Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is not only famous for giving us some critically acclaimed movies like ‘Queen’ and ‘NH10’ but is also seen making headlines for being unapologetically opinionated. However, the director/producer recently admitted that there have been certain embarrassing moments in his public life.
In an interview with Mid Day, Anurag opened up about his journey from being a struggling actor to a successful filmmaker. He also recalled his spat with Karan Johar. Talking of which he shared:
“Karan Johar gave an interview calling me a psychopath. Till then we had not met. I called him a fat kid, who still thinks he is in school.”
“Remember we had this fight in mid-day. I also said something about Anil Kapoor in the interview that became a headline. But people always knew I was childlike.”
Remembering his writing days with Mahesh Bhatt, the ‘Dev D’ director said, “One of my favourite stories is about Mahesh Bhatt. He happened to me, right before Ram Gopal Varma. He got me to write films, but Mukesh Bhatt [his brother, and producer] was very miserly with money.”
“I was struggling for rent. Pooja Bhatt was the nicest and kindest; I would tell her to talk to her dad.”
He added, “Then I just walked up to [Mahesh] Bhatt saab once and said that I’d rather be a carpenter than work in his office. With his brother [Mukesh] around, he didn’t say a word. When I was leaving, he came down, said, ‘Don’t ever change.’ And he put Rs 10,000 in my hand. That was big money in 1994-1995.”
He also shared about the one time when he messed with Mukul Anand. “There was a time when Mukul Anand was making Trimurti (1995). I wanted to work with him as an assistant. I would call his house land-line. Every call was a rupee gone. And he was always busy. The third time I said, ‘Subhash Ghai bol raha hoon. Unko bolna kal se set pe aane ki zarurat nahin hai,’ and hung up. Now when somebody trolls me on social media, I just remember my time,” reports Hindustan Times.
He then spoke of the time he randomly landed up at Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow Mannat. “I was hungry and I walked into his house, using our college connection [both went to Hansraj in Delhi]. I remember him feeding me. He only knew how to make an omelette,” he smiles.
Anurag said that all this happened back in the day. And we all know about his jovial and vibrant personality. All’s well that ends well, right?