Anurag Kashyap ‘identified with porn’ as people watched his films secretly | Bollywood

Anurag Kashyap has said he identifies with porn because people used to watch his films secretly but also questioned his morality. Anurag was talking with Cyrus Broacha about the yet-to-be-released film Paanch when he recalled that people even questioned his character. Anurag’s first film, Paanch, never saw the light of the day and is yet to see a theatrical release. The film is available online. Paanch featured Kay Kay Menon, Vijay Maurya, Aditya Srivastava, Tejaswini Kolhapure, and Joy Fernandes. (Also read: Anurag Kashyap, director Akshat Ajay Sharma talk trans representation in Haddi)

The fate of Paanch

When Cyrus said that Anurag could never make money out of Paanch though everyone watched it, the filmmaker reminded him that he was only a first-time director on the film and would have never made money even if the film found its way to the theatres. Anurag also said that some print of the film is available on YouTube.

Anurag: ’I was porn’

He then recalled the time That Girl In Yellow Boots released and how people watched the film but also judged his character. “That’s the story of my life. There was a time when people walked up to me and said ‘I watched your film’, and my response used to be ‘But where?’. I used to identify with porn. I was like porn – people watched my films in secret. They used to question my morality and my character after watching my films. At that time, the critics used to be like, ‘What kind of a guy is this?’ when That Girl In Yellow Boots came out.” 

That Girl In Yellow Boots features Kalki Koechlin and Naseeruddin Shah and released in 2011. It also features Gulshan Devaiah. Piyush Mishra and Rajat Kapoor also had cameos in the film.

Anurag’s new film

Anurag’s most recent release is Haddi. He plays the antagonist in the new ZEE5 original that features Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a transgender person. Directed by Akshat Ajay Sharma, the film also stars Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and is now streaming on ZEE5. Before Haddi, Anurag has performed in front of the camera in a few movies including Ghoomketu, Akira, Daas Dev, Kuttey, and the Tamil film Imaikkaa Nodigal.