An actor, a writer turned director, turned producer, Anurag Kashyap is the extraordinary jack of all trades. Kashyap has delivered poignant and successful films such as Gangs of Wasseypur, Black Friday and Dev D. However AKPL’s owner Kashyap, is a man who has struggled through some dire times. With two banned films, two shelved and one that got ‘stuck,’ Kashyap tells the Times of India that people felt he was ‘talented but jinxed’. “I have gone through a phase where I was called jinxed,” he explains. Kashyap says that while going through this difficult phase he turned to alcohol, “I started drinking too much. Once at 2am, I passed out on the street and Hrithik Roshan dropped me home.”
When the Times of India asked Kashyap what brought him out of this phase he replied that it was meeting Kalki, who “helped me out of the darkness.” It was because of Kalki, now Mrs Kashyap, and his love for travelling- “…because of that phase I ran away to travel and looked hungrily for an audience.”
Despite his immense fame and success Kashyap has his feet planted firmly on the ground. His philosophy on money is, “money brings lethargy, and that kills the hunger. I don’t take a penny home from AKPL. Having a lot of money makes me feel lazy and insecure.” Mr and Mrs Kashyap continue to live in a 2BHK flat which he describes as ‘at the mouth of the slum’. There are no plans of leaving either as he states “buying a house has never been my ambition. I only ran after freedom, freedom to do what I want.”
Anurag Kashyap continues growing from strength to strength. His recently produced film Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana raked in 3.3 crore Rupees in India in its first two days and $225,000 overseas just over the first weekend. His upcoming drama film Bombay Velvet will star Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. Watch this space!
