It was only in the early 1990s - during my student years as an aspiring scientist at Delhi University - that I discovered the world of cinema.
— Anurag Kashyap
It is very good to bridge the gaps between Indian and international cinema.
I am a straight talker. I am not politically correct or diplomatic.
For me, any kind of thing that has stood for 100 years tells me of the health of that thing. So, cinema completing a hundred years in India just says that it is very healthy.
I'm very emotional and possessive about all my films.
When I'm making a film, I don't want my producer to be on the sets. So when I'm producing a film, I don't want to be on the sets!
I shoot reality-based movies, and in actual locations, shooting them with a star is next to impossible.
Chennai is the birthplace of a new language in cinema. The audiences here are the most evolved moviegoers to be found anywhere in India.
Fans are your greatest enemies because they tend to bracket you. And the moment someone expects I should do something, I break out. I often tell fans who say, 'Make a 'Gulal 2' or 'Gangs 3,' that I am living my dream, not theirs.
I think the perspective that small-town directors bring to films is very different.
The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.
We need to stop objectifying our women in what we call our second religion... Our films. And our TV shows.
Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.
Politicians need a film appreciation course.
'Aiyyaa' is a very quirky film.
All those pseudo-Hollywood movies set nowhere, with everybody good looking and having great physique - that's not working any more.
In India, there is a psychological problem that movies going to film festivals are boring. It is a problem with exhibitors.
'The Dark Knight' is a really good movie that reached both critics and mainstream audiences.
I want my films to be seen everywhere.
When you are very idealistic, but caught in a world which is all about business, it creates anguish.
I think I had more freedom when I began making films. I did not know what could not be done. I was naive. I did what I wanted to. As you gain awareness, you start losing freedom.
I don't know if I'd ever want to show my college life in the films I make. I think I've passed that stage long ago.
There is more to Indian cinema than just Bollywood. I think regional cinema, especially Tamil and Marathi cinema, are exploring some really bold themes.
I do not make movies to send any message, but my treatment makes my viewers think on the subject.
Through movies, I have met nearly everyone I have wanted to, except Woody Allen.
I didn't ask anyone to make me a poster boy, because poster boys always end up on dart boards.
I think about my films for a long time, maybe years, but I write them in days.
Cinema is an art form.
Conventional Indian cinema is about people falling in love. They sing, they dance.
When violence is real and you flinch away from it, violence does not push people to try and imitate that. Often, we shun the violence that makes us flinch, because it disturbs us. And what makes us uncomfortable and disturbs us is not often bad. What disturbs us will not make us imitate that.
Cinema is much more than heroes and villains.
People always accuse me of making these dark, depressing movies. 'Why do you have to pick up on real issues? People are so exhausted and miserable.'
Indian films have this obsession with hygienic clean spaces, even though the country's not so clean. They're either shot in the studios or shot in London, in America, in Switzerland - clean places. Everywhere except India.
Independent graphic novelists have already achieved good work in terms of design, but all these great minds are writing in English. There is a need for people to write in Hindi.
The West sometimes doesn't understand Bollywood, but they can definitely understand how Bollywood influences people.
Films are like oxygen for me.
I used to spend a lot of time cutting out film posters from papers and putting them up on the wall in my room.
I've become a lot more tolerant; I think before I talk. I can take a lot now. I don't get as angry as I used to. Whenever I do, I channel my anger into my work.
I was 16 when I got admission in Hans Raj College. I completed school when I was 16, so everyone in my class - Zoology Honours batch 92 - was 18, and I was often treated like a kid.
In 'Gangs of Wasseypur,' I wanted to take violence forward and play it up.
I am not born to make dreamy movies.
I love travelling, and most scripts have been written while I have been travelling.
It is an entirely selfish decision to turn producer because I want my kind of cinema to last and flourish, and helping young filmmakers make those kind of films is the best way to do it.
The lower the cost of the film, the more you can experiment.
I love the digital camera because it makes shooting easier and economical. I shoot fast, and I can shoot a lot. I shoot rehearsal; I just keep on shooting nonstop.
I love Back Stage. I have lots of theater friends and actors who depend on Back Stage.
'Bombay Velvet' is my first film in a trilogy about Bombay, before it became a metropolis.
Politicians take something out of context to create problems.
I'm a huge Coppola fan. But more of 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Conversation.' 'The Godfather' for me is, like, number three or four on the list.
I guess short films have a bright future... The advantage is budget.
