Anurag Kashyap says mainstream Indian cinema ‘started to become cheap copies of Hollywood…’

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has responded to a question on if there is a change in perception of the global audience’s view on Indian cinema. In a new interview, Anurag said that ‘any kind of originality, on what is original to them impacts them’. Anurag also said that the mainstream Hindi films ‘stopped being original’. (Also Read | Anurag Kashyap says SS Rajamouli is ‘perfect director for a DC or Marvel film’, fears Hollywood ‘will steal him from us’)

Anurag also praised filmmaker SS Rajamouli and his film RRR. Talking about the film’s song Naatu Naatu, Anurag said that it is ‘incredibly’ hard to pull off. Lauding Rajamouli, he said that filming such a song requires ‘vision, courage, and nerves of steel’. Naatu Naatu has been nominated in the Best Original Song category at the 95th Academy Awards. Anurag also added that had the ‘west’ watched Rajamouli’s Eega (2012), he would have been ‘celebrated much before’.

In an interview with Showsha, Anurag said, “They have liked films from India for a very long time. But they like one kind of a film. There was a time Indian films released worldwide. Awara, Disco Dancer, everybody singing Jimmy Jimmy. You go to Africa, you go to Arab countries, India has a very massive impact of the mainstream. Somewhere within our mainstream, we stopped being original. Our mainstream started to become cheap copies of Hollywood action movies or something else.”

He also added, “Whereas movies from down South are still grounded, they still look like Indian films. A lot of Hindi mainstream doesn’t look like Indian films, it’s not even shot in India. It’s not even about India, which is why RRR surprises them and scores. RRR takes them totally by surprise. Within the context of an Indian film, it does those very things at a much lower cost than them.”

Anurag next project is Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat featuring Alaya F and Karan Mehta. It is touted to be a romantic musical. The film will hit the theatres on February 3.

During the promotion of his upcoming film, Anurag told news agency ANI, “I am not even trying to create what half of the people are making in the race to break each other’s box office records. I am not a part of that race. My responsibility is to tell my story and make the least loss.”