaborating with fellow directors, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar. On 15 June 2018, the film was released on Netflix.
Controversies
- In 2000, his directorial debut film, ‘Paanch’ fell into controversies for the violent portrayal of youths.
- He is often criticized by the media for promoting sex, drugs, abuse in his films.
- He produced the 2016 film ‘Udta Punjab along with other producers. The film was criticized by the Censor Board for portraying Punjab as smoking and drugs.
- On 19 September 2020, Bollywood actress Payal Ghosh took to Twitter to accuse Anurag Kashyap of sexual assault in the series of #MeToo campaigns. In her tweet, she requested the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to take action on the matter. She also named a few Bollywood actresses like Huma Qureshi and Richa Chadda and said they had also been the victim of sexual assault by Kashyap.
- After Payal Ghosh’s tweet, the chairperson of the National Commission for Women in India, Rekha Sharma, asked her to give details about the incident through her Twitter account.
Awards/Honours
- Screen Award for Best Screenplay with Saurabh Shukla for Satya (1999)
- Special Jury Award for Last Train to Mahakali (2000)
- Grand Jury Prize for Black Friday (2007)
- Best Story and Best Screenplay Award along with Vikramaditya Motwane (2011)
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the government of France (2013)
- Yash Bharti Award by the Government of Uttar Pradesh (2016)
Favourite Things
- Food(s): Cheese, Cereals, Fish, Chocolate, Nespresso
- Film(s): Bicycle Thieves, Pyasa, Bandit Queen, Sahib Biwi Aur Gulam
- Actor(s): Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah
- Actresses: Marilyn Monroe, Golshifteh Farahani, Scarlett Johansson
- After completing his graduation in 1993, he joined a street theatre group “Jana Natya Manch.” The same year, he attended the International Film Festival and watched 55 films in 10 days. Vittorio De Sica’s ‘Bicycle Thieves’ influenced him most.
- He is regarded as an auteur and credited for pioneering India’s Indie scenes in the early 2000s.
- Filmmaker, Zoya Akhtar has written about him, “He has a very strong storytelling style and he proved that you could tell a great story with not a lot of money.”
Anurag Kashyap with Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar, and Dibakar Banerjee
- A Canadian critic, Cameron Bailey has called Kashyap “one of the most knowledgeable filmmakers.”
- The British director, Danny Boyle has praised Kashyap’s work in direction and copied the filmmaking style of Kashyap in some of the scenes in the oscar-Winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire.
- He does not believe in religion. According to him, “I am an Athiest. Cinema is the only religion I believe in.”
- Kashyap is a member of the board of the NGO, Aangan, which helps protect vulnerable children around India.
- His hobbies are writing, swimming, listening to music, etc.