A girl from Miranda ditched me for Arjun Rampal, says Anurag Kashyap

In a conversation with students of Hindu College, director-producer Anurag Kashyap talked about his college days and censorship in India.

Taar Bijli Se Patle Hamare Piya, a song from director-producer Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur was on loop at Hindu College as he entered the campus to meet the students. “Maza aa raha hai, bahut yaadein judi hui hai is jagah se,” said Kashyap, a graduate from Hansraj College, who had aspired to become a scientist until he met director Imtiaz Ali, a Hindu College graduate.

Director-producer Anurag Kashyap in conversation with the students of Hindu College. (Manoj Verma/HT Photo)

“It was Imtiaz and Sunit, another friend from Ramjas who inculcated the love of theatre in me. He had a theatre group in Hindu (referring to Ibtida, the dram soc of Hindu college). Main uske peeche ghoomta tha acting ke liye and in 1993, we planned to move to Mumbai,” said the Gulaal director, adding, “We actually followed Sharukh’s (actor Shah Rukh Khan) footsteps and when Sharukh got name and fame, everyone thought they could also do it.”

And actor Arjun Rampal has a special mention in Kashyap’s ‘college diaries’. “There was this girl from Miranda who ditched me for Arjun (actor Arjun Rampal) and I hated him for seven years,” he said, making everyone laugh.

Students on a selfie spree with Anurag Kashyap.

Kashyap got quite candid with the students and even talked about his own insecurities as a student. “It was during my college days that I wrote the black and white sequence of the movie Raman Raghav. But I was an introvert and kept my work to myself.In fact, Sunit had saved my work.”