I don't see myself as fearless, just honest to my filmmaking: Anurag Kashyap

New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) Making movies or lifestyle? Most filmmakers, says Anurag Kashyap, want the latter but not him. He wants to continue making films that are as fearless and courageous as he is himself.

Known for voicing opinions that others might hesitate to, the “Gangs of Wasseypur” director doesn’t see himself as brave. Just truthful.

"I don't see myself as fearless. I'm very honest about my filmmaking. And I think filmmakers should be honest to their filmmaking. In a sense, it's a choice you have to make. Do you want to make movies or do you want a lifestyle? Most people want fame and lifestyle. I want to keep making movies,” Kashyap told PTI in an interview.

"People call me fearless because the public is afraid. People call me courageous because they lack courage. Why should you need to be courageous to speak honestly? I'm just honest to myself," added the 53-year-old.

His filmography includes "Satya", which he wrote, as well as "Black Friday", Dev D" and "Mukkabaz". And now comes his latest offering "Nishaanchi", a crime drama that marks his return to his Hindi heartland roots.

The ever outspoken Kashyap also makes headlines every now and then for his unabashed take on issues like casteism and censorship.

There is something that scares him though. Any backlash that impacts his loved ones, collaborators, and actors.

"My loved ones, when they get affected by anything, it affects me. My people are my team, my actors, everyone. I care about them. I care about cinema.

"I talk so much about what's wrong with cinema, not because I'm complaining, it's because I'm warning them. I've seen that happen. I've been here so long. I've seen people come and go and I've seen people make the same mistakes. I keep warning them and they don't like it.” Kashyap’s career is rooted in his unwavering love for cinema, his life wholly consumed by the world of celluloid.

He's had a busy couple of weeks -- he was at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month to support first-time filmmaker Anuparna Roy's movie "Songs of Forgotten Trees", which won the Best Director award in the prestigious Orizzonti section.

Kashyap then travelled to Toronto, where his upcoming directorial “Bandar" had its world premiere. He also served as the presenter for the recently released Manoj Bajpayee-starrer "Jugnuma: The Fable". And is now back in India promoting "Nishaanchi" that releases in theatres this Friday.

How does he do what does? "I don't do it alone. It's like a whole set of people. Plus, I have an incredible producer in Ranjan Singh who was in Venice with me. He's the one who does the hard work. He's the pillar, the wall behind me. And he's the one who did all that groundwork for 'Jugnuma'." The world of movies does sometimes get overwhelming, Kashyap admitted.

"At times, I want to take a break… But we don't have a choice," he said.

According to the filmmaker, the industry is caught up in just doing one kind of a thing - to "create hits after hits".

"Instead of making a film, earlier filmmakers would make films that they wanted to make. And want to do their best to make it into a film that reaches out. That communicates what they want to communicate. But suddenly, the world has changed. It became about formulas and algorithms and everything else. And I didn't want to get into that muck. So I wanted to step away from it." That's why, he said, he shifted base to “the South”. Where exactly is still a mystery because he has been reluctant to speak about it.

He said he believes it is not necessary for a filmmaker to live in Bombay to make a film.

"I saw that in Kerala. I have seen that in Hollywood, people don't live there to make films. It is the studios that are set in Bombay. Shoojit Sircar lives in Kolkata and Dibakar (Banerjee) lives in Himachal. So, I've just moved away from the city. I have relocated and I'm making films. I'm working non-stop.

“That's why I said that it's not like I'm not making films or I'm not doing things. I'm doing a lot of things. I just didn't want to meet the same people on a daily basis." His latest "Nishaanchi" is a crime drama that follows the intertwined lives of twin brothers Babloo and Dabloo.

It stars debutant Aaishvary Thackray in a double role along with Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Kumud Mishra, and Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub.

The filmmaker said he wrote the script in 2016 but decided to wait for the right time to make it.

"It has been there somewhere inside me for a very long time. And 2016 is when we wrote it. While we were working on 'Mukkabaaz' is when 'Nishaanchi' was also written. And we wanted to make it with the right people, right cast, right backing and somebody who believed in it as much as we did," he said.

After the “Nishaanchi” trailer was unveiled earlier this month, there were many comparisons to "Gangs of Wasseypur", his two-part 2012 crime drama which became popular for its gritty portrayal of gang rivalries spanning generations.

But "Nishaanchi" is not "Gangs of Wasseypur" or connected to its world in any way, the director insisted.

"I'm saying it's a film based in north India. That's the similarity. Will you say 'Mukkabaaz' was 'Wasseypur'? No. This is a film set in north India. It's a lot of fun," Kashyap said.

He described the movie as a throwback to 60s and 70s classics such as "Ram Aur Shyam", "Deewaar" and "Trishul".

"The kind of cinema that was made then which was considered commercial as well as it meant something more than that," he said.

Backed by Jar Pictures in association with Flip Films, "Nishaanchi" is written by Kashyap, Prasoon Mishra and Ranjan Chandel. It is produced by Ajay Rai and Ranjan Singh. PTI RB MIN MIN