Anurag Kashyap says Indian theatres ‘destroy’ his movie-watching experience

Anurag Kashyap says he hates the intervals in theatres in India. He also said that he does not understand a lot of things happening in the industry.

Director Anurag Kashyap has been vocal about his disappointment with Bollywood. The director had earlier said that he is leaving the Hindi film industry to go make films in the South. In a new interview with Forbes, the director has now talked about how Indian theatres have come to ‘destroy’ his movie-watching experience and so he watches films mostly at film festivals. (Also read: Anurag Kashyap says Bollywood lacks the 'brains' to make a film like Pushpa: ‘Everyone is trying to create a universe’)

Anurag Kashyap talked about the current state of the film industry and how more independent filmmakers should be given the chance to make films. (Photo by SUJIT JAISWAL / AFP) (AFP)

What Anurag said

When asked about his comments on the future of independent films, Anurag said, "I have stopped looking into the future… I can talk about the problems that I face, or that other filmmakers face, I can talk about solutions that I can figure out, but I can’t talk about the future. There are a lot of new things now, like short-format… I wanted to be a filmmaker because I like watching films on the big screen. I watch films at festivals because I hate interruptions caused by intervals back home, and everyone posturing about ‘this is bad for health, this is bad for mind’. It destroys my movie-watching experience.”

‘I know that I want to make films all my life’

He went on to talk about his position and how he can help other new voices come up and make their films. “What if everything goes wrong, what if everything fails? I’ll go back to exactly where I came from. That first day in the city, wanting to make films, standing on the street with a suitcase. But I don’t go further back. I have an absolute love for cinema, and that is regardless… I know that I want to make films all my life. All the other things I did along the way was to support other filmmakers with distinctive voices. If there are more voices, I will have the longevity to keep making films. There more independent voices are there, the easier it will be for me to make films. When I started, there was no ground to play on,” he said.

Anurag's last film, Kennedy, received praise at the Cannes Film Festival, but is unable to find a release in India. Anurag has not directed a film since then but has acted in a few, including Leo, Maharaja, and Viduthalai Part 2.