'ALGORITHMS DICTATE WHAT TODAY' MOVIES ARE MADE

Anurag Kashyap talks about the recent stream of re-releases, if Hindi film industry is running out of ideas, risk-aversion by OTTs, and his thoughts on a sequel to No Smoking

- KARTIK BHARDWAJ

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who recently announced that he is moving to the south, is tight-lipped about the exact location. “I won’t tell. Don’t want people to hover around my house,” he says with a smile. The reasons for his shift are the same as before: disillusionment with the Hindi film industry, risk-averse producers, OTTs relying on algorithms to make content and everybody trying to chase a “hit”. The director says, “here nothing starts before a star is on-board.”

Anurag’s southward shift has been marked by acclaimed performances in films like Maharaja (Tamil) and Rifle Club (Malayalam). he is also presenting the Kannada film Vagachipani (Tiger’s Pond) and the Tamil coming-of-age film Bad Girl. More acting projects include the Teluguhindi Dacoit: A Love Story, in which he plays a cop, and Delulu (Malayalam). We meet him on the sidelines of the release of the Hindi dub of the Malayalam thriller Footage (2024), which he is presenting. The Hindi version is coming six months after its original run and the director is confident about its reception. “Footage’s original release was affected by the hema Committee report coming out. People were avoiding going to theatres at that time. I hope the Hindi version does well,” he says.

In this free-wheeling conversation, Anurag talks about what content Gen Z is consuming today, his take on rerelease culture, why oTT platforms are closed to new ideas and what he thinks about a sequel to No Smoking (2007).