Anurag Kashyap Recounts Being Called ‘Manhoos‘ And ‘Pagal’, Says Sandeep Reddy Vanga Is Unlike ‘Toxic’ People In Bollywood

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap says that Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s success gave him a sense of satisfaction.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has been frequently questioned about his support for Sandeep Reddy Vanga, opened up about the reasons that prompted him to meet the ‘Animal’ director. Kashyap drew comparisons to his own experience during the making of ‘Bombay Velvet’ and said that Vanga’s success gave him a sense of satisfaction.

Anurag Kashyap backs 'honest' Sandeep Reddy Vanga

During a chat with Zoom, the director called out ‘toxic’ people in the industry who apparently pretend to be someone they are not.

“I like the guy. I have no problem with him. Unlike a lot of people in the industry who pretend to be someone they are not, he is honest. The former kind, I think, is even more toxic. But Vanga is an honest man. I don’t like anything more than honesty, no matter what others’ issues with honesty are. I love talking to him,” he said.

When Sandeep Reddy Vanga was facing criticism for its perceived glorification of misogyny in his film ‘Animal’, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap surprisingly shared a photo with Vanga. He called the movie “the biggest game changer of Hindi cinema in the longest time and a film whose impact (good or bad) can’t be denied.”

 

Anurag Kashyap recalls being called ‘manhoos‘

Speaking of the film ‘Animal’, he said, “No one can deny the impact Animal made. It made the action scenes we had seen in movies before seem fake. It changed so many things in terms of real action scenes, and it was an adult film of three and a half hours. They cut my film Bombay Velvet to two hours and fifty minutes and censored scenes because they were pushing for a U/A certificate. It is my most censored film and Pahlaj Nihalani (the then chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification-CBFC) personally made sure that he cut scenes from it. I got no support. I was under so much pressure during Bombay Velvet about the recovery and opening of the film. But it didn’t feel like mine anymore. I should have been stubborn like Sandeep and fought back to keep my version. You can argue with his creative vision, and he gives space to argue. But what do we do in general? We only attack and cancel people. We don’t discuss or debate."

“I never had a support system. Some called me ‘manhoos‘ and ‘pagal.’ I was easily branded, and I felt so alone and isolated. I felt like everybody was isolating and attacking Sandeep instead of talking to him. My daughter was quite upset when I put up that post about Animal. My friends from the industry were upset, and I called them over to my house, and we had a long discussion about it. I want to call out the hypocrisy of these people who criticised Animal, abused and cancelled the film, and then went and watched it, despite knowing what it’s about, and then double-cancelled it,” he added.